With 116 days to go until Christmas, John Lewis has launched its Christmas Shop on johnlewis.com. Customers are notably gearing up for the festive season and according to a recent survey 28% of customers are browsing and purchasing their Christmas gifts as early as August. A Google report looking into Christmas peak insights revealed that last year as many as 30% of John Lewis customers had already completed their festive purchasing by the end of October, and 72% of shoppers researched their peak purchases online before buying.
Customers are seeking gifting inspiration online more than ever as searches for ‘Christmas gifts’ have doubled compared to this time last year and savvy shoppers are looking to save costs with searches for ‘Christmas offers’ increasing 25 fold. Searches for tree decorations are up 33% and artificial tree searches have doubled compared to this time last year and Christmas wrapping paper (+466%), stockings (+250%), crackers (+400%), socks (+200%) and pyjamas (+130%) also continue to soar.
Preparing and decorating the home for Christmas is a much loved tradition, and it’s set to be bigger and more magical this year with customers seeking out new ways to embrace these joyful moments at home. This Christmas our buyers predict oversized baubles, personalised decorations and outdoor lighting are set to be big hits with customers seeking new ways to celebrate and decorate. This season we are launching our first copper toned tree and vibrant blue tree, as it’s predicted that customers will embrace less traditional Christmas colours this year. Committed to improving the sustainability of our collections, all of our wrapping paper and crackers remain glitter free and 100% recyclable.
Alongside Christmas planning for the home, our customers are also looking ahead to their festive menus and preparing to host friends and family with searches for ‘Christmas’ on Waitrose.com reaching a record 193% higher than this time last year. The most searched for products are mince pies (+100%) and Christmas pudding (+100%).
Lisa Cherry, Christmas buyer (and Mrs Christmas to the retailer), said: “This year’s themes are inspired by the magic of nostalgia and the enchantment of Christmas. The brilliant in-house design team have taken inspiration from our archives, giving treasured vintage prints a new lease of life across a number of festive products. We’re really excited for our customers to explore the new themes and plan ahead for the festive season. Our customers come to John Lewis for all their Christmas needs with searches already soaring over summer for Christmas Jumpers +133% and hampers +250% and we are looking forward to helping our customers find the perfect gifts and decorations.“
New in store Santa experiences
We will be going bigger and better in our shops this year, offering customers more in store experiences and increasing the number of booking slots across our in store Santa experiences aimed at Children of all ages (and pooches too!). Alongside Santa, customers will also have the opportunity to embrace a number of exclusive gift food and alcohol experiences from Hendricks, Kocktail, Fevertree and Quality Street in a selection of stores.
