// John Lewis Partnership weekly sales decline 2.9%
// Waitrose sales drop 1.1%
// John Lewis sales slide 5.5%
John Lewis Partnership’s weekly sales declined by 2.9 per cent last week, as the end of the school holiday period affected sales at both the Waitrose and John Lewis fascias.
For the week ending September 7, the partnership’s overall weekly sales came in at £210.20 million, compared to the same time year when it recorded £216.41 million.
For the year to date, sales were down 1.1 per cent year-on-year.
READ MORE:
On its own, John Lewis’ total sales were down 5.5 per cent on the same week last year – although this is an improvement on the 7.2 per cent decline recorded the week prior.
Fashion sales were down 4.9 per cent due to the annualising of the launch of John Lewis’ womenswear collection, although the beauty, wellbeing and leisure section saw sales up by three per cent thanks to price matching a competitor event.
Home sales at the department store were down 9.1 per cent, despite John Lewis’ own-brand house range enjoying its biggest week this year as students prepared for university while Off to Uni sales were up 26 per cent week-on-week.
Electrical and home technology sales were down 3.5 per cent, but sales of large electricals were up 1.5 per cent as customers continued to shop for cooking products.
Total sales at stablemate Waitrose slid 1.1 per cent for the week, with only its chilled and fresh food section booking a sales increase with a marginal 0.1 per cent uptick.
The grocer recorded a 0.8 decline ambient products sales, while home and general merchandise sales declined 2.2 per cent.
John Lewis Partnership will reveal its half-year results on Thursday this week.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette’s free daily email newsletter
