John Lewis sales up as Edinburgh store records 9.4% hike

The partnership, which earlier this week posted a fall in half-year profits as margins were hit by its “never knowingly undersold” price pledge, said sales across its 30-odd department store chain rose by 5.8 per cent in the week to 10 September. It follows a year-on-year gain of 7.1 per cent the previous week.

During the latest period, Edinburgh enjoyed a 9.4 per cent hike in takings, making it the group’s strongest performing store after its flagship branch on London’s Oxford Street.

The latter is categorised separately by John Lewis as it includes sales from an integral foodhall.

The employee-owned firm highlighted strong sales of 46in TVs, entertainment accessories including laptop and tablet cases, and a “standout result” from its JL Collection in womenswear.

The firm’s two other Scottish stores put in mixed performances, with Glasgow up 5.1 per cent while Aberdeen fell 13.5 per cent – one of the outlets affected by refurbishment work.

It is unique among its retail peers in publishing weekly sales bulletins and, as a result, the statistics can throw up anomalies.

Smoothing out the figures over the past six weeks, sales have risen by an average of 3.2 per cent. On that measure, Glasgow is the strongest performing branch, up by 5.5 per cent.

Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “Given that John Lewis is seen as a bellwether for the health of the retail sector, it is welcome news to see a second week of decent sales growth. Unfortunately though, it looks likely to be very tough for consumer spending and, hence, retailers for some time to come.

“Many retailers are having to engage in promotions and discounting to encourage hard pressed consumers to spend and this is eating into profit margins.”