John Lewis boosted by formal menswear and beauty

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 2, 2019

In recent periods, John Lewis Partnership hasn’t managed to turn in some of the spectacular weekly growth figures it was once used to and in the seven days up June 29, it didn’t really change that with overall company sales flat at just under £231 million.

But the John Lewis department store chain did much better with a 4.1% overall sales rise as its summer Clearance event “continued to perform well and price matching competitor promotions drove sales in shops and online.”

And the Fashion department, which includes the company’s beauty offer, did even better. It rose as much as 7.6%, largely due to its beauty sales, which were up an impressive 19.8%. This was mainly down to the aforementioned price-matching competitor activity. 

But fashion itself did well too with own brand menswear sales the star performer as they were up as much as 12%. Interestingly, given the increasing casualisation of menswear, the rise was driven by sales of formal blazers and smart jackets as these were up 85% compared to last year. 

But Home department sales fell again, albeit only by 0.9%, and last week’s warm weather boosted sales of outdoor living which were up 9%.