John Lewis smashed its sales records last week, booking its biggest week ever as shoppers snapped up Black Friday deals on gadgets, beauty products, clothing and beds fuelled demand.
The department store chain said sales were up 7.7% in the week to 27 November on the same period last year, with sales in the fashion and beauty department up 13.1%.
John Lewis highlighted the super-luxury Creed Aventus perfume – which sells at £170 for a 50ml bottle – as a particularly big seller, along with its beauty advent calendar, which was reduced from £165 to £115.50 for Black Friday. Branded fashion also sold well.
Electrical and homeware sales were up nearly 6%, with bestsellers including Apple Airpods and smart speakers such as the Amazon Echo Dot and the Google Home Mini.
John Lewis said both its stores and website traded well with some stores also reporting a record week. Black Friday, the US-inspired discount event, was the busiest day but business was more broadly spread across the week than in previous years, as the company launched its own discounts earlier in the week and matched the promotional prices of rival stores under its “never knowingly undersold” pledge.
The strong figures from John Lewis will raise hopes of a better than expected Christmas for the retailer after early data for Black Friday, which fell on 23 November, suggested shoppers had cut back this year.
Barclaycard said that shoppers had spent 10% less on the day by mid-afternoon, while footfall in town centres, shopping centres and retail parks was down by 6%, according to the shopper monitoring firm Springboard. Part of that change was because shoppers were able to spread their bargain hunting over a longer period of time because retailers began discounting earlier.
Figures from the CBI, released on Tuesday, revealed that overall retail sales increased last month, especially at supermarkets and at shops selling household and recreational goods.
Analysts said the pick-up in sales was better than expected after a poor October when sales dropped to their weakest level since last April.
But the amount of goods sold dropped in shops selling clothing, footwear, furniture and carpets, and in hardware and DIY stores.
And the broadly healthier picture in November after a weak October was unable to prevent an eighth quarter in a row of declining employment across the retail sector.
Anna Leach, the CBI head of economic intelligence, said: “While it is encouraging to see headline retail sales growth strengthen in November after a weak outturn in October, the quarterly survey continues to paint a gloomy picture of the sector. Business sentiment remains poor, investment intentions are flat, and headcount continues to decline.”
Some analysts fear that Black Friday only served to pull forward sales which could have been booked at full price in October or December.
On Tuesday, fast fashion retailer Quiz reported a 2% fall in underlying profits in the six months to 30 September partly as a result of the £400,000 it was owed by House of Fraser when the department store fell into administration in August.
Offsetting the good period at John Lewis, the department store’s sister chain Waitrose had a difficult week. Sales slipped 1.6% despite a 43% rise in sales of mince pies and a 17% lift in mulled wine sales. Sales of homewares and other non-food were the hardest hit with sales down 6.9%.
