John Lewis February 2016

We had the first hint of good news around new-season fashion retail today as John Lewis (now giving its weekly update on Tuesdays rather than Fridays) said its sales rose 2.5% in the seven days to February 6.

Fashion sales rose 4.4% within that figure with “some encouraging reaction to new season ranges”, according to John Lewis’s Liz Mihell.

OK, the expression “one swallow a summer doesn’t make” springs to mind here. But after an AW15 season in which full-price, new-in sales were very hard to come by for UK fashion retailers, any hints of good news is reason for a bit of cheer.

What else sold well? Electricals, especially white goods, TVs and Apple products (the latter benefitting from John Lewis’s offer of a free three-year guarantee). But in interiors, sales were down 1.9% on the year, with furniture sales quieter after a strong run during the clearance sale, confirming what the BRC said this morning about January’s sales generally.