// John Lewis Partnership’s overall weekly sales grows 7.3%
// Waitrose weekly sales marginally surges 17.3%
// John Lewis weekly sales drops 5.8%
John Lewis Partnership’s weekly sales have bounced back after several weeks of decline, boosted by double-digit growth from Waitrose.
For the week ending April 6, weekly sales at the partnership increased 7.3 per cent to £211.72 million compared to the same period last year, when it recorded £197.23 million.
This compares to the slump of 11.4 per cent the company recorded last week, which was due to the later timing of Easter distorting the comparisons of figures.
However, for John Lewis Partnership’s financial year-to-date, sales were down 2.1 per cent compared to the first 10 weeks last year.
Waitrose was the star performer last week, booking a weekly sales increase of 17.3 per cent compared to stablemate John Lewis’ decline of 5.8 per cent.
The partnership’s grocery fascia said comparisons were still distorted due to the fall of Easter last year, but credited its sales growth the popularity of its Easter egg and chocolate ranges as well as double-digit growth in gardening, meat and champagne sales.
John Lewis also continued to annualise strong sales due to the earlier fall of Easter last year.
Nonetheless, fashion sales were up 4.3 per cent – boosted by a 14.3 per cent uptick in beauty, wellbeing and leisure sales as well as 5.7 per cent growth in women’s accessories.
Meanwhile, home sales were down 3.9 per cent despite a 21 per cent uptick in hamper sales, and electrical and home technology sales were down 16.6 per cent due to the annualisation of strong Easter promotions.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
