Warm weather fashion beats cosy clothing for first time this year at John Lewis

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 21, 2017

The seven days to March 18 saw some brighter weather in the UK and it turned out to be bright for John Lewis too, at least on the fashion front.

It was another week in which the department stores and online retailer was carried by strength in its fashion offer with its overall sales up only 0.4% to £75.3m as trade continued to be influenced by the different fall of key seasonal events such as Mother's Day and Easter.

Fashion had a particularly strong week though, rising 4.8%, with beauty, wellbeing and leisure up an even better 11%, reflecting strong sales of beauty products ahead of Mother's Day this weekend.

In time for the Spring Equinox, warm weather clothing overtook cold weather assortments for the first time this year, and womenswear was up 5%.

But home sales were down 1.6% on last year, as the company said it is “annualising against strong sales from Easter which took place this time last year.” The effect was felt particularly in gift food and seasonal products. But gifts in home were up 13.7%, also supported by Mother's Day.