John Lewis gets cooler weather boost as new season fashion scores

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Aug 21, 2018

Sales at John Lewis partnership in the latest week edged up by less than 1% to just under £205 million. But the John Lewis department store chain did much better much better with a 3.9% increase in the seven days to August 18.

The retailer said that the cooler weather “positively impacted sales as customers enjoyed buying new season items,” which is certainly encouraging as early autumn drops start to hit the shopfloor and webstore.

Fashion sales were up 4.3%, beating the retailer’s overall percentage rise and continuing what has been a stellar run for the category. Womenswear had a good week with sales up 6.3% while sales of Menswear were up 5.7%, and childrenswear, nursery and haberdashery rose 7.5%.

Unfortunately, the slower Home category didn't show any signs of returning to growth, despite good performances in some sub-categories. The overall directory saw its sales dipping 1.1%, although gifts, cook & dine sales were up 3.6%, with hydration products such as water bottles proving popular with sales up a very impressive 37%. The retailer’s new season own brand House range also continued to do well with sales up 27% compared to the same week last year.