John Lewis reports record £200m sales in Black Friday week
John Lewis grew its sales by 6.5% year-on-year last week to just shy of £200 million as it enjoyed its biggest ever trading week.
Marked by Black Friday and price matching through the retailer’s Never Knowingly Undersold policy, the week also included its biggest ever trading day on Friday 25 November.
The retailer’s Black Friday event fell across two trading weeks, running from Thursday to Monday. John Lewis said it traded well in both its shops and online with the shops becoming busier as the weekend progressed.
In distribution, its Magna Park centre saw a record day on Saturday when it processed 33% more units than the equivalent day in 2015. On Black Friday itself, customers shopped on mobile phones between midnight and 9am, but desktop quickly took the largest share of traffic from 9am onwards as customers arrived at work. At its busiest time on Friday morning, John Lewis took five orders every second on johnlewis.com.
Looking at category sales, electricals led the way with an 11% year-on-year increase. Best sellers included the Sonos Play 1, GHD hair straighteners, Samsung TVs and KitchenAid.
Fashion sales rose by 4.6% boosted by strong sales in beauty, womenswear and menswear. Best sellers included Ted Baker and Michael Kors in women’s accessories, Barbour in menswear and womenswear, and Calvin Klein pyjamas and lingerie.
With fewer deals on branded items, sales in the home category edged up 0.9%. Some of the best selling brands included Joseph Joseph, Le Creuset, Portmeirion and Charbonnel and Walker. Furniture sales rose by 4.5%.
Dino Rocos, lead director and operations director at, John Lewis, said: “Overall, the success of the week’s trade for John Lewis is down to meticulous planning and expert execution. From our Retail and Distribution Partners who helped customers get the products they wanted, to our teams behind the scenes in Commercial and IT, each of our Partners should be rightly proud of the part they have played in delivering this milestone result.”
