Jumper sales boost John Lewis profits
Cut-price cashmere jumpers helped keep UK retailer John Lewis in upbeat mood today as it posted bumper figures in the first week of its January sale.
The department-store chain reported sales of £77m (€113.9m) from December 27 until January 2, which was up 8.2% on the same period last year. The figures include sales at the Trafford Centre branch in Manchester and online, where the sale started a day earlier.
John Lewis also said the first day of its sale rung up a record £18.3m (€27.1m) at the tills, a 10% improvement on the opening day last year.
This helped the partnership keep its festive momentum rolling after it posted sales of £94.3m (€139.5m) to December 23, up 16.3% on the previous week, compared with £93.8m (€138.8m) in the same period last year.
Gareth Thomas, director of retail operations, said: “In keeping with the theme of tumbling records, we took more money on the first day of clearance than we have ever taken before.
“Fantastic results came from linens, upholstery, lighting, vision, large electrical, men’s own brands, beauty, jewellery, gifts, cookshop, china, glass and toys, to name but a few.”
John Lewis said half-price cashmere jumpers had flown off the shelves at a rate of one every two minutes, an increase of 134% on last year.
There was a 14% boost in sales of woks, steamers and pressure cookers, while 11 pillows were snapped up every minute during the week.
Meanwhile, bargain-hunters grabbed 14 lower-price saucepans each minute and enough mattresses were sold to cover four football pitches.
John Lewis has established itself as one of the UK’s top 10 retail businesses with 26 department stores and 184 Waitrose supermarkets. It is the UK’s largest example of worker co-ownership. All 65,000 staff are partners in the business.
