John Lewis has reported online sales up by a fifth in the first week of its new financial year, compared to the same time last year.
Ecommerce played out as part of a multichannel ecosystem that also saw strong traffic from mobile, high rates of delivery through click and collect and particularly strong sales in the retailer’s ‘at home’ branches, which use digital to bring offer shoppers a wider range.
Sales at its Poole at home branch, for example, were up by 22.7% on last year in the week to February 1, ahead of ecommerce growth of 20.3%. But department store sales elsewhere were down on last year: Knight & Lee in Southsea was down by 14.2% on last time and its Tunbridge Wells store was down by 13.1%. Overall, sales were up by 4.9%.
Simon Russell, director, retail operations development, at John Lewis, said it was a “solid start” to the year. “Online had an impressive week recording over 20% growth thanks to strong traffic, especially from mobile devices, along with good improvements on conversion,” he said. “Click & collect once again was the fulfillment proposition of choice with the demand to collect in Waitrose going from strength to strength.”
