Department store John Lewis reported “a very encouraging week” as total sales leapt 14 per cent in the week to March 9th 2013 thanks to the early fall of Mother‘s Day.
All branches across the retailer‘s store network saw a sales rise with Swindon and Chester outperforming others reporting increases of 28 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.
“Mother‘s Day clearly played out in the results,” explained Head of Retail Implementation and Format Development at John Lewis Tim Harrison, with all three buying directorates seeing a rise while gifting fared well across all assortments.
Sales of electricals and home technology surged 33.1 per cent while home sales rose 7.4 per cent and fashion sales increased 7.3 per cent on the same period a year earlier.
Online sales grew 20 per cent following the launch of John Lewis‘ new website and Harrison welcomed the strong week of trade.
“The combination of Mother‘s Day and an extravaganza, plus the Bonus announcement, clearly put everyone in the shopping mood, resulting in an excellent week of trade.
“As we head into Easter we need to maintain our focus on giving our customers great service and products.”
Waitrose had a similarly successful week of trade following last Thursday‘s bonus announcement as total sales climbed 17.4 per cent.
Last-minute Mother‘s Day preparations saw “nearly a fifth” of shoppers collect gifts, meals and ingredients on Saturday as sales of medium-sized eggs, Champagne and sparkling wine jumped 107 per cent, 57 per cent and 48 per cent respectively.
