LONDON: Britain’s No. 1 department store group John Lewis saw year on year sales slip 1.4 percent in the week to Dec. 27 as earlier promotions cooled demand in the run up to Christmas.
The employee owned firm said revenue for the week stood at 126.24 million pounds and included strong start to its clearance sale with online orders on Christmas Day up 19 percent.
The performance follows 2.4 percent fall in year on year sales for the previous week to Dec. 20, as record figures from November’s Black Friday deals resulted in lower demand for home technology such as TVs and iPads.
Further due to calendar timing, however, some of the sales demand would not show until next week’s numbers, the group said, as the Christmas week only included one full day of its in store clearance sale.
British clothing retailer Next posted 2.9 percent rise in sales in the run up to Christmas, towards the upper end of its predictions, without resorting to the discounting frenzy seen at many of its peers.
