Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Department store group John Lewis finished last week (to January 24) with 3% sales growth on last year.
Online saw an increase of 15.9% accounting for 34% of total divisional sales, supported by the continuing trend of customers browsing and shopping on their mobiles, with website traffic from mobile phones up 64% year-on-year and the Click & Collect operation up 27.9%.
John Lewis Head of Retail Change Mark Blundell said: “The end of Clearance and some poor weather didn’t quite dampen our customers’ enthusiasm. In our shops, some strong performances in new format shops were complemented by great form at [London store] Peter Jones.”
‘In with the new’ was the theme for the week, with the launch of new season products across all assortments. Mark Blundell said customers were “particularly inspired” by the new Spring/Summer Home catalogue launch and sales of the Fusion collection show “great promise”. This resulted in Home finishing the week up 4.4%, with beds and mattresses leading the way on 30% up and floorcoverings and furnishing fabrics both seeing strong sales growth. Small electricals delivered 24.1% growth.
Mark Blundell concluded: “As we enter the final week of the trading year, the focus remains on delivering an exceptional customer experience and positive sales growth through a seamless omni-channel proposition. This is clearly evidenced through inspirational visual merchandising displays, pop-up shops and online advertising, all providing a fantastic showcase for our new spring/summer season assortments.”
