// John Lewis Partnership’s overall weekly sales slides 1.3%
// Waitrose weekly sales dips 0.5%
// John Lewis weekly sales declines 2.3%
John Lewis Partnership has managed to claw back some weekly sales after last week’s plunge, thanks to positive growth in fashion as well as fresh and ambient food sales.
For the week ending November 9, overall sales for the parent company of Waitrose and John Lewis declined 1.3 per cent year-on-year, from £237.5 million down to £234.47 million.
This is an improvement on last week, when weekly sales dropped 6.9 per cent year-on-year on the back of a 16.6 per cent plunge in fashion sales at John Lewis.
Meanwhile for the year-to-date, the partnership recorded a 0.9 per cent year-on-year decline.
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At John Lewis, total sales were down 2.3 per cent on the same week last year, although promotions across lighting, fashion and beauty helped bring positive growth for their respective departments.
Fashion sales were up 2.4 per cent overall at the department store, boosted by an 11.6 per cent uptick in beauty, wellbeing & leisure sales and a surge in womenswear sales thanks to the popularity of the 12 days of Christmas Dresses category.
Home sales were down 3.1 per cent overall, although lighting sales were up 21 per cent as customers prepared their homes for winter evenings.
Meanwhile, sales in the electrical and home technology department were down seven per cent as John Lewis annualised new product launches.
Over at stablemate Waitrose, excluding fuel were down 0.5 per cent compared to the same week last year.
The grocer recorded a 0.6 per cent uptick in chilled and fresh food sales, while ambient product sales grew 1.5 per cent.
On the other hand, home and general merchandise sales dropped 15.4 per cent.
Waitrose also saw a sharp rise in demand for comfort foods amid declining temperatures, with gravy and stock were up seven per cent, premium ready meals up four per cent, and cakes and treat tubs up five per cent.
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