Strong demand for gaming consoles and Christmas decorations propelled festive sales above their pre-pandemic levels at the owner of Very.co.uk.

The Very Group, which also runs the Littlewoods website, said sales were 21.9pc higher during the seven weeks to Christmas Eve than they had been for the same period in 2019.

It came as the business announced it had drafted in former Walmart executive Dirk Van den Berghe as non-executive chairman to help steer it through the next phase of growth.

Soaring demand for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch during Black Friday and the subsequent weeks boosted the company’s electrical division, with sales up 28.2pc from before Covid.

This was closely followed by a rise in sales in its home division, up 24.5pc, while sales at its fashion and sportswear arm rose 17.7pc.

Henry Birch, chief executive, said that customers enjoyed a “more ­‘normal’ Christmas” in 2021 after ­Britons’ festivities were derailed a year earlier by lockdown.

He added: “They bought back into fashion, focused on wellness, got their hands on their latest consoles and doubled down on Christmas decorations.”

The retailer, which is owned by the Barclay family, who also own Telegraph Media Group, said it had good stock availability despite global ­supply chain challenges.

Almost 500 shipping containers, holding 2.2m items, arrived directly at the ­company’s warehouse by rail between Sept 1 and Christmas Eve, allowing it to fulfil orders on time, bosses said.

Very posted an 11.5pc increase in total sales, including its credit arm, ­versus two years ago. Compared with the 2020 Christmas period, sales were down 3.3pc.