John Lewis sales surge may ease traders' festive fears

The group, which is seen as a bellwether of Britain's high street, said it rang up 121m of sales in the week to Saturday December 11, marking the most taken in a week.

The figure was up 16.7 per cent on the previous week when Arctic conditions snowed in many shoppers.

Supermarket Waitrose, also owned by the John Lewis Partnership, likewise reported robust sales as the cold weather eased in many parts of the country.

The food chain saw total sales rise 9 per cent year-on-year to 113m.

A spokesman for Waitrose said yesterday: "Despite the recent weather conditions, we are in the fortunate position to see sales at our Yorkshire stores go from strength to strength and this is helping us to attract new footfall into the areas in which we trade. Our stores in Harrogate and Sheffield have seen sales increase by nearly 7 per cent in the last year, while our new store in Meanwood (in Leeds) is exceeding all expectations with sales already 5 per

cent ahead of an ambitious target.

"The continued success of our 'essential Waitrose' range and the commitment to ensuring we are the same price as Tesco on 1,000 branded products has been instrumental in maintaining this sales growth during a challenging economic climate. However, people are definitely beginning to treat themselves as we gather momentum towards Christmas – sales in Yorkshire for whole smoked salmon are up 60 per cent year on year and champagne is currently 200 per cent up."

Economist Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight, said the John Lewis figures may help ease fears over Christmas trading.

He said: "Retailers may still have a decent Christmas after all, despite the hit to activity from the bad weather.

"One proviso is that in recent times John Lewis have been comfortably outperforming the retail sector as a whole.

"Another major concern for retailers is that more cold weather is forecast this coming week. With Christmas falling on a Saturday, next weekend's trading is going to be of major importance to retailers."

Severe winter weather disrupts retail trade not only because it stops many consumers getting to the shops but also because it interrupts supply chains.

Tesco said last week that snow had damaged its recent trading, while music and games retailer HMV said it is concerned about a "significant" drop in consumer footfall in shops during the bad weather at the start of its key festive trading period.

Mr Archer said bad weather usually only acted as a temporary knockback to Christmas sales, with trade made up later in the season. However, forecasts of further snow this week pose a threat to retailers.