Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Total sales at John Lewis for last week (to Saturday October 7) were £89.1 million, down 0.9% on last year.
Head of shop trade for Central and Midlands Amanda Dammers reported that Home sales were down 2.5%. But she added: “Our Christmas Villages continue to perform strongly and Halloween products were up 30% on last year.”
The department store group has introduced Christmas Villages into a total of 11 locations, which aim to ‘bring together everything you could wish for when preparing for Christmas’.
Sales of electricals and home technology were up 2.4%, driven by strong sales in communication technology. Amanda noted that Apple products, including MacBooks and iPhones 8 and 6, performed well. Elsewhere, Sony and Panasonic TVs had a strong week, as did beverage products such as kettles and coffee machines.
Meanwhile, warmer weather at the start of October had an adverse impact on fashion sales, which were down 2.7%.
