John Lewis Partnership goes back to school with a bang

The John Lewis Partnership finished the summer holidays with a mix in trading at both its department store and Waitrose supermarket divisions. With generally hot and sunny weather at the end of the school holidays, John Lewis saw a boost in certain categories such as back to school, but other categories saw slowing growth.

The department store’s total sales finished up 3.3% on last year, behind the division’s current run rate, but the biggest sterling week of the half year so far. Its Click & Collect service bolstered a strong performance from online, which saw 19.9% growth.

Electrical and home technology produced another excellent performance, up 15.3% with the launch of the John Lewis digital radio helping audio & imaging produce a gain of 27.6%. In home the trade was tougher, down 3.8% per cent, although against some one-off sales from a year ago.
In fashions, schoolwear produced 9.8% growth in its peak week. The other stand-out result was in nursery products where new assortments are helping to grow the business.

John Lewis’ head of retail implementation and format development, said: “The holidays are over, the schools are all back and we could now do with the next turn of the changing seasons. The new products in our shops are getting a great reception from customers and we have it superbly presented in both shops and online, allowing us to make the most of the new season.”
Meanwhile, total sales at Waitrose, excluding petrol, were strong at 9.1% up driven by a sunny end to the summer holidays and by shoppers stocking up for a return to school and university. Parents stocked up ready for the start of term, with many lunchbox favourites seeing strong sales growth such as snack cheese which was up 35% and dried fruit which was 39% up.
The warm weather also prompted sales of picnic and alfresco-style food, as people made the most of the sun.

Rupert Thomas, marketing director, Waitrose, said: “With many students heading to university soon we have been seeing strong demand for good value basics to kit out a student house. Our range of specially introduced household products has been snapped up fast, with top sellers in the range including our towel bales, duvet and pillow sets and tea towels.
And our Welcome Break shops showed the increase in people travelling across the country to make the most of the late summer sun - sales at our 19 shops increased by 27% for the week compared to last year.”