// John Lewis Partnership weekly sales down 4.1%
// Waitrose sales decline 3.2%
// John Lewis sales drop 5.6%
John Lewis Partnership has posted another drop in weekly sales, thanks to cooler weather when compared to last year.
For the week ending May 25, the partnership’s weekly sales dropped 4.1 per cent to £205.68 million compared to same period last year, with the Waitrose and John Lewis fascias both recording declines.
On a week-on-week basis, the latest figures are worse than the 0.9 per cent slip recorded last week, when fashion sales helped drive John Lewis’ overall performance.
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For the company’s financial year-to-date, sales slipped by 0.9 per cent compared to the first 17 weeks of last year.
Total sales at Waitrose on its own were down 3.2 per cent compared to the same week last year, when sales were boosted due to the warmer weather.
Weekly sales of ambient products overall were down three per cent, fresh food and chilled products down by 1.9 per cent, while home and general merchandise sales plunged 11 per cent for the week.
Waitrose said that on the back of the Chelsea Flower Show, customers were keen to be in the garden with outdoor plants up by 21 per cent and sales of English and Welsh wine were on the rise ahead of English wine week.
Over at stablemate John Lewis, total sales for the week were down 5.6 per cent as the department store annualised price matching heavy competitor activity in the same week last year.
Fashion sales were down 4.3 per cent due to the annualised price matching activity, although beauty had a strong week with sales up 7.3 per cent.
The cooler weather compared to last year also affected sales of warm weather items, which were down 18 per cent.
Home sales were down 7.1 per cent, while electrical and home technology sales were down 5.1 per cent.
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