John Lewis festive sales break records

But more doom and gloom forecast for 2010

By Elliot Wright, 5th January 2010

Department store chain John Lewis has reported sales of more than half a billion pounds after a record-breaking festive season.

Customers flooded into the stores in the five weeks leading up to the new year, with sales surpassing £100m in four of those weeks as the group recorded its best ever weekly sales figures.

An onrush of bargain hunters saw the website enjoy its highest ever number of hits on Boxing Day

John Lewis delayed its  post-Christmas in-store sales until the day after Boxing Day but launched its online sale on Christmas Eve, and an onrush of bargain hunters saw the website enjoy its highest ever number of hits on Boxing Day.

John Lewis' sales were up 12.7% compared to the same time last year and the groups grocery arm, Waitrose, also had a strong festive season with sales up 16.1% in the 13 weeks leading up to Christmas.

Andy Street, managing director of John Lewis, said: "We have seen excellent sales during Christmas and Clearance - customers have responded extremely well to our offer."

But Mr Street voiced concerns that the high figures were just a "purple patch" and will not be sustained. He warned that High Streets still have a long way to go before sales return to the levels seen before the economic downturn.

High Streets still have a long way to go before sales return to the levels seen before the economic downturn

Mr Street added: "Looking into 2010 we think that with higher taxes coming in we're not going to see these figures continue."

Separate figures from market data firm Experian suggested that the Boxing Day sales rush made up for a disappointing pre-Christmas run up for many retailers, with a record number of shoppers hitting the shops on 26 and 27 December.

Experian said there had been an 18.5% jump in the number of shoppers compared with the previous year.

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