Sainsbury's web sales rose by 40 per cent in the last quarter of 2007, with 90,000 orders in the run-up to Christmas up more than 50 per cent on the year before.

The supermarket reported overall like for like sales growth of 3.7 per cent in the festive season today, in contrast to gloom from much of the retail sector.

"Consumer budgets are clearly under pressure and we expect the market to continue to be very competitive," said chief executive Justin King.

"But we are pleased with our third quarter sales performance, the good growth we achieved during the Christmas period and the fact that we have achieved our £2.5 billion additional sales target three months early."

Buoyant performance from Sainsbury's differs sharply with an overall year-on-year fall of 2.2 per cent announced by Marks & Spencer yesterday. The only bright spot in the M &S results were the online sales, up 78 per cent thanks to a relaunch of the site early in the year.