Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
The week to November 2 saw the continued mixed bag of autumn weather, with wet and windy conditions reflected in customers’ shopping habits at John Lewis.
David Barford, Director of Selling, London and South, said the department store group finished the week with sales 8% better than last year, driven by a price match extravaganza new technology launch.
The new format ‘at home’ shops had a good week, particularly Tamworth (up 35%), Poole (up 18.8%), Swindon (up 17.6%), and Chester (up 11.7%), while Johnlewis.com achieved a sales increase of 24.4% versus last year.
In terms of product categories, EHT (Electricals and Home Technology) had the best week, exceeding last year by 25.1%, with Communication Technology securing the best increase at more than 44% as the new iPad launch went well.
Not to be outdone though, Electricals achieved a rise of 15.9% with strong growth from Audio and Imaging at 31%, Small Electrical at 22.7% and Large Electrical up 14.7%.
Home sales were 0.6% ahead of last year, with the strongest performance coming from Cooking and Dining at 2.2%.
David Barford said: “The autumn trade will pick up this week – with colder weather here, customers will build into the Christmas shopping mood, and as the Christmas campaigns kick off, we will see uplift in footfall – which we are well placed to capitalise on.”
