John Lewis sales spike driven by Black Friday bargains

The department store retailer recorded a 60.4% surge in sales year on year in the week to December 2.

The retailer’s sales increased was bolstered by Black Friday falling a week later than in 2018, but in comparison with last year’s Black Friday event sales were up 2.1%, which John Lewis & Partners’ operations director Bérangère Michel said was “a new record week of sales” for the retailer.

John Lewis, which ran 11 days worth of Black Friday promotions from November 22 to December 2, in comparison with eight days the previous year, attributed its sales growth to “demand for our Black Friday deals and competitor offers, which we price matched through our commitment to our Never Knowingly Undersold policy”.

The department store retailer recorded a 43% increase in traffic on its mobile app during the week, with the busiest hour of traffic recorded between 9am and 10am on November 29.

The retailer said sales across its bricks-and-mortar estate were also strong with a number of stores recording “record sales over the seven days”.

Fashion sales were up 71% year on year, driven by a strong menswear performance, while electricals and home technology and home sales rose 81% and 18% respectively.

Sales at Waitrose declined 3.9% year on year, which the grocer attributed to Black Friday falling later this year and a subsequent skew on demand towards non-food items.

Across the John Lewis Partnership, sales rose 29.7% year on year to £385.7m.