John Lewis weekly sales pass £100m

The department store chain, which reported weekly sales of £103.7m, up 3.7% on last week, said Saturday was one of its biggest trading days with sales reaching £20.9m.

The chain said johnlewis.com enjoyed a record week, helped by the snow, with sales up 47% to £23.97m compared to the same week last year. It also marked the first time that its weekly online sales passed £20m. During Wednesday last week, the worst day of the weather conditions, sales on johnlewis.com were 98% up on the same day last year.

John Lewis said it expected to see “records broken” during today’s Mega Monday.

John Lewis said the cold weather helped boost sales of nightwear and cold weather fashions. Menswear sales were also particularly strong. Toy sales were alsoo strong, with traditional gifts such as Lego and animatronic toys hitting new sales highs. Also, food gifts, particularly Hotel Chocolat and Edinburgh Preserves sets were popular.

Maggie Porteous, head of selling operations at John Lewis, said: “The weather made last week a challenging one. It is a huge credit to all our partners that we have achieved such excellent sales despite the adverse conditions. There is no doubt that our multi-channel operation, where customers can choose from a variety of ways to shop, has contributed significantly to our trading success.”