USS Enterprise at warp speed, picture courtesy memory-alpha.wikia.com

Are Black Friday and Cyber Monday really worth the effort? Let’s ask John Lewis. The department store operator’s latest figures suggest that maybe they are. How so? Well, it’s sales in the last seven days rose 4.8% year-on-year and – wait for the drum roll – 60.1% compared to the previous week.

Cue fireworks, Christmas crackers, vuvuezelas, party poppers and champagne corks.

Yes, the retailer that for many sums up British retailing at its best, saw turnover rising by SIXTY-POINT-ONE-PERCENT in just a week.

It was John Lewis’s biggest ever week for sales in its trading history, at £187.7m, and online sales on johnlewis.com rose 15.5% year-on-year.

We know that electricals and gadgets did well but how about fashion? The performance was pretty impressive there too with sales up 4.8% on last year. But women’s branded fashion was up an astonishing 45.6% on the year and some of the top sellers were Barbour at +38% year-on-year, Michael Kors at +30% and Ted Baker at +15%.

So the answer to the question ‘are Black Friday and Cyber Monday really worth the effort?’ is a resounding YES.