Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
A shift in John Lewis’ trading calendar, combined with warm sunny weather, gave a ‘challenging context’ for business at the department store group in the week to June 21, both in-store and online.
John Lewis online director Mark Lewis said: “The trading calendar is significantly different this year with Clearance launching a week later than in 2013. As a result, we need to view the combined trading results for this week and next for a more comparable picture. Overall sales were £68m, down 16.7% on the same week last year, which of course included the Clearance sales, so doesn’t provide a meaningful comparison.”
He noted that overall Home sales were down, although the warm weather drove significant trade in Outdoor Living. Electrical and Home Technology (EHT) sales saw strong performances from small electricals.
John Lewis was voted Best Retailer in the 2014 Which? Awards on June 19 which Mark Lewis described as “a fantastic achievement and boosted by a further accolade for Waitrose, which was voted Best Supermarket”. (Both John Lewis and Waitrose are part of the John Lewis Partnership.) John Lewis was also named as the retailer with the Best Consumer Mobile Shopping Experience in the EPiServers Mobile Commerce 2014 Report.
“This is particularly pleasing as our customers are increasingly choosing to shop and browse using their mobile devices, even when in our stores,” Mark Lewis said, “and we have invested heavily in this area to deliver an outstanding customer experience. Last week we also launched an updated version of our iPad app.”
