John Lewis sales down 3.2% last week
The John Lewis department store chain saw its total sales decline by 3.2% last week on the same period last year.
Home sales were down 4% in the week although the retailer continued to benefit from the popularity of decluttering expert Marie Kondo which helped sales of storage products to rise by 27%. Sales of gift products were up 10.8% in the week as customers prepared for Valentine’s Day.
Electrical and home technology sales fell by 7.8% due to the retailer annualising a strong week last year. Howver, communications technology products put in a good performance with sales increasing by 2.5% following strong sales of tablets.
Meanwhile, fashion sales rose by 3% as the retailer benefited from strong demand for new season collections particularly in the women’s accessories and menswear categories. In addition, John Lewis price matched a competitor promotion on beauty products which helped increase sales in the beauty, wellbeing and leisure category by 1.7% on last year.
