The purchase of luxury items such as white truffles and hand-carved smoked salmon saw the upmarket retailer, Fortnum and Mason report a 16% rise in like-for-like sales. Online sales accounted for 34% of total sales over the festive period, as they grew by 12% with a peak on December 12th. The company’s store in Piccadilly Circus saw a 10% increase in footfall, with a record 27,000 customer coming through the doors. Boss Ewan venters suggested that the performance is a reflection on the improvements that have made in the company’s offering across their online and stores ranges. He did however also comment that going into 2017 there will be an inevitable rise in prices due to shop price inflation and rising costs as a result of the fall in the value of the pound.