Summer ranges boost John Lewis sales by 1.8%
John Lewis saw its sales edge up by 1.8% year-on-year last week as the warmer weather boosted sales of summer fashion items.
Fashion sales rose 6.3% boosted by strong demand for women’s accessories such as sandals, canvas shoes and sunglasses.
Sales fell by 3.2% in Home directorate, which had a more difficult week due to tough comparisons with the same week last year. However, sales of outdoor living products increased by 160% as the warmer weather kicked in.
Although Electrical and Home Technology sales increased by 2.8%, they continued to be challenged by the effect of the digital switchover and new product launches in the same week last year. Successes last week included imaging and the spectrum radio.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Online sales climbed 10% as a growing number of customers took advantage of the retailer’s Click and Collect service. Chris Hooper, head of retail change at John Lewis, said: “Last week provided a good reminder of the evolving nature of the ways customers choose to engage with our business – in particular with Click and Collect up 44%, representing a significant proportion of johnlewis.com sales, and now fairly evenly split between John Lewis and Waitrose.”
In the stores, three of the top five performing stores were in Scotland. However, the Knight & Lee store in Hampshire topped the table with a 17.4% increase followed by the newly refurbished Milton Keynes store where sales rose by 14.6%.
Hooper continued: “We now move into a period of the year when we had significant activity last year, not least through the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic Games. There might be less to get excited about this year, but no doubt every sinew will be stretched to ensure we grasp every opportunity that comes along.”
