Black Friday fashion and beauty are a hit for John Lewis

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 27, 2018

John Lewis had a much better time of the seven days to November 24 than recently with its parent company seeing sales up 4.2% to almost £380 million but the department store chain and its webstore leaping ahead by 7.7%.

That came after a couple of sluggish weeks and it turned out to be the biggest sales week in its history. “Sales were driven by demand for our Black Friday offers and competitor offers, which we price-matched through our commitment to our Never Knowingly Undersold policy,” the retailer said.

Both its shops and its website “traded well and a number of shops enjoyed a record week” in the seven days that included a big chunk of the Black Friday period. Due to competitor offers and its own ones launching earlier in the week, the retailer said it saw “sales up across the week and less concentrated on Black Friday itself, although that was still the busiest day for sales.”

It’s no surprise that Electrical and Home Technology sales were up 5.7% as Black Friday is a very electronics-focused event.

But Fashion department sales were up an impressive 13.1%. The firm said that turnover was primarily driven by Black Friday promotions on branded items, but it also saw strong growth in own-brand sales.  

Bestsellers across the week included a number of beauty items such as Creed Aventus Eau de Parfum, the John Lewis & Partners Beauty Advent Calendar and its Clarins Skincare Gift Set.

Even the beleaguered Home department saw its sales rising 2.3%. It enjoyed particularly strong sales of beds and its 7ft Brunswick Spruce Christmas tree was also in demand.