Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
John Lewis has reported strong trading for last week (to October 1) with sales of £88m, up 9.6% on the year.
The department store group’s buying director for EHT (Electricals & Home Technology) Johnathan Marsh said the retailer enjoyed “good performances across all three directorates, as customers tried out our new season products”.
He added: “We also opened our latest shop, a small department store in Chelmsford, which received a fantastic reception from our new customers in Essex.”
For the Home directorate, sales were up 7% on the year. Furniture continued its run rate at +9.5% and lighting also did well at +12.6% as the nights start to draw in.
The EHT directorate was bolstered by new product launches, and finished the week at up 15.1%. Smart Home and Audio was up, and Mobile was boosted by the new iPhone launch, both helping the communications technology category post an increase of 30.6%.
Sales in for the Fashion directorate were up 8.6% with the cooler weather supporting an increase across different product areas. Womenswear performed strongly, up 18.6%, with outerwear brands such as Barbour selling well. Johnathan noted that John Lewis’ latest own brand range, ‘modern rarity’, “continues to do well, particularly in knitwear”.
