Debenhams, Britain's second biggest department store chain, posted a fall in sales in the last quarter, although there were signs of improvement over the key Christmas trading period.
After a horrific Christmas in 2013 when it was forced to warn on profits after big discounts failed to boost sales, Debenhams moved to manage stock better, reduce promotions and improve online ordering and delivery in 2014.
Taking into account unseasonably warm autumn weather, which hit demand for jumpers and coats across the industry, the firm said UK like-for-like sales for the 19 weeks to January 10 fell 0.8%.
This compared to analysts' forecasts ranging between a fall of 2% and rise of 2%.
However, over the four weeks to January 10 underlying sales were up 4.9%, with record group sales in the week before Christmas.
Online sales rose 28.9%, helped by an improved mobile site, the introduction of a next day click-and-collect offering, and a 10pm cut-off for next evening delivery.
"I am pleased with our performance in the critical Christmas trading weeks, driven by our strength in a diverse range of product categories and a strong marketing campaign focussed on gifting," the company's chief executive Michael Sharp said.
Rivals Next, John Lewis and House of Fraser have also reported healthy trading figures over the Christmas period.
Debenhams said that a strong performance from lower margin categories, combined with a tough clothing season meant its full-year gross margin would be towards the lower end of guidance of up 0.1-0.4 percentage points.
Sharp said he expected the trading environment to remain competitive and was not anticipating a big change in consumer confidence in 2015.
