John Lewis sees online sales jump 40%

14.09.2012
Premium retailer John Lewis has revealed in its interim results that it saw a 40 percent jump in online sales for the half year ended 28 July 2012.

Purchases through johnlewis.com now account for a 24 percent of all John Lewis sales.

It's 'Click & Collect' service, which allows customers to purchase a product online before 7pm and then pick it up from any store after 2pm the next day, also experienced strong growth of 114 percent year on year.

A statement in the company's interim report said: "Our multi-channel operation continues to go from strength-to-strength, with customers appreciating the ease of shopping across a variety of channels from smartphones to in-store internet kiosks."

For the half year ended 28 July 2012 John Lewis pre-tax profits were up by percent to £144.5 million on revenues of £3.9 billion, which were up 8.9 percent.

The group also made mention of a number of 'significant central transformation programmes' that are underway, which will see its central IT function transferred to Partnership Services. It claims that this will develop "effective business support services at scale".

Computerworld UK that John Lewis is carrying out a consultation of its computer services division to discuss these changes and could not rule out the possibility of job cuts going forward.

The company had started a 90-day consultation process, which are required in situations where more than 100 job cuts are planned.

It said today: "John Lewis invested £67.0 million, with the mix of investment continuing to reflect the business strategy of opening new space, refurbishing key regional shops and investing in the IT and distribution infrastructure to support multi-channel trading."

"In addition, £15.5 million was invested centrally, mainly in maintaining and modernising our IT platforms and head office buildings."