Shoppers spent £109m at John Lewis last week, as the Christmas shopping season cranked up a gear.
The department store group, which is seen as a barometer of high street fortunes, reported that sales for the week ending 15 November had topped £100m for the first time in this year. This matches last year’s record as the earliest week sales have exceeded £100m in the runup to Christmas.
Home goods was the best performing category, with sales up 9% on last year. People were also splashing out on televisions with 50-inch screens (up 65%), large ‘American-style’ fridge-freezers (up 44%) and ovens (10% higher).
John Lewis said its countdown to Christmas events were driving up footfall across the home counties, with stores in Chichester and Tunbridge Wells performing especially well.
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Economics, said the fundamentals for consumer spending this Christmas were “decent” with consumer confidence and employment relatively high and price inflation at a five-year low.
However, he warned that many consumers’ spending power remained constrained by low earnings growth. “Given still-high debt levels, a number of consumers may still be worried by the possibility that interest rates will rise before long,” he said.
