John Lewis sales boosted by fashion promotions last week
Sales at John Lewis & Partners edged up 1.8% last week on the same period in 2017.
The retailer said trading was boosted by its launch of a price matching exercise on competitor promotions in the fashion department. This helped fashion sales to climb by 9.3% with womenswear and menswear sales rising by 8.5% and 7.2% respectively.
In contrast, home sales were down 1.7% overall but the Christmas Shop achieved good sales with a year-on-year rise of 1.1%. Sales of Christmas trees were up 10% and the gift food category also performed well. In addition, customers preparing their homes for Christmas helped increase sales of home accessories such as lighting where sales rose by 10% on last year.
Electrical and home technology sales also declined with a drop of 4.3%. John Lewis said this was partly due to annualising competitor promotions which were not repeated this year. However, the retailer enjoyed strong sales of mobile phones which were up 34% on the same week last year. Dyson Airwraps and smart watches also put in good performances.
