Online bookseller The Book Depository has revealed a 70% surge in sales to £60m in the six months to December 31.

The retailer said it is now “firmly on target” to record £120m sales for the full year.

The Book Depository said its “commitment to making as many books as it can available to as wide a readership as possible lies behind this strong performance”.

The retailer said it has “taken a number of initiatives to grow sales” and develop its customer proposition, including its “hugely successful” Spread the Love refer-a-friend campaign.

The Book Depository managing director Kieron Smith said: “This year has started with some tremendous developments for customers. We have extended the number of titles we can dispatch to more than 6 million, and are building our coverage of non English language titles significantly. We continue to add countries to our free Worldwide shipping offer and new customers are discovering us every day.

“Over the forthcoming year we are working on an even better international experience, with more currencies, more books and more quality bookselling.”