Sales of cooking product up 13% at John Lewis

Total sales at John Lewis & Partners were up 8.5% last week (to Saturday October 19) on the same week last year, as customers shopped promotions across fashion and beauty in-store and online, according to the department store group’s buying director of fashion Christine Kasoulis.

She said: “Fashion sales were up 32.1% as customers enjoyed shopping our 20% off promotion and sales of own-brand fashion products were up 46%. Sales of boots were up 34% due to the wet weather, with hiker and biker styles proving particularly popular. Beauty, wellbeing and leisure sales were also up 25.3% as we price-matched a competitor’s promotion.

“Sales of Christmas products are on the rise as customers prepare for the festive season early this year, with loose baubles up 20% and our unique Quality Street offering proving popular across the country. Toy sales were also up 17% as schools broke up for half term.

“Home sales were down 13.8%. However, sales of weighted blankets and duvets were on the rise as customers combatted the cooler weather.

“Electrical and home technology sales were up 3.7% with new products in the Android and Apple categories in high demand. We also saw sales of cooking product up 13%, as customers prepare to host over the festive season.”

*For the first time ever, John Lewis is offering Quality Street fans the chance to fill a tin with any single favourite from the full selection of 13 varieties of sweet. Last year, John Lewis became the first retailer to offer customers a ‘pick and mix’ option to fill a tin with just their three favourite sweets.

Gift food buyer Rachel Costello commented: “Last year our customers’ response to the personalised Quality Street tins was overwhelming. This year we have gone even bigger with an exclusive sweet, only sold in our shops, and for the first time ever, customers can choose to ‘pick and don’t mix’, ensuring there are no chocolates left languishing at the bottom of a tin.”

This festive period, in all 17 John Lewis & Partners shops selling Quality Street, customers will also be able to personalise their tin by replacing the word “Quality” with a surname, or a real address such as Mary Street or Jones Street. Those customers who kept hold of their John Lewis tin from last year will be able to return it to a shop and refill it for a lower price.