Sales across the John Lewis Partnership slipped for its latest week, as a slight uptick at the John Lewis chain was offset by a slide at Waitrose.
For the week ending 10 August, overall sales at the group were down 0.9% year-on-year to £198.1m, with sales for the 28 weeks of the current year also down 0.9% year-on-year.
For the week, sales at Waitrose were down 1.7% y-o-y, hurt by a declines in Ambient (-1.4%), Home & General merchandise (-4%), and all other segments (-1.6%). Waitrose said sales of comfort foods (such as Indian and Chinese ready meals) were up during the week of “changeable weather”, while wine sales were also up, with fizz up 9%, rosé jumping 16%, and low- and non-alcoholic wines surging up 51%.
Meanwhile, the John Lewis chain saw sales edge up 0.4% y-o-y, helped by a 4.7% increase in Electricals & Home Technology, driven by back-to-school demand. This offset a 2.7% decline in sales of Home products (despite a 2.5% increase in Textiles and Home Accessories) and 1.2% decline in Fashion (despite a 7.1% rise in Menswear and a 3.1% increase in Women’s Accessories).
NAM Implications:
- Waitrose NAMs need to compare their Waitrose performance vs the above category and department performances.
- Identifying any over performance and doing more of the same.
- …whilst not obsessing on cases of under trading unless some obvious remedial cause emerge.
