Ikea said its UK sales jumped over Christmas after the furniture retailer spent £27 million on cutting prices.

The chain, which employs 6,800 staff across 18 UK stores, said like-for-like sales jumped 11.1% in the 16 weeks to the end of December, boosted by revenues from its bedroom, bathroom and kitchen departments.

It said the UK business was on track for its fourth consecutive year of growth as store sales grew by 8.8% and online revenues leapt 33.5%. Last year its UK stores hosted 42 million visitors, helping it to achieve sales of £1.4 billion.

The retailer said its most successful product was its Friheten corner sofa-bed, which saw sales jump 132% during the period, after the price was cut from £450 to £395.

It also saw mattress sales lift 40.6% after the firm introduced UK bed and mattress sizes across its entire range.

Ikea also announced a record 5.5% rise in total post-Christmas sales for the 12 days from Boxing Day.

This is in contrast to a number of retailers who found that Black Friday discounting in November pulled forward consumer spending, rather than boosting overall sales across the Christmas period.

Ikea's UK and Ireland manager Gillian Drakeford said: "We are delighted to have achieved another strong start to our year and are pleased to report an uplift in sales during the post-Christmas period, particularly after such a great performance last year.

"What is really encouraging is that this growth has come from our existing business, not relying on a bricks and mortar expansion programme."

The retailer added in the first four months of the year bathroom sales lifted 18.9% and kitchen and dining revenues improved 9.4%.

Ms Drakeford added: "We've seen the main areas of growth in bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens where we have made recent investments to improve the shopping experience for our customers."

"Growth has also followed the investment of over £27 million to lower the prices of our products throughout our range."

The UK's first Ikea opened in Warrington in 1987.

Overall, Ikea runs 315 stores in 27 countries, which saw 716 million visitors last year.