John Lewis misses targets over festive period

John Lewis Partnership (JLP) has told staff that the company missed its sales targets in the run up to Christmas, meaning it may not make the previously set goal of 131 million pounds in profit for the full year.

Internal documents seen and reported on by The Telegraph stated that the John Lewis department store chain and its sister supermarket subsidiary Waitrose both missed said targets. The company claimed, however, that it outperformed other rivals, and thus, staff should be “proud of our performance”.

JLP cited “lower consumer confidence and weaker than expected market confidence” as causes for the setback, which could potentially impact the company’s ongoing turnaround plan centred around securing profitability.

Much of its efforts in this area has been made towards its retail division. Here, JLP has set about updating and modernising its department stores, the next phase of which was unveiled in October 2024, when the company announced its “multi-million pound store makeover plans”.

Among this strategy is a mission to create “new and bigger” Beauty Halls, an element that has already been integrated into John Lewis’ Oxford Street site, the testing ground for all “transformative improvements”. Successful trials will then be rolled out to the rest of its store estate.