10th Oct 11
John Lewis blames heatwave for horror week
by Harry Oldfield
Deserted: shoppers shun winter clothing stores amid freak heatwave
Deserted: shoppers shun winter clothing stores amid freak heatwave
John Lewis suffered a huge collapse in trade during the last week of September, with sales falling in every store as shoppers stayed outdoors to enjoy the autumn heatwave.
Like-for-like sales fell by almost 10 per cent, an outcome which Seymour Pierce’s Freddie George referred to as “horror week”. The analyst calculated that underlying sales dropped by up to 15 per cent if the percentage was adjusted to take new stores into account.
The warm weather was not well received on the high street, particularly among fashion retailers whose stores are full of winter clothing. The retailer, which is viewed as the barometer for trading on the high street, said clothing sales plunged 13 per cent in the week ending Saturday 1 October, while homewares slumped almost six per cent.
Lesley Ballantyne, the company’s operational development director, said that the heatwave resulted in a difficult week for the group. She added that customers were obviously in no mood to hunt for autumnal clothing and, as a result, trading was slower.
She went on to say that there was also a slight stutter in sales in the retailer’s technology departments due to the weather’s impact. High-end cosmetics was one of the only bright spots, with sales increasing by seven per cent in spite of the shopper drought.
John Lewis’s 30 most established stores all reported declines in sales, with the sharpest falls in Bluewater and Southampton, where sales were down by nearly 28 per cent and 24 per cent respectively. Elsewhere, trading at its flagship outlet on Oxford Street, London, was also hit, with a fall of nearly 13 per cent is sales in the week ending 1 October.
Even John Lewis’s website suffered a significant slowdown, with growth at just half its normal rate of over 30 per cent. Ms Ballantyne said that online sales were in front of the same period in 2010 by 14 per cent, which she described as a useful increase but – similar to the stores – customers appeared to be devoting their time to outdoor pursuits.
However, the warm weather wasn’t all doom and gloom for the group, as its sister company Waitrose saw a rise of 9.7 per cent in sales as consumers stocked up on goods for the barbecue.
The unusually warm weather has increased the pressure on retailers who are struggling due to the consumer spending collapse which has resulted from the financial crisis. The difficult economic climate has led to major supermarkets restarting their price wars.
Tesco has recently launched a price cuts campaign at a cost of £500m,and, this week, one of its ‘Big Four’ rivals, Sainsbury’s, is set to respond with the introduction of its ‘Brand Match’ vow in all stores.
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