Sales fall again at John Lewis as warm weather takes its toll

John Lewis sent a chill down the high street yesterday, posting another decline in sales for last week, as the unseasonably warm weather continues to hit crucial pre-Christmas trading.

The department store chain said its total sales fell by 1.2 per cent to £98.7m for the week ending at closing time on Saturday, following a 3.3 per cent fall the previous week.

Howard Archer, the chief European economist at IHS Global Insight, said the underlying sales figure, which the retailer did not provide, was likely to have been much worse. Its latest total sales figure includes revenues from four additional stores. He said: "This indicates that there is a significant fall year-on-year in John Lewis sales' volumes on a like-for-like basis."

But John Lewis pointed to robust demand for children's gifts and an 18 per cent surge in online sales.

David Barford, the director of selling operations for John Lewis, said: "Despite the continuing warm weather, to have achieved sales so close to last year shows that Christmas shopping is really taking off, albeit a little later than usual."