John Lewis boosted by fashion sales as temperatures drop

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 30, 2018

The news isn’t getting any better for John Lewis Partnership with its latest weekly figures proving lacklustre again. The company, which includes department stores and supermarkets, saw year-on-year sales rising only 0.1% to almost £227 million in the seven days to October 27.

The John Lewis department stores chain managed to top that increase - but not by much. Its sales rose a weak 0.3% over the seven days.

But there was some encouraging news lurking inside the weekly report with Fashion department sales up a healthy 5.6%. That figure continued a run of good results for fashion and certainly justified the company’s heavy investment in the category of recent years.

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John Lewis said that lower temperatures drove sales of cold weather clothing up 12%, with cashmere and knitwear standing out as they soared 33% and 42% respectively. Those temperatures could certainly provide a shot in the arm for its autumn collection with the UK currently being colder than usual for late October.

Womenswear overall had a strong week, up 13.4%, with the own-brand products that have been the focus of the retailer’s big investment spend performing particularly well. Elsewhere, beauty, wellbeing and leisure saw sales rising by 8.6%.

Did we see a long-awaited improvement in Home department sales? Not yet, unfortunately. Home was down 5.8% although filled bedding saw an uplift of 5% driven by the cooler weather. Decorative bedding also had a good week and cushions were up 25%. With less than two months to go until Christmas, gift food saw sales rise by 14% and Christmas trees were up 18%. 

The company said that EHT (electricals and home tech) was up 0.5%. Connected home products had a particularly strong week, with sales of smart home devices up 53%. Gaming also had a very good week and mobile performed well, driven by new launches.