Department store John Lewis posted lacklustre sales in the week to November 3, in a further sign of a slowdown on the high street.
However, supermarket chain Waitrose, owned by John Lewis Partnership, fared better, posting sales up 4.3 per cent for the week.
Waitrose supply chain director Mark Williamson said that Halloween and Bonfire Night helped the supermarket chain to hit targets.
John Lewis registered a 0.5 per cent increase in sales for the seven days to November 3, excluding the Oxford Street store’s foodhall, compared with an 11.8 per cent increase for the same week last year.
For the 14 weeks to November 3, John Lewis sales rose just 2.1 per cent, compared with 15.6 per cent last year.
However, John Lewis’ internet operation registered booming sales. John Lewis head of internal communications Simon Fowler said: “John Lewis Direct produced its best sales week of the half so far. Online trade moved forward convincingly and, at more than 50 per cent for the week, was comfortably ahead of our cumulative striking rate.”
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