// John Lewis Partnership’s overall weekly sales increases 8.4%
// Waitrose weekly sales drop 1.7%
// John Lewis weekly sales surges 23.1%
Double-digit sales growth at John Lewis Partnership’s eponymous department store chain has allowed the company to record another week of overall sales growth.
For the week ending October 5, sales at the partnership shot up by 8.4 per cent year-on-year, from £218.58 million to £236.99 million.
This also marked the second consecutive weekly sales growth after the parent company of Waitrose and John Lewis posted a string of lacklustre weekly updates.
However, for John Lewis Partnership’s year-to-date, sales slipped by by one per cent per cent year-on-year.
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John Lewis was the main driver of the partnership’s overall sales growth, with weekly sales surging 23.1 per cent year-on-year as customers took advantage of the home promotional event and the first ever John Lewis Beauty Weekend that took place across 35 stores.
Home sales skyrocketed 68.4 per cent due to the promotional event, which made it the biggest week for online home sales this year.
In that category, furniture and flooring sales were up 71.3 per cent and textiles and home accessories sales were up 80.1 per cent.
Gifts, cook and dine sales were up 46.6 per cent and the first full week of Christmas shop sales were up 14 per cent on last year.
Meanwhile, John Lewis’ fashion sales were up 8.8 per cent.
Within that category, beauty, wellbeing and leisure sales were up 24.9 per cent thanks to a combination of the John Lewis Beauty Weekend and price matching a competitor’s beauty promotions.
Finally, the electrical and home technology department saw sales grow 4.6 per cent.
Stablemate Waitrose didn’t fare as well as John Lewis, with weekly sales down 1.7 per cent year-on-year.
Ambient sales were down 1.2 per cent, chilled and fresh food sales were down 1.6 per cent and home and general merchandise sales declined 4.8 per cent.
Waitrose said its No.1 ready meals saw sales surge by 68 per cent as customers started to indulge in comfort food with the start of autumn.
October also marks Vegetarian Awareness Month and as a result Waitrose said its vegan and vegetarian range enjoyed an 28 per cent uptick in sales.
Customers are preparing to decorate their homes for Halloween, with sales of pumpkins up by eight per cent on last year.
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