A strong week for John Lewis as it builds towards Christmas

With the launch of a Christmas advertising campaign and seasonal events programme, John Lewis enjoyed a 7.1% rise in sales in the week to November 9.

Last week saw the opening of the retailer’s 40th John Lewis branch when its 10th John Lewis ‘at home’ format shop opened in Ashford. Tim Harrison, Head of Retail Implementation and Format Development at John Lewis said: “Huge congratulations should go to everyone involved with bringing this project to life, as it went off without a hitch, delivering sales ahead of expectations.”

Four branches put on double-digit increases last week. Chichester led the way at 26.7%, closely followed by Tamworth at 20.1%, Swindon at 13.6%, and then High Wycombe at 11%.

Johnlewis.com “continued to surge ahead with another impressive performance” with sales 23.1% up. Online success was primarily driven by EHT (Electricals and Home Technology), with sales up 28.4% on last year.

IT in particular had a “stunning week”, up on last year by 48%, which was almost matched by small electricals at 42% – “the latter result owing to our strong guarantee proposition,” Tim Harrison said.

In the shops, Home beat last year’s figure, coming in just over the line, delivering a 0.9% increase with an even mix of trade coming from across the assortment.

“So overall it was a week which has lots to be positive about, and a reaction to our Christmas ad that we couldn’t have anticipated demonstrated that customers are excited about what John Lewis has to offer this Christmas,” Tim Harrison said.