John Lewis records flat sales week

The department store recorded sales of £53.98m for the week, with electricals up 12.1% but fashion and home both down 3.6% in the week to February 25. Total sales in February were 5.7% up on last year.

Total sales at Waitrose were up 8.2% to £103.22m, driven by a 20.7% uplift in online sales.

Johnlewis.com posted a 39% rise with a consistent sales pattern across all merchandise groups.

Poole and Knight & Lee were the only two stores out the 32 reported which recorded a positive result against last year.

John Lewis director of selling operations Nat Wakely said: “Not surprisingly it was a less attention-grabbing headline last week following our fabulous result the week before, given the change in timing of half term for most of our shops.

“In spite of that, finishing with level sales on last year was entirely respectable.”

The retailer is expected to reveal a 12% to 14% bonus for its 77,000 staff next week. This is a fall from last year’s bonus of 18%.

Beauty, nursery, home accessories and cookery products were all strong performers for the department store last week.

John Lewis said it would look to “maximise” on the earlier fall of Easter and increased hospitality.

Waitrose retail director Rob Collins said: “Despite the warmer weather, shoppers continue to indulge in traditional roast dinners, with sales of meat up by 9.5%.

“Traditional options such as duck and turkey remained popular, but the performance across the Forgotten Cuts range has been extremely high - sales of ox and pig cheek have risen by 146% and 162% respectively.”