// John Lewis plans to close no more stores despite online accounting for two thirds of its sales
// The department store achieved record annual sales in a year where it had 16 fewer stores and lockdown forced all shops to close for 10 weeks
John Lewis Partnership has revealed that it will not close any more stores despite online accounting for two thirds of its sales over the past year.
The partnership achieved record sales of £4.93 billion, with like-for-likes up 8% against last year, even with 10 weeks of shop closures during Covid lockdowns.
John Lewis also traded from 16 fewer stores, which it permanently closed during the pandemic.
Despite the soaring performance of online, John Lewis executive director Pippa Wicks was firm that it would close no more stores.
She told Retail Gazette that footfall at its remaining stores is “performing well”. She also said that the customer journey was increasingly blended with shoppers visiting in-store and online.
Wicks also highlighted that fashion sales soared when its stores reopened after lockdown, which highlighted how customers prefer shopping in-store for certain categories.
“Interestingly when stores reopened shoppers bought more fashion. Stores play a key role for our customers alongside online,” she said.
Wicks added that services, such as personal styling, and in-store events make the shopping experience “very different to online”.
The retailer unveiled plans to invest £90 million in stores this year, which would fund 23 shop refurbishments.
Online sales have soared across the partnership. At John Lewis’ sister company Waitrose, ecommerce sales grew 14% year on year and now stand at 17% of total sales.
READ MORE: John Lewis Partnership reinstates bonus as it celebrates record full year sales
John Lewis Partnership confirmed that it would not make any more redundancies in the year ahead.
Last year, the partnership cut 1,000 management roles, on top of the 1,465 roles that were lost due to store closures.
The job cuts contributed to the £170 million savings made over the year, which chairwoman Sharon White said was a major factor behind its profit growth.
Profits pre-exceptional items hit £181 million, up 38% year on year, in its full year to 29 January. On this measure profits were 159% better than two years ago, pre-pandemic.
However, when exceptionals were taken into account, John Lewis Partnership made a pre-tax loss of £26 million.
As a result, the partnership has reinstated a bonus for partners. Staff will receive a 3% bonus for the year.
Wicks added that John Lewis had benefited from the demise of rival Debenhams, which collapsed into administration in late 2020. She said John Lewis had made a push to win new customers in the beauty space, an area where Debenhams was a market leader.
Wicks said this had attracted new customers to the businesss.
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