Sales of home products soared at John Lewis last week as its last week of clearance sales surged 20 per cent on last year.
Textiles, carpets and wedding gifts drove a rise in home products of 23 per cent.
David Barford, director of selling at John Lewis commented: “As well as a healthy appetite for clearance stock we are also pleasingly seeing customers beginning to buy from the new season lines.”
John Lewis said online sales rose 31.5 per cent as consumers browsed and bought bargain products from its website.
John Lewis continues to defy the recession and has directly benefited from the housing boom across the UK. However, it is widely expected that buyers‘ demand will slow as interest rates rise in the next six months. The BRC found that demand for furniture and home accessories “flat-lined” in June, something it said was “surprising.”
Sales are up 9.1 per cent for the first half of 2014 compared to the same half last year at the department store.
