John Lewis sales buoyed by online sales

John Lewis said that “despite our ever-challenging weather we delivered another great week’s trade”.

Johnlewis.com was up 38.4% and all categories achieved double digit growth through the channel.

Across both stores and online, electrical home and technology achieved the strongest growth, rising 34%, driven by telecoms and vision.

Home was up 8.7%, with accessories and gifts propelling growth, particularly in Jubilee-related lines.

Fashion edged up 1%. The retailer said clothing was “influenced by a mixed bag of weather and reductions in the latter part of the week that turned customers’ attention back towards summer fashion”.

Womenswear and menswear slipped in to negative territory although the overall performance was buoyed by accessories and beauty.

Toys, Nursery and haberdashery were up +5.7 while childrenswear grew 7.8%.

More than half John Lewis’ branches were up on last year, with Poole, Croydon, Tunbridge Wells and Knight & Lee outperforming the portfolio.

John Lewis director, selling operations, David Barford said: “As we move into this week, our Clearance in both shops and online should provide a compelling offer for our customers.” 

At sister chain Waitrose sales increased 4.5% to £109.52m as it benefited from a growth in sales of beer and pizza as Brits tuned into the Euro 2012 tournament.

Father’s Day helped sales of malt whiskey to grow 24% while duck eggs were up 72% at the upmarket grocer.