Sainsburys owned Argos saw Fast Track collection grow by 39% in the 15 weeks to the 6th January by comparison to 2016. Fast Track delivery rose by 25%, which included a bumper Black Friday.

Sainsburys, which bought Argos last year, said that the services in question did very well in Black Friday and in the days leading up to Christmas. “Customers were able to make same-day Fast Track delivery orders up until 1pm on Christmas Eve and we made our last Christmas Eve delivery at 6.39pm,” it said.

Chief executive Mike Coupe said: “We’re pleased with our performance across the Group this quarter. We had a strong Christmas week, with record sales, over 340,000 online grocery orders and stellar growth in Argos Fast Track delivery and collection. Online accounted for 20 per cent of the group’s sales during the quarter.”

For the Sainsburys Group as a whole, retail sales were up 1.2% on last year. Grocery saw a 2.3% rise, while general merchandise fell by 1.4%. Sainsburys said that it is continuing to invest in channels that reflect changing shopper habits, while same day groceries are now available from 93 of its stores.

It expects to achieve £80-85m of EBITDA synergies from the Argos acquisition by March 2018 – ahead of the expected £65m. Overall, Sainsbury’s is on track to save £185m this year, exceeding the three year target of £500m by £40m.

It opened 52 Argos stores in Sainsbury’s supermarkets, bringing the total to 164. 18 of these stores replaced an existing Argos store. It also opening four Mini Habitat stores taking the total number to 15.