Member Article

Mobile browsers boost John Lewis’ Christmas period

Three quarters of Christmas Day traffic to John Lewis’ site was from a mobile device, the retailer has said.

Orders on Christmas Day were up 19% on the year previously and sales in the week leading up to Christmas totalled £164.4 million, up 4.2% on the same week last year.

Mark Lewis, online director at John Lewis, said: “We predicted in October that mobile would be the shining star of Christmas 2013. With tablets being the must-have product throughout the year it was clear that mobile would step up, but yesterday surpassed even our expectations.

“The tipping point has now passed and we expect mobile to be the way the majority of people shop online from now on.

“It will only grow from here and we will be working hard to ensure we meet our customers’ expectations, be that new technology or the seamless experience across multiple channels. Shopping is becoming much more of a social experience with people browsing, purchasing and sharing ideas with others using their mobile phones and tablets.”

Clearance at John Lewis began on Christmas Eve, with orders up 13% in the first hour, on last year.

The most popular purchases included laptops, Egyptian cotton bedding and towels, TVs, tablets, washing machines, handbags, suits and beauty products.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .