In the last week, sales at John Lewis fell by 9.7%, due largely to poor weather and growing financial uncertainty, the company said today.
But year-on-year Waitrose sales for the same week stood at 0.6%, helped by strong wine sales and bonfire night, John Lewis revealed.
It said: “The economic climate continues to be difficult, but we hope with last week’s interest rate cut, together with the news of our own investments in the future in both Bluewater and Dublin and our new TV advertising campaign, we will continue to outperform a difficult market.”
The department store added that despite these figures, it expects to perform well over the upcoming festive period.
Overall, the John Lewis Partnership said sales dipped by 4.1% in the week until 8 November, from £140.38m to £134.65m.
In this week’s TNS Worldpanel statistics, Waitrose had a market share of 3.8%. Sales at the retailer grew 1.3% in the 12 weeks until 2 November.
Last week, John Lewis transferred its stake in home delivery company Ocado to a pension fund, meaning Waitrose can now compete Ocado.
