John Lewis fashion sales dip but warm weather clothing takes off

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 20, 2017

John Lewis fashion sales may have been up just over a week ago on the back of extra spend for occasionwear but the situation went into reverse last week.

In the seven days to June 17, total sales actually dipped by 1.4% to £78.1m and fashion sales fell 3% year-on-year. But this was due to the impact of different timings of a competitor price match promotion rather than any other more worrying reason.

In fact, John Lewis fashion sales have been a bright spot for much of the year with its premium own brands and its casualwear offer driving growth earlier in the season, while clothes for summer special occasions have proved buoyant more recently.

But while fashion sales overall went into an unaccustomed dip in the latest week, clothing for warm weather rose 17% as the UK embarked on a June heatwave. And beauty sales were strong too with a 7.9% increase, underlining beauty’s general strength for the whole year.

While Home sales were down 5.2%, the warm weather drove a 55% increase in outdoor living sales compared to last year.