Home drops again for John Lewis

John Lewis saw another week of lower home sales in the week to 1 December as overall sales dropped back after the Black Friday week.

Total sales for the week to 1 December were down 5.9% on 2017 following the Black Friday week, when the chain set a sales record and sales were 7.7% higher.

‘Home sales were down 8.8%. Sales of Christmas decorations were up 9.2% as customers enjoyed preparing their homes for Christmas and it was one of the biggest weeks ever for Christmas tree sales,’ said Johnathan Marsh, John Lewis home buying director.

‘Fashion sales were down 1.8%, with cold weather categories affected by the mild weather. Beauty, wellbeing and leisure sales were up 1.5%. Some of our own brand womenswear performed particularly well driven by customers shopping partywear, with sales of And/Or up 144% and sales of Kin up 48%.

‘Electrical and home technology sales were down 7.7% but Personal care sales were up 38% driven by demand for the Dyson Airwrap. Electrical accessories were also up 32%.’

Home sales for the 18 week period were down 5.4%, compared with a 0.6% fall for total sales.