Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Department store group John Lewis enjoyed ‘impressive trade’ across both shops and online last week (to January 18), resulting in a 23.4% sales increase on last year.
“A sign of that success was that every branch posted an increase on a year ago,” said Tim Harrison, head of retail implementation and format development.
“Last week showed that we are running to the end of the year in great form. A strong week’s sales was further flattered by snow disruption a year ago. While the snow impact helped the like-for-like comparison, the shops can be rightly proud of the sales achieved.”
The ‘at home’ shops continue to dominate the top of the ‘sales figures for branches’ table, with the best growth in Tamworth, Chichester and Poole, as well as High Wycombe and Norwich.
In terms of product sales overall, ‘Home’ produced the strongest result, led by furniture, particularly beds and upholstery. Small electricals were up 37%, driven by food prep and beverage making.
Tim Harrison concluded: “The fact that this was a record week for our green van delivery fleet just highlighted the strength of trade over recent weeks and a good end to the year. As we look ahead to the new trading year we can be confident that customers appreciate everything we do – we just need to keep doing it!”
