John Lewis sales climb driven by fair-weather fashion

The department store retailer recorded a 7% increase in sales year-on-year to £76.5m in the week to March 14, which it attributed to “the influence of the different fall of Mothers’ Day this year compared to last year, with strong increases for key gifting categories”.

Fashion sales jumped 11.1% during the period as more clement weather drove purchases across men’s and women’s categories, up 8% and 17.7% respectively, and women’s casualwear seeing the strongest demand.

Beauty, wellbeing and leisure products were up 18.1%, while electrical, home and technology sales rose 7.5%, bolstered by a 16.3% increase in sales of audio and connected-home products.

Warm weather also drove purchases in John Lewis’s home category, which posted a 2.6% rise overall, driven by a 20.6% lift in sales of outdoor living products.

Waitrose

Sales across the Partnership rose 2.8% overall while sales at the department store’s sister retailer Waitrose edged up 0.4%.

The milder weather drove sales of fresh produce, with sales of raspberries and prepared fruit up 38% and 29% respectively, while sales of daffodils soared 56%.

Although gluten and dairy-free products had a 135% sales boost, the grocer’s overall sales were offset by a 0.6% decline in ambient food purchases.