John Lewis’ total sales were up 9.3% in the 5 weeks to December 31, with LFL sales up 6.2%. Neil Saunders, Managing Director of Conlumino, comments:

“By any measure John Lewis has had a cracking Christmas and is probably the standout winner in terms of trading. With three new stories open for business this festive period, total sales were always bound to grow, however, for like-for-like sales to have risen so strongly is impressive, especially when the general trend for the business up until November was generally negative.

“That John Lewis has seen good growth is testament to it’s focus on customer service, it’s compelling and often unique offer and it’s marketing efforts. However, it’s guarentee of price matching high street competitors has also gone down well in an environment where extensive discounting was the order of the day.

“The only slight cause for concern is on the margin front. While John Lewis will have had a profitable Christmas, margins are likely to have been eroded by price matching and this will result in lower profitability for the full year and a reduced bonus pool for Partners. Given the dire state of the high street this was always inevitable and we still hold the view that John Lewis will outperform the market in terms of sales, margin and profit.”

Source: Conlumino, 04/01/2012