Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Sales at John Lewis last week (to October 29) topped £100m for the first time this year, finishing at £102.8m: an increase of 7.2% on last year.
The department store chin’s director of national distribution operations Terry Murphy said Home had a good week, reporting a sales increase of 5.5%. Halloween was the standout story for the category, with Halloween products rocketing by 116.7%.
He added: “It was also a record week for our West Elm collaboration, with customers looking to prepare their homes for Christmas entertaining. Our newly announced collaboration with Play-Doh [is a modelling compound used by young children for art and craft projects] was also an immediate hit with customers starting to think about choosing the perfect Christmas gifts.”
EHT (Electricals & Home Technology] performed particularly well, with sales up 12.9% driven by strong demand for Apple products as well as a free next day delivery promotion that proved popular.
Fashion sales saw an increase of 4% on the year, with the chain’s new shops in Leeds and Chelmsford continuing to drive strong results in this category. Denim Wardrobe by Trilogy launched at the Bluewater branch last week and “proved an instant hit with customers in Kent”, while John Lewis’ revamped beauty halls continued to open across the country, with Cribbs Causeway in Bristol opening new Marc Jacobs, Urban Decay, Jo Malone and La Mer counters last week.
