Electronics act as kindling for John Lewis

SALES of Kindle e-book readers and iPad tablet computers helped department store chain John Lewis to post a 9 per cent year-on-year rise in underlying sales during the first ten days of its clearance sale.

The headline sales rate fell by 3.4 per cent in the week to 2 July, compared with a 20.1 per cent jump in the previous week due to the retailer's clearance sale beginning early.

But the underlying picture showed an increase on last year's discount event, driven by sales in the electronics department.

Robbie Feather, buying director for electronics at John Lewis, said: "The market looks challenging but all indicators suggest we will continue to outperform our competition."

The Edinburgh branch posted a 6.2 per cent fall in turnover, while Glasgow dropped 5.3 per cent and Aberdeen was 4.9 per cent lower.

Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHG Global Insight, said: "The John Lewis sales patterns tie in with our suspicion that pressurised and squeezed consumers are particularly keen to take advantage of the early bargains on offer in clearance sales, but may not be so easily tempted into buying products they are not really keen to have."