The first week of the new financial year dawned cold across the country, with snow hitting a number of regions over the course of the week, causing minor disruption to trade in some of John Lewis' shops. The strength of John Lewis' omni-channel trade came to the fore, with customers shopping across all channels there was an increase last week of 4.5% on last year.
Online sales for the week were particularly strong at 18.6% up on last year, driven by increased traffic at 22% up.
Ipswich, Swindon and Ashford all achieved double-figure increases and led the way for New Format, with the big shops of Cardiff, Stratford City and Leicester all posting solid increases as well.
There is a wealth of new spring ranges arriving in John Lewis shops and online, and its customers are already being tempted to purchase. In Home, it was a strong week for the new Fusion range, which is not only highlighted on the seasonal mats in store, but also on the cover of the new Home catalogue, and helped the directorate to a strong increase of 6.6% on last year.
Sales of Beds and Bedroom Furniture continue to be particularly buoyant, and Flooring also sold strongly last week.
