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John Lewis revealed a fall in sales today - with a 4.2% drop for the week to August 16th - and was on hand with another corker of an excuse: summer exam results and the Olympics are distracting shoppers, apparently!
The SnapShop team have been noticing John Lewis’ penchant for contradictory claims for quite some time now, so I decided to put them together to highlight just how silly it’s really getting! Sack your PR woman, JLP, she clearly doesn’t understand continuity!*
Chronologically, running from January to August (roughly month on month), here’s what JL had to say on the back of announcing its sales results:
Negative sales: "the weather was cold”
Negative sales: “sunny weather keeping shoppers away”
Negative sales: “bad weather, mothers day and televised sport”
So…John Lewis prefers warmer temperatures, yeah? Let’s keep reading…
Negative sales: “school holidays and dropping temperatures”
Positive sales: “17.3% weekly rise helped by cool, wet weather”
I’m confused, they like the cold, then? Not exactly…
Negative sales: “unseasonably cold weather affected sales in many branches” as well as the London Marathon!?!
Negative sales: “comparisons against the previous year were tough, because the equivalent week was sunny”
Ok, ok, so it is sun that encourages John Lewis customers to spend some cash!? Er, wrong again.
Positive sales: “unsettled weather drove footfall and boosted sales by 9.3% for the week ended August 9”
And the most recent ridiculous statement to be issued, as mentioned above…
Negative sales: “summer exam results and the Olympics were a distraction for its [John Lewis’] customers”
I think what we’ve established here is that hot, dry, cold, rainy weather with no sports or national standardised testing make the perfect conditions for a top week of sales over at old JL!
I can only assume that JL shoppers have social lives, a cultural interest and relatively bright children; what are they thinking?!
*Not really, I’m sure she’s very good. And maybe not even a she. Maybe a he or a they. Phew, covered
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