Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Trading at John Lewis last week (to December 5) was up 3.5% on the same time last year, with total sales of £165.6m, of which johnlewis.com was up 13.6% on last year.
At the start of the week, the department store group’s sales were driven by the final days of price-matching competitors’ Black Friday activity, through its ‘never knowingly undersold’ commitment. Cyber Monday was a big day for parcel deliveries, with 22.4% more units fulfilled year-on-year.
Shops were busy as customers took advantage of ‘my John Lewis’ events. A week-on-week decline of 11.8% is a reflection of the previous week’s record-breaking numbers.
EHT (Electricals & Home Technology) sales continued to benefit from Black Friday price-matching extending into Sunday, up 2.8% year-on-year. Audio and connected home was up 12.7% with sales of Sonos product up 21%. It was another strong week for wearable tech, up 70.8%, and John Lewis’ best ever week of sales for Apple watches. Small electrical products finished the week up 3.8%, with Dyson up 49% and Nutribullet up 121%.
Home sales were up 1.9% year-on-year. Christmas decorations were up 6.6% and the number of Christmas trees sold was up 22.2% against the previous year. Textiles performed well with ready-made curtains up 12.6% for the year.
Maggie Porteous, director of selling, north and new formats, said: “Our ‘my John Lewis’ events have been well received as customers ensure they have everything they need for the festive period. We expect this trend to continue as we count down to Christmas.”
John Lewis real wreath
