Echoing the trend experienced by other high street retailers, John Lewis experienced a slow start to Valentine’s Day sales, with the bulk of the occasion’s card sales from the department store group being clinched in the last three days, representing almost 40% of the retailer’s total Valentine’s Day card trade.
“It was a slow start, as we expected,” said Lizzie Batchelar, assistant buyer for giftwrap, cards and seasonal events. “But we ended with a very successful Valentine’s week and sold through a high percentage of our stock.”
In terms of trends this year, Lizzie cites the avocado take-over as one to watch! “One of our best-selling cards was the Woodmansterne ‘Avocuddle’ design, along with some of the more sentimental Valentine’s Day cards from Susan O’Hanlon.”
Despite the fact that Mother’s Day falls so early this year, Lizzie reveals that sales of both Mother’s Day and Easter cards and other related merchandise have got off to a great start for John Lewis, performing ahead of last year.
“Easter has been getting bigger every year as families have put a greater emphasis on celebrating it, second only to Christmas,” says Lizzie. “Both our cards and seasonal product – including Easter gifting and decorative lines – are performing well and have created real excitement and impact in branches. We expect to see this pick up over the next couple of weeks as we get closer to Easter as customers leave everything until the last minute, but so far it has been great for us.”
