John Lewis and Waitrose customers are getting ready for Christmas earlier than ever before. Sales of decorations from the John Lewis Christmas Shop – which includes baubles, trees and decorations – are up 20% year on year in total.
Single bauble sales are up 40% versus last year. Best sellers are the fondant fancy, the Battenberg cake, the Quality Street tin, the hare with a felt wreath, and disco ball cherries. And customers are buying other decorations, too, with stockings sales double what they were this time last year and wreaths and garlands up 41%.
“We’re seeing a huge appetite for Christmas already, with online slots filling up faster than ever before and customers stocking up early on our festive treats”
Searches on Waitrose.com for Christmas gifts and party food are up threefold, while searches for Christmas chocolates and desserts have doubled. Delivery slots for online orders are being snapped up fast with 70% of Christmas delivery slots already filled (up on this time last year) and collection slots are already in strong demand. The most popular day is December 23, when nine out of ten slots are already filled.
In John Lewis, the return of the Never Knowingly Undersold brand promise is capturing customers’ imagination. The retailer has lowered prices 55,000 times across 31,000 products since its new look price match was launched last month. As a result, it’s seeing an average of 89,000 extra visits to JohnLewis.com a day compared to the six weeks before the return of Never Knowingly Undersold, and a 5% leap in visits year on year.
Lisa Cherry, head of buying for Christmas for John Lewis, said: “We’ve been surprised to see that customers are shopping earlier than ever this year. Sales are significantly up as customers can’t wait to get their hands on some festive sparkle and we see they’re buying with confidence. We expect the return of Never Knowingly Undersold to significantly boost trade over the Black Friday period as customers can be confident our prices will be tracked across competitors.”
Maddy Wilson, director, own brand of Waitrose added: “We’re seeing a huge appetite for Christmas already, with online slots filling up faster than ever before and customers stocking up early on our festive treats. Our fantastic Christmas range of over 500 products is in hot demand, with volumes up 25% on this time last year.”