Sunshine and accessories drive John Lewis sales higher

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 30, 2018

The John Lewis department store chain beat its sister retailer, supermarket chain Waitrose, into second place in the latest week with the seven days to May 26 seeing good, but not spectacular, growth.

Overall, the John Lewis Partnership parent company’s sales rose 1.4% to just over £214 million during the week. But at the John Lewis chain, sales were up 3.4%, partly driven by shoppers buying products for the holiday weekend and also taking advantage of promotions and price matching.

How did fashion do? The category rose by the same percentage as the chain overall. But its 3.4% rise also included an impressive 12.2% increase for women’s accessories. Menswear was almost as good with an increase just short of 10% and menswear summer accessories having their strongest week of the year with sales up 28%. Own brand womenswear sales were up 2.2%, while beauty, wellbeing and leisure sales rose 3.7%.

Home sales lagged the most once again but at least they managed to rise. They were up 0.9%. Gifts, cook and dine sales were up 5.5%, with the summer Poolside collection proving popular with sales up 40%. Customers continued to buy outdoor furniture with sales up 14% compared to last year.