John Lewis weekly sales up 11.4% as customers prepare for Christmas
With Christmas only six weeks away, John Lewis has reported robust trading figures for last week as sales rose 11.4% on the same week last year.
The department store chain said sales of beds, fitted carpets and made-to-measure curtains were strong as customers began preparing for Christmas entertaining. Festive table decorations, china and table linen were also in demand with ‘snowy paper’ and ‘glitter paper’ trees selling well.
Nat Wakely, director of selling operations said: “An 11.4% increase on sales last year is a pleasing and very creditable result. It shows that our customers are thinking seriously about Christmas.
“Clearly the attraction of John Lewis’ market leading proposition of exciting and innovative products, renowned customer service and our Never Knowingly Undersold promise continues to drive our sales particularly at this time of year.”
Never Miss a Retail Update!Trade was also boosted by a 29% increase in sales of Electronics and Home Technology items as customers bought new products such as the iPad4 and mini iPad as Christmas gifts.
The trading news comes two days after the department store launched its Christmas television advertising campaign which was watched by 8 million X Factor viewers last night. In addition, the advert has attracted 500,000 views on Youtube and 33,000 mentions on Twitter while the music track, Gabrielle Aplin’s cover of ‘The Power of Love’, went straight to number 8 in the iTunes chart within 24 hours of the advert being aired.
Commenting on the advert, Craig Inglis, marketing director said: “It is clear from the incredible reaction in the social media that our Christmas advert has once again struck a chord with the nation. We didn’t think it was possible for the response to be bigger than last year’s success but the volume of comments suggests that is exactly what has happened”.
