As children return to school this week after six months away, John Lewis and M&S recorded sales jumps across stores and online as parents prepped for the new academic year.
John Lewis recorded a 15% uplift in school uniform sales compared with last year, with a particular spike in sales of school shoes.
Both John Lewis and Marks & Spencer have launched new shoe-fitting services to help parents.
John Lewis has made shoe-fitting appointments bookable, with sales in the last week up 99% compared with the previous week as parents faced a last minute rush.
Meanwhile, M&S has created an online interactive shoe-fitting guide to help parents choose the right size for their children from the comfort of their own homes – a service the retailer says has been accessed more than 11,000 times.
M&S has focused on its online back-to-school services in particular, anticipating that many parents would prefer to shop in this way due to ongoing concerns about in-store shopping due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The retailer consequently increased its online stock of uniform items by 75% compared with last year, and introduced an ‘Email when back in stock’ function for all school items on M&S.com.
M&S also said that childrenswear essentials, such as socks, pants and joggers, have proved particularly popular, as well as value packs of shirts and trousers as parents look to save money this autumn.
With many schools advising bringing packed lunches to keep children safe, John Lewis has also seen a rise in sales of lunchboxes and water bottles – with sales up 21% and 49% week on week respectively.
Searches on Waitrose.com for “lunchbox” grew 60% compared with the same period in 2019, with ”lunch ideas” growing by 172% and ”lunch snacks” by 98%.
Other categories such as stationery and tech have also been high on parents’ lists.
Sales of ballpoint pens and notebooks were up 11% year on year in John Lewis, while sales of Google Chromebooks and 10in tablets jumped 107% and 71% respectively.
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