Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
John Lewis described trading as ‘robust’ last week (to January 23), with sales growth up 7.1% against last year.
The department store group’s online data showed that customers were feeling the chill as the weather turned, with rising searches for terms such as fires, thermals, heater and mittens.
Despite the freeze, wellbeing remained on the agenda, with smoothie maker NutriBullet the top ordered product from search.
For shops, Ashford was the top performer, growing 19% on last year, with Chester, York and Ipswich posting double-digit year-on-year growth.
Across the directorates, EHT (Electricals & Home Technology) showed growth of 15% compared with last year and Home posted growth of 3.6%, with new season products and Clearance selling through.
John Lewis director of online trade Mark Felix commented: “As we trade the final week of our financial year, our customers are already looking ahead, with online data showing us that they are already searching for Easter.”
