John Lewis reveals festive success

John Lewis has emerged as one of the big winners in the Christmas trading stakes, with a 23% boost in online orders pushing up overall like-for-like sales by nearly 7% compared to last year.
The retail giant reported that for the five weeks to December 28, sales totalled £734m, with the first day of sales on December 27 seeing record trading, with the retailer taking £35.6m.
The company said the growing popularity of its click-and-collect service, which jumped 60% compared with last year, played key role in its strong Christmas performance. The company is also in the process of rolling out its loyalty scheme, the MyJohnLewis card, and has ramped up trials of new technology in recent weeks.
John Lewis managing director Andy Street said: “Our shops and our online channel, bricks and clicks, came together and it’s a story of the two being hand in glove and that giving the customer what they really wanted and then we got the pricing right on top of that.
He also credited the “bare and hare” ad campaign, adding: “Many fell in love with our advert which has received over 11.5 million views on YouTube since launch. The soundtrack reached number one in the charts on two occasions, soft toy versions of the bear and hare flew off the shelves, young shoppers visited our in-store caves in droves and the book telling the story of the characters was our best-selling children’s title.”
The retailer saw a surge in activity in the 10 days before Christmas, with city centre stores experiencing record sales on Monday December 23. Among the most popular items were tablet computers, Christmas lights and coffee machines.
Next is due to issue its trading statement on Friday, while Marks & Spencer’s results are scheduled for next week.

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