John Lewis said it is finishing its financial year with a “flourish” as the department store chain notched up an 11.1% increase in turnover to £53.58m in the week to January 16.
The retailer’s director of operational development Andrew Murphy said snow influenced sales “but did not dominate”. He said it benefited from “pent-up demand” from consumers, culminating in a “great day’s trade on Saturday”.
Sixteen shops were up on last year’s sales, while fashion helped drive sales in all stores, with almost every category posting a double-digit rise. Overall fashion increased 19% against last year, with women’s outerwear performing particularly strongly, with sales soaring 44%.
In home, sales grew 15.4%, driven by a 22% jump in bed linen. Big ticket did well, with kitchens up 35%, benefiting from John Lewis’ delay of the VAT increase.
At the retailer’s grocery chain Waitrose, sales surged 16.6% to £86.60m, helped by sales of frozen goods as customers looked to stock up on food in the cold weather.
In response to the demand Waitrose said next week will be the upmarket grocer’s “biggest ever launch of frozen products”.
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