Olympic factor boosts sales at John Lewis

John Lewis, Britain’s biggest department store group, posted strong sales growth last week, helped by increased demand for sports equipment following the Olympics. The employee-owned firm said that department store sales jumped 14.5 per cent year on year to £61.1m ($97.1m) in the week to August 18, the third week of its fiscal second half.

“There were no post-Olympic Games blues for customers... we saw a 31 per cent growth in sports equipment sales with some customers perhaps aspiring to be the next Mo Farah,” it said.

John Lewis, the official department store provider to the London Games, said sales in its electricals and home technology category increased 28.1 per cent, with tablets, televisions and white goods all seeing double figure increases. Sales in the home category were up 7.7 per cent. The company said recent sales had been boosted by a feel good factor following the London Games.

John Lewis, which has a bias to the south east of England, has set the pace in the sector this summer, outperforming rivals as wet weather has driven footfall from the high street to the covered shopping centres where its stores are often located. The retailer has also been outperforming the wider market because its generally more affluent customers have been less affected by the economic downturn, while improvements to product and service and new modern stores have been popular with consumers.

“Contrary to what appears to have been experienced elsewhere on the high street, there were no post Olympic blues at John Lewis,” said Seymour Pierce analyst Kate Calvert. “There is another week of limbo before the Paralympics starts but we remain of the view that the Olympic feel good factor is likely to be short-lived.”

John Lewis also owns supermarket chain Waitrose, where week to August 18 sales rose 10.2 per cent to £105.6m.