John Lewis sales up 14.9% last week
John Lewis grew its sales by 14.9% year-on-year last week as continued demand for home products was matched by increased trade in fashion.
Stores achieving the best percentage increases included High Wycombe, Newbury and Chester where sales rose by 30.6%, 26.6% and 25.3% respectively.
Fashion sales climbed by 17.3% as trade benefited from a price match event that helped womenswear and women’s accessory sales to rise by 17%.
Mark Lewis, online director at John Lewis, said: “We were busy with price match activity, but the weather played a factor as the cooler mornings began to shift our customers towards the new season products, such as knitwear and cashmere, but the unseasonably warm weekend meant that customers haven’t yet fully moved to the winter season products such as outerwear.”
Never Miss a Retail Update!Home had another strong week with sales rising by 13.5%. Sales of big ticket items grew by 20% driven by a 28% increase in furniture sales.
Meanwhile, electricals and home technology sales climbed by 14.5%.
Online sales grew by 34.8% as customers took advantage of new ranges and price marching activity. During the week, the retailer introduced a number of key initiatives in advance of the Christmas peak including extending the cut-off time for next day and click & collect deliveries from 7pm to 8pm and reworking the next day home delivery service with better tracking and rescheduling options.
Lewis added: “Christmas has topped our online search terms for a few weeks now and this coming week will see the Christmas shop launching in branches which should stimulate trade across both our channels.”
