John Lewis sells more women's accessories and beauty despite overall sales dip

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 9, 2019

John Lewis Partnership sales rose in the latest week with a healthy 7.3% uplift to £211.72 million. It was welcome news after some more sluggish weeks, but it was cold comfort for the firm’s department stores as they lagged the rest of the business. 

The rise was actually due to a 17.3% surge at the firm’s Waitrose supermarkets, boosted by a 20.2% increase in the home & general merchandise category.

But the John Lewis department stores chain in the seven days to April 6 saw its sales falling 5.8% as the company “continued to annualise strong sales due to the earlier fall of Easter last year.” However, sales rose at the weekend “as customers took advantage of Easter promotions which launched at the end of the week.”

While the department store chain as a whole was weak, at least its Fashion department turned in a better performance. Its sales rose 4.3% and within that, Beauty, Wellbeing and Leisure sales were up 14.3% due to John Lewis price matching a competitor’s beauty promotion. Meanwhile, Women’s Accessories sales were up 5.7% as customers took advantage of Easter offers.

Once again, Home department sales were down, this time by 3.9%, although Gifts, Cook and Dine sales were up 1.2%.