The retailer said it has invested almost £40 million during a three year project to reorganise its internet division and offer. It said the strategy and increasing popularity of the site has meant it hit the £1 billion target a year early.
Online director Mark Lewis, who joined the retailer in January from courtier service CollectPlus and formerly at eBay, said: 'Passing the £1 billion milestone an entire year ahead of schedule is a fantastic achievement for us and a reflection of how central online shopping has become for customers.'
It said the mark was exceeded on a 52-week rolling basis and represents gross sales, that is, including VAT. Total sales at the department store chain increased 13.5 per cent last year to £3.8 billion. Rival Debenhams said its multichannel sales in the year to September were £251 million on sales of £2.7 billion. Marks & Spencer's online sales are estimated to be about £650 in the year to March on total general merchandise sales of around £4.3 billion.
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| Tori diamond print dress from Collection by John Lewis |
The web site now includes wish list function and the inclusion of a search history. John Lewis said mobile now counts for over 25 per cent of traffic to the site and it has also improved its mobile offer to mirror the design of the main site and plans to launch a new app later this year.
John Lewis IT director Paul Coby said: 'With sales at johnlewis.com up over 40 per cent in 2012 we are seeing an unprecedented pace of online growth and customers are making more demands on our website, than ever before.'
'The billion-pound success is a reflection of out strategy to put the customer at the hear of our online operations.Early testing at every stage of the build and inviting over 3 million customers to use our beta site before full launch has resulted in what we believe will be an outstanding experience and journey for customers,' he said.
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