LIVERPOOL’S John Lewis store experienced mixed fortunes in festive trading, with strong sales in Christmas week partially making up for weak figures earlier in December.
The store increased sales by 11.7% in the week to December 29 on the same period in 2006, one of the most improved performances in the group.
The week’s strong showing gave a lift to what had otherwise been flagging December figures, which had seen sales in Liverpool fail to meet the 2006 levels for three of the four pre-Christmas weeks. In total, the Liverpool store’s year-to-date sales remain 0.5% behind 2006-07.
The local figures are at odds with a stronger picture nationally. The John Lewis chain saw an increase in sales of 8.0% for Christmas week buoyed by a 67.5% rise in sales on their website, johnlewis.com
The picture was strong across the country, particularly in Scotland and the North, with the partnership claiming that nearly every store had enjoyed record sales for the week.
The company’s retail operations director, Patrick Lewis, said: “If anyone doubted that ‘Christmas comes later every year’, our last two weeks' trade will certainly make them think again.
“Just beating last year's record December weeks would have been impressive, but we have had three weeks of growth at double our average rate for the half-year so far. The first two secured us weekly sales above £100m for the first time, and last week a very strong Christmas Eve and a record first day of clearance put us 7.6% ahead of last year.”
In the last full week of pre-Christmas trading, the stores had taken £100.6m to December 22, an increase of 6.7% on 2006. But the Liverpool store was among eight of the 25 to see a fall in sales that week. The Liverpool fall was 1.2%.
Electricals and home technology had the most consistent growth, thanks in part to MP3 players, cameras and photo frames, while demand for toys and books rose by more than half in Christmas week.
Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership, increased their sales by 28.5% for the week to December 29 – helped by Christmas Eve falling on a Monday.
alexturner
