Sales growth at John Lewis is being driven by increasing numbers of people choosing to shop there, attracted by the retailer's omnichannel offer.
John Lewis Partnership, which comprises the John Lewis department stores and supermarket Waitrose, achieved 6% growth in sales in the half year to July 26 2014 - 9.4% at John Lewis to reach £1,865m and 4.1% at Waitrose to reach £3,146m. Like-for-like sales growth was 8.2% and 1.3% respectively.

However, pre-tax profit was broadly flat after property profits are excluded.

The Partnership said the growth in sales was down to more customers shopping with both Waitrose and John Lewis, with customer numbers up by over 6% and 4% respectively. This reflects the growing appeal of the omnichannel offer across both brands, including the success of click-and-collect, which now accounts for more than half of John Lewis orders placed online, and the popularity of the myWaitrose and my John Lewis programmes, which are encouraging customers to shop more frequently across all of our channels.

At John Lewis, online sales contributed £552m, up 25.6%, and now represent over 30% of merchandise sales; shop sales increased by 3.6%.

Sales within John Lewis' home category increased by 7.4%, and the Partnership said that trading conditions in the non-food sector were more positive than they had been for several years.