John Lewis sales ease as consumers cut back

Fresh sales figures from John Lewis show the department store operator moved back into reverse after the previous week's positive reading, sparking fears that consumers are cutting back after bank holiday spending.

Sales for the seven days to 28 May at the retail bellwether were down 0.8 per cent year-on-year, having climbed 5.3 per cent in the previous week.

Scottish outlets fared poorly, with Aberdeen down 5.9 per cent, Edinburgh off 3.9 per cent and the Glasgow store falling by 2.7 per cent. But with John Lewis' online sales jumping 24 per cent, many of the department stores saw more substantial falls than the headline figure.

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Lesley Ballantyne, director of operational development, said the week had faced tough comparisons, including high sales of TVs in the run-up to the football World Cup last year.

"Our trade levels were just a whisker short of last year, which was a credible result given we had a very good week of weather against us last year and this year there was rain and even hail in parts of the UK," she said.

But Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said consumer spending was likely to remain muted over the coming months, especially as John Lewis has out-performed the sector recently.

"(The figures] suggest that consumers have generally become more circumspect in spending again after splashing out a bit in April due to the later Easter, royal wedding and good weather," he noted.