John Lewis sales jump as tech fuels festive spending

The department store business said revenues rose 3.4% to £177.9m in the seven days to December 2, compared to the same week last year.

John Lewis said the uplift was buoyed by Christmas spending, including high demand for gaming, wearable tech and mobile phones.

Demand for the iPhone 8 and iPhone X continued, as the retailer maintained the sales momentum of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Fashion sales were up 1.7% during the week as customers shopped the category for Christmas presents. The beauty, wellbeing and leisure subcategory emerged as the top performer with 5% year-on-year growth, while womenswear registered a 4.6% uplift.

John Lewis hailed record sales of cashmere, which surged 24% last week.

Waitrose

Sister retailer Waitrose also posted sales gains, with revenues climbing 3.2% excluding fuel to £144.5m.

The upmarket grocer said performance was driven by targeted promotions and growing interest in its festive ranges.

Christmas meat orders increased 11%, with turkey orders growing 9%, as shoppers began to prepare for the festive season.

Waitrose said promotional activities also wooed customers, as flash sales on boxed chocolates and service counter cheese lured in shoppers.

The alcohol category remained a top performer, with wine sales up 8% and beer sales growing 9%.

It was spirits, however, which recorded the highest growth, with Cognac sales up more than 40% and sales of Tequila, rum and gin advancing 23%, 18% and 17% respectively.

Total sales across the Partnership climbed 3.3% to £322.4m.