John Lewis boss Wicks: Christmas trading to be ‘as good or better’ than last year

Wicks, who took the helm as executive director for John Lewis last month, said the business is planning for trading across “the whole Christmas period to be the same, if not better” than last year.

She said the retailer would benefit from the fact many John Lewis customers would have more disposable income and the rollout of its click-and-collect proposition to almost 900 locations, which would offer shoppers a greater level of convenience during the golden quarter. 

Wicks said: “People will want to be with family and make it special, and that will play into the Christmas spend. People haven’t been on holiday as much this year, they haven’t been travelling as much, so they are saving from normal costs. And I think the self-treat piece will come into the Black Friday experience as they redivert some of that money into some of those products. 

“It is a little bit of a crystal ball – this is not a usual year – but for planning purposes we are assuming that Black Friday and peak will be at least as good as last year.”

Wicks said searches for Christmas products on the John Lewis website jumped 300% year on year in August, prompting the business to open its Christmas shop earlier than ever. 

The John Lewis Partnership, which slumped to an interim loss of £55m, stressed that the Christmas trading period was “particularly important to profits in John Lewis”.

Wicks predicted that it would be “a strong online Christmas” and finance director Patrick Lewis insisted that greater costs associated with online sales, compared with those made in store, would not impact the business’ long-term profitability.

“In the short term, as we have a significant lift in online sales, we do have to adapt our supply chain and take additional costs, particularly at peak,” he said.

“The shift has some impact, but in the long term we are adapting well and are very confident in our online profitability.”

Wicks said she expected homewares and technology sales – the latter have increased 20% so far this year – to be strong sellers over the Christmas period, while fashion sales would likely be more subdued.

John Lewis chair Dame Sharon White added: “We are gearing up both brands to ensure that families in whatever situation in the pandemic and lockdown can have a great Christmas. 

“This is not naive optimism; it is recognising uncertainty, both in terms of the economy and also a possible new lockdown, and then planning very actively for customers with great prices, great quality and great value, so they can really celebrate what has been a pretty difficult year.”