John Lewis sales rise strongly, fashion and beauty lead

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 11, 2019

John Lewis Partnership sales dipped ever so slightly in the seven days up to June 8, with a 0.5% fall to £214.72 million. But the biggest drain on the performance was the Waitrose supermarkets, where sales fell 3%.

The John Lewis department stores chain, by contrast, was buoyant as its turnover rose as much as 6.7% on the back of the company price-matching competitor promotions. That was especially the case in fashion and beauty.

While cutting prices might depress profits further down the line, at a purely headline level it was good news for now. The company said that the Fashion department’s sales were up 14.8% “with standout performances in own-brand, up 7.7%.” Its heavy investment in own-brand collections has paid off very well in recent periods and within its own-brand offer, women's accessories "had a great week”, rising 15.4%, while menswear sales were up 8% on last year.

It even managed to report a positive performance in its beleaguered Home department where overall sales were up 3.1% following a strong performance in textiles and home accessories that saw a rise of 4.9% year-on-year. In the run-up to Father’s Day, it also saw surging sales in gifting with a 20.7% increase.