Weekly sales slump at John Lewis ahead of crucial Christmas period

John Lewis Partnership has suffered its second consecutive week of tumbling sales, in a downturn that the retailer will be hoping to reverse as it enters Black Friday and the Christmas shopping season.

Britain’s largest department store chain said today that total sales in the week to 17 November had plunged 6.8 per cent year-on-year, marking a further fall from an 8.3 per cent drop in the previous week.

Warm bedding products had been hit by the sustained mild weather, with home sales dropping 14.7, while fashion sales slipped a further 0.9 per cent.

However, sales are largely expected to pick up in the coming week, with discounts of Black Friday and the John Lewis Christmas advert forecasted to drive up footfall for the firm.

However, the employee-owned business, which also includes the Waitrose supermarket chain, said that it had been “a week of two halves”.

In a statement John Lewis said: “Early in the week sales continued to be impacted by the mild weather, but they increased significantly at the end of the week as a result of us launching our Christmas advert on Thursday, and a big increase in Black Friday deals on Friday and Saturday, which we price matched.”

The two successive weeks of lower sales come amid mounting retail conditions facing John Lewis, which has suffered in the wake of heavy discounting from its rivals.

In September the high street retailer posted a 99 per cent drop in profits, with chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield saying that it was “the most promotional market we’ve seen in almost a decade”.

Mayfield is set to leave his role at John Lewis in 2020, with the firm looking at both internal and external candidates as successors.