Loungewear sales up 1,303 per cent as lockdown changes consumer habits

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People who mainly worked from home prior to the pandemic were far less likely to have received a promotion or a bonus compared with their office-based counterparts.

Loungewear and leggings sales spiked by 1,303 per cent in 2020 according to new data from John Lewis.

The department store’s annual look at consumer habits shows lockdown’s impact on customers’ baskets.

As well as sitting room fashion, sales of chess sets (a 121 per cent increase on 2019), TVs (45 per cent) and paint (33 per cent) show a Britain forced to stay at home.

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Scalextric toys become particularly popular in the run-up to Christmas.

By contrast, sales of high-heeled shoes and party handbags plummeted by 62 and 56 per cent respectively.

Alarm clocks (down 38 per cent) and suitcases (down 69 per cent) were big losers, too.

Simon Coble, Trading Director of John Lewis says: “The world is a very different place than it was in January.  This year we stayed in, hunkered down, decked out and spruced up our homes.”

Retail wonks expect high street footfall to pick up in the new year as vaccine rollout continues.

The Retail Think Tank, run by KPMG and Ipsos, predict 3 per cent sales growth next year.