John Lewis has reported a slight dip in sales for the week ending January 29 and warned that the year ahead will be more “testing”.

For the week to January 29, its final trading week of the year, sales were down 0.9%. Excluding VAT, sales were down 3.1%. Only its Peter Jones, Cambridge, Trafford and Glasgow were up on last year.

Some of its prominent department stores had a tough week. Bluewater was down 11.8%, Cribbs Causeway was down 11%, Brent Cross was down 9.9% and Oxford Street was down 2.4%.

However, John Lewis said 15 shops exceeded their trade of two years ago.

Johnlewis.com was up 19%, driven by momentum in electricals and double-digit increases in both home and fashion.

For the week, fashion and home was steady. The Royal Wedding collection of commemorative china arrived this week and was “well received”.

John Lewis retail director Andrew Murphy said: “The year ahead promises to be even more testing, but we are budgeting for growth.”

Sister grocer Waitrose notched up a record £5bn sales last Saturday for the first time. For the week, sales were up 6.4%.

This milestone represents total growth of almost 10% for the year.

The John Lewis Partnership has also appointed Baroness (Sarah) Hogg, currently chairman of the Financial Reporting Council and senior independent director of BG Group, and David Anderson, currently non-executive director of NFU Mutual Insurance Societt and chairman of thinktank Mutuo, as non-executive directors.

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