Mountain Warehouse sales were boosted by wintry weather and online shopping. Photo: Editor5807 CC-BY-SA-3.0

Wintry weather helped outdoors retailer Mountain Warehouse to a ‘cracking’ Christmas, its chief executive said.

The company, which has 270 shops, had its best ever sales day on Black Friday in November, when sales surpassed £2m in a day for the first time.

Online shopping provided a major boost to the privately owned firm, with sales increasing more than 76 per cent in the six weeks to 31 December.

Founder and chief executive Mark Neale said its products helped customer brave the elements. “The December cold snap was a bit of an early Christmas present for us,” he said.

It sold more than a quarter of a million pairs of socks, a similar number of pairs of gloves, 150,000 padded jackets and 80,000 boots.

Overall sales were up more than 38 per cent, with international revenue performing strongly, increasing 43 per cent.

Mountain Warehouse served 1½ million customers in the six-week festive period.

The company, which concentrates on the value sector of the outdoors market, was formed in 2010 and opened 30 new stores last year.