John Lewis sales down again but And/Or and Kin surge

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 4, 2018

The strong Black Friday week at John Lewis appears to have been a one-off with the retailer back in negative territory in the seven days up to December 1.

On Tuesday, the company said that its overall sales (including its Waitrose supermarkets) fell by 4% to just over £297 million. But the John Lewis department store chain and its webstore dropped by a worse 5.9% as interest tailed off following the Black Friday frenzy.

Even the Fashion department, which has been a strong performer for the chain for some time, was down by 1.8%. The company said that this was due to cold weather categories being affected by relatively mild temperatures in the seven-day period.

That said, some of the retailer’s own-brand womenswear performed “particularly well” as it was driven by customers shopping for their party looks. And it seems that the words “particularly well” are a bit of an understatement. In fact, the company’s casual And/Or brand saw its sales rising 144%, while Kin was up a smaller-but-still-impressive 48%.

The picture was worse in other departments with Home sales 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.

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%.