Rain doesn't stop John Lewis as shoppers remember autumn is very close

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Aug 15, 2017

It was a good week for John Lewis in the seven days to August 12, even though wet weather could have made consumers feel very lukewarm about buying summer season goods.

As it was, that weather actually boosted fashion sales as shoppers suddenly remembered that autumn is just around the corner and stocked up on outerwear.

The retailer said that its total sales rose a healthy 5.9% to £75.61m with sales of all departments growing more than in the same week last year.

Fashion sales were up an even stronger 7.5%, primarily driven by womenswear sales which powered ahead by as much as 21.5%. As mentioned, the company said that was partially due to the mid-week unseasonal weather which drove early demand for autumn season outerwear.  

It always helps to have such a stark reminder of the season to come at such a time with a heatwave being just what stores don’t need when their early transitional drops are hitting their shelves.

Meanwhile, sales of menswear products were up 8.1% and the company said it saw strong demand for Paul Smith menswear which had its first full week of sales.

Home sales went back to their usual unspectacular growth with only a 1% rise. This was boosted by sales of textiles and home accessories that were up 4.9%, and sales of gifts, cook and dine products that rose by 1.5%.

But the electrical and home technology directory was the strongest performer of the week with sales up 9.2%, boosted by TVs rising 17.7% and the new Samsung The Frame Art Mode TV proving popular. Communications tech product sales were up 12.7%  largely due to sales of Apple MacBooks growing by 53% as a result of matching a competitor's promotion.