// John Lewis Partnership’s overall weekly sales down 0.6%
// Waitrose weekly sales up 0.9%
// John Lewis weekly sales down 3.4%
John Lewis Partnership weekly sales have dipped slightly, as its eponymous department store chain continued to drag its overall performance.
For the week ending February 16, sales at the parent company of Waitrose and John Lewis slid by 0.6 per cent year-on-year, from £207.76 million down to £206.44 million year-on-year.
However, when looking at John Lewis Partnership’s year-to-date, sales grew marginally at 0.1 per cent year-on-year.
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While Waitrose booked weekly sales growth of 0.9 per cent year-on-year, this is a dramatc slow down compared to the 1.9 per cent growth it recorded last week, and 4.1 per cent the week before that.
John Lewis said sales in its fashion department were up 1.2 per cent, driven by a 10.9 per cent surge in women’s accessories while price matching a competitor promotion on beauty products boosted sales in beauty, wellbeing and leisure by 7.2 per cent.
Home sales were down 7.6 per cent, although John Lewis said it had a record week for Valentine’s Day products with sales up 27 per cent year-on-year, while upholstery sales were up 39 per cent.
Meanwhile, electrical and home technology sales were down 3.1 per cent but strong sales of tablets and computers led to a 2.4 per cent uptick in communications technology products.
At Waitrose, Valentine’s Day led to a 14 per cent boost in flower sales, a 15 per cent uptick in greetings cards as well as growth in own-brand chocolates.
The upmarket grocer added that baked goods, including morning goods and hot cross buns, saw 19 per cent and 40 per cent growth in sales respectively as shoppers look forward to Easter.
