Womenswear stays strong at John Lewis but fashion overall is down

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 30, 2018

John Lewis had a better week in the seven days to January 27 with an overall sales rise of 4.7% to £75.9 million. But in an about face from recent trading performance, directories that usually do well were less buoyant while those that have been suffering of late, saw some progress.

That was bad news for Fashion with its total sales down 0.4% overall. But at least womenswear managed to maintain its strong run with an impressive 9.9% increase. John Lewis didn’t share what exactly sold well in the womenswear category but we can only hope that its new-in assortment is appealing to shoppers.

But given how large the womenswear offer is and how much of a boost that almost-10% increase gave to the total figure, it’s clear that the 0.4% drop also included some negative performances. We’d be interested to know how menswear, kidswear, beauty and more are doing - but John Lewis isn’t letting on.

Meanwhile the Home category saw a 2.9% rise, which was good news after most weeks have been slower over the past year. This time, the company said that its customers took advantage final clearance sale offers and furniture and flooring sales were up 7.3% on last year.

Electrical and Home Technology products were the stars last week, up 11.9%, driven primarily by sales of  large electrical items, TVs and smartphones. Sales of large electrical items were up 12% compared to last year, and sales of communications technology products were up 11.7%.