Total sales at John Lewis & Partners were down 5.5% last week (to Saturday September 7) on the same week last year.
The department store group’s operations director Berangere Michel said: “Home sales were down 9.1%. However, our own-brand House range had its biggest week this year as students prepared for university and Off to Uni sales were up 26% week on week.
“Electrical and home technology sales were down 3.5%. However sales of large electricals were up 1.5% as customers continued to shop for cooking products.
“Fashion sales were down 4.9%, due to the annualising of the launch of John Lewis & Partners womenswear collection. Beauty, wellbeing and leisure was up 3%, as we price-matched a competitor event.”