Next was always going to impress in what has been deemed a multichannel Christmas by retail-watchers. The retailer, an innovator in online retail, positioned itself well to benefit from the surge in customer demand for quick and convenient Christmas shopping.

Next has been constantly tweaking and bettering its online proposition and has heavily promoted its improved offer over the festive period with a seemingly never-ending stream of TV ads proclaiming the merits of its next day delivery option on all orders made before 9pm.

The investment clearly paid off as its online and catalogue directory sales surged 11.2% between November 1 to December 24.

Its Directory has long been the growth engine of Next. Although its retail like-for-likes may be negative – down an estimated 1.2% – its large store portfolio is a vital cog in this multichannel business. The ability to pick up and return orders to store is a big draw for customers eager to give the perfect Christmas gift in time for the big day.

So far, it looks like the forecasters are right – Christmas 2012 has been defined by the growth in online shopping as evidenced by John Lewis’ 44% surge in orders over the golden quarter.

Conlumino senior consultant Joseph Robinson says: “Next’s performance underlines the trend of this festive season: namely that online is paying dividends for those players that have invested in their online offer.”

But while John Lewis and Next, the two major players to update the market at this stage, have emerged as winners, both having invested heavily in best-in-class ecommerce propositions, those retailers which have less developed online offers may not be feeling so cheery post-Christmas.

However, Next’s multichannel dominance is only set to continue. The retailer has been trialling same day delivery intermittently and is continually working on bringing new innovations to market to make online shopping ever more convenient for its customers. Afterall, multichannel isn’t just for Christmas.