Waitrose, a 100% supporter of British pork, has reported gross sales for the six weeks including Christmas and New Year of £859.8m, up 1.2% compared with last year, although the business also reported a fall of 1.4% on sales when assessed on a like-for-like basis. Same-store sales at Waitrose fell 1.4 per cent in the six-week period as the chain fought to combat a market dominated by the growth of discounters.
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Chairman Charlie Mayfield said: “This has been a strong Christmas trading period for the partnership despite the non-food market seeing significant shifts in trade patterns and the grocery market continuing to be challenging”.
The department store’s overall sales rose 6.9% to £951.3m with all three of its product areas seeing good growth – Home up 5.1%, Fashion up 6.1% and EHT (technology) up 9.6%.
John Lewis said the number of shoppers on the high street was lower this year as consumers continued to move online.
Sir Charlie said “significant” investment in the group’s distribution and IT operations helped it cope with uneven trading over the Christmas season. Store sales revived as John Lewis cleared stock after Christmas, rising 16.2% in the week ending 2 January.
Department store chain John Lewis, which opened its landmark 250,000 sq ft branch at Birmingham’s Grand Central in September, has revealed surging sales figures over Christmas.
JLP said peak trade came particularly late this year and was more concentrated than usual in the days before Christmas. Waitrose had record trading days on 23 and 24 December, with sales up 6.0% and up 5.5%. Click-and-collect sales were up 16% and it was the delivery method of choice for half of all online orders.
“The combination of our shops, website and fulfilment centres worked together effectively”, the partnership said in the trading statement. For example, on the Black Friday weekend our distribution teams processed 18% more parcels than previous year, which equated to five units per second during the peak hour.
However sales from its Waitrose grocery arm dipped 1.4 per cent on a like-for-like basis – excluding fuel – in the six week period in what it described as “challenging” trading conditions. “Our guidance, therefore, remains unchanged”.
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It will report full year results in March.
