John Lewis opens Christmas shop in August for earliest launch date ever
Christmas searches on John Lewis website are up 370 per cent this month compared to last year, retailer says
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Your support makes all the difference.John Lewis & Partners has officially launched its online Christmas shop, four months before the festive occasion takes place.
The opening of the online store on Monday 24 August marks the earliest John Lewis has ever made its festive offerings available to consumers.
Last year, the online Christmas shop was launched 10 days later in September, as the nation had begun to acclimatise to the approach of autumn.
However, with searches for Christmas items surging by 370 per cent on the John Lewis website this month in comparison to the same period in 2019, the retailer decided to set up shop a little early.
According to John Lewis, the most popular festive searches on its website are for Christmas trees, baubles, cards, lights and wrapping paper.
Jason Billings-Cray, partner and Christmas buyer at John Lewis, said it is “understandable” that people may be planning for Christmas earlier than usual this year.
“Christmas always provides a reason for celebration and a welcome break,” Billings-Cray said.
“Understandably it looks as if people are looking forward to and planning for it earlier than ever this year.”
The John Lewis representative stated that lockdown has made people “think more about their homes”, which is why consumers may already be looking into how they can decorate their households for the Yuletide season.
“Christmas celebrations mostly take place in our homes and we have seen how the lockdown has made people think more about their homes, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that people are already thinking about how they will decorate their homes this Christmas,” he said
Billings-Cray added that animal baubles may be particularly popular this year due to the increased time people have been spending outside and becoming “closer to nature”.
In addition to the John Lewis website, the Waitrose website has also been gaining traction in the lead-up to the Christmas period, with searches for “Christmas” throughout July and August rising by 42 per cent in comparison to the same time last year.
Furthermore, searches for Christmas puddings are up by 75 per cent, searches for mince pies are up by 110 per cent and searches for mincemeat have risen by around 400 per cent.
The full range of John Lewis Christmas products will be available on the retailer’s website by the end of the week.
The items will be made available to customers in-store across the UK from 25 September.
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