John Lewis sales down 2.3% last week as warm weather and holidays impact footfall
John Lewis saw its sales edge down 2.3% year-on-year last week as footfall was impacted by the hot weather across most of the UK and families heading abroad on holiday.
Although fashion sales struggled with sales down 2.6% year-on-year, warm weather items performed well as sales of sunglasses rose by 21% and sandals by 14%. In addition, sportswear sales climbed by 9.4% as customers were inspired by the Olympics.
Electricals and home technology sales fell by 2.2% despite a 54% uplift in sales in the cooling category. Audio sales rose by 6.7%.
Home also faced a difficult week with sales down 1.4% year-on-year although furniture sales increased by 4.2%.
Simon Russell, director of retail operations development at John Lewis, said: “In what proved to be a challenging week, footfall was down as customers chose to enjoy the great outdoors, as well as making the most of the school holidays by heading abroad with their families. The latter, however, also supported a 17.8% year-on-year rise in sales at John Lewis Heathrow.”
