John Lewis sales up 7.9% last week despite the warmer weather
John Lewis said it enjoyed strong trade last week with sales rising 7.9% year-on-year.
The retailer said it had a good start to the week as it matched the end of a competitor promotion. This pushed premium beauty growth into double-digit territory and saw a number of clothing brands also benefit.
Home sales had the best growth of the week with sales up 9.1%. Big-ticket items continued to perform well driven by strong sales in furniture.
Electrical and home technology sales rose by 6.8% as trade in vision, computing and white goods benefited from newly introduced product ranges.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Meanwhile, fashion sales grew by 7.9% with strength in premium categories such as handbags, jewellery and beauty balancing the poorer performance of the cold weather assortments.
Looking at the branches, the shops achieving the best percentage increases were High Wycombe, Chester and Ipswich with rises of 25.1%, 20.4% and 17.8% respectively.
Online sales climbed by 19.6%.
Ed Connolly, buying director for fashion at John Lewis, said: “A good week’s trade on the whole, despite demand for seasonally focused assortments not yet firing on all cylinders due to the prolonged clemency of the weather.
“With our momentum online, up 19.6%, and good signs from shops, up 3.6%, we should be in a strong position to capitalise on demand once the weather turns as expected.”
