John Lewis rescued by fashion again as menswear, warm weather items do well

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 26, 2019

It wasn't a good week for John Lewis as the department store chain reported its sales falling by as much as 4.8% in seven days up to and including February 23. It was one of the weakest results for the company of late, but even in a tough week, the Fashion department still managed to outperform.

Fashion was a saving grace for the retailer during the period with its total sales up 1.1%. And within that, menswear sales rose as much as 3.1%, with men’s branded casual clothing “performing particularly well following the launch of our new collection of six independent menswear brands in 10 shops and online.”

That's encouraging news and follows a strong run for the new lines that John Lewis has introduced over the last couple of years, justifying its major investment in the fashion category.

And the retailer also said that warm weather products, including sunglasses, swimwear and shorts, were up 13% on last year, presumably boosted by the mini winter heatwave that the UK is currently enjoying.  

But it wasn't all good news and once again Home department sales were down. They fell 9.5% this time due to discounting and half-term offers at competitors. But last week saw its highest February sales of outdoor furniture with sales up 33%, again due to the warm weather.