Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Desire to make Christmas dinner tables and homes look great drove last minute online shopping purchases on johnlewis.com before Christmas.
Eight of the top 10 selling items online before Christmas were household items and included sets of china, white plates and cereal bowls.
Click & collect orders were busy right up to the last collection day on Christmas Eve, and orders for that week were up 15.9% year on year.
The busiest shopping hour online was between 6pm and 7pm on Christmas Eve, soon after the retailer’s Clearance sale began.
On Christmas Day, the peak hour for placing orders was between 9pm and 10pm. Online Clearance best-sellers included Mulberry handbags, Dyson vacuum cleaners and Samsung televisions, along with beauty gift sets.
The busiest day in the department store group’s branches was December 27, as customers sought bargains after the shops opened after the festive break for Clearance.
Commenting on the company’s sales performance overall for the two weeks ending December 31, director of shop trade Maggie Porteous said: “The week before Christmas (week commencing December 19) included two extra days of sales as the comparative week in 2015 included Christmas Day and Boxing Day. This resulted in total weekly sales of £175.6m: a 36% increase year on year.
“The following week (when Clearance began), therefore included Christmas Day and Boxing Day this year, and last year included New Year’s Day, when most of our shops were not open. Trade for that week was down 9.4% year-on-year and sales for the week totalled £138.5m.
