John Lewis boosted by accessories as clearance sale nears end

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 24, 2019

John Lewis Partnership had an unspectacular week in the seven days to July 20 with its sales flat at just over £214 million.

But at least the John Lewis department stores chain did a bit better with a sales increase of 1.3% as the final week of its summer clearance event got shoppers through the doors and clicking on its website. It had a particularly strong Saturday in its physical shops, the company said.

It all meant that its Fashion department sales managed a 3.8% increase, again driven by shoppers taking the opportunity to grab final markdowns, although it’s unclear whether the new season offer made much of an impact with the weather being very summery of late.

However, the company said that women’s accessories “performed particularly well” with sales up 9%, driven by sales of handbags.

And it was something of a surprise that the beleaguered Home department also managed a sales rise this time. That department has been a major under-performer for some time. This time round though, it saw an admittedly small increase of 0.9%. It was a good week in textiles & home accessories with sales up 7.7% largely driven by sales of bedding, with bed & bath up 9.5%.