John Lewis weekly sales up 0.3%

Total sales for John Lewis for last week (ending Saturday November 18) were £114.5 million – up 0.3% on the same week last year.

The department store group’s director of online product Sienna Veit said Home sales were down 1.4%. She commented: “Customers beginning to prepare for Christmas took advantage of promotions on Le Creuset, beds and furniture.  Sales of tree decorations were up 8% and we saw a second strong week of sales of  ‘Moz The Monster’ products, linked to our Christmas advert.” Moz is the star of the retailer’s festive ad campaign.

Sienna added that sales of Electrical and Home Technology were up 7.8% as customers made the most of early Black Friday deals, which John Lewis price-matched due to its ‘ Never Knowingly Undersold’ policy. Mobile sales were also strong as customers purchased the new iPhone X.

Fashion sales were down 3.8% due to changes in annual competitor promotions which particularly impacted sales of beauty products. However, clothing sales were up 3.6% due to the colder weather which helped increase cashmere sales by 8% year on year.

The John Lewis Moz The Monster 350ml china mug retails at £5: 10% of the price of every Moz The Monster mug and soft toy will be donated by the retailer to children’s charity Barnardo’s