John Lewis posts positive predictions for e-commerce performance

Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - 09:41 by Mike Price

Retailer John Lewis has announced that it expects to have made significant gains in the online market once the figures for 2010 are complied, with more than £500 million pulled in this year.

A 40 per cent increase in online sales has helped John Lewis to boost its overall performance, although it is seeing equally impressive gains in the high street.

John Lewis is in direct competition with Marks & Spencer which has also announced that it is likely to sell more than £500 million worth of products online by the end of 2010. If both firms between them make £1 billion this year, it will be a serious indication of how UK consumers are embracing safe shopping online as offered by mainstream high street brands.

John Lewis started offering fashion via its e-commerce site in September last year, with hundreds of top name labels now contributing to what has been one of the key areas for growth.

John Lewis' Jonathon Brown, spoke out about how the fashion department had allowed the firm to post such positive figures for online sales.

John Lewis sales last week alone, were up 12 per cent, in what is being seen as a sign of the impending Christmas boom.

Mr Brown explained that the positive performance of its portal for safe shopping online was not just limited to fashion, but was being seen across various sectors. Toys and electronics are particularly popular among the 150,000 items which the retailer now sells online.

Three million UK consumers head to the John Lewis site every week and it is starting to test a service that will allow customers to reserve products online and then pick them up in their local store, which is similar to promotions operated by many other retailers.