John Lewis & Partners launches online Christmas Shop earlier than ever

Today (Monday 24th August) with four months to go until Christmas Eve, John Lewis & Partners will launch its online Christmas Shop on www.johnlewis.com. The retailer has brought forward the launch in response to the high level of customer searches on its website for Christmas products, which so far this month are already up 370% on last year.  This is the earliest John Lewis has ever launched its online Christmas shop and ten days earlier than last year.  

The most searched for products in order of popularity are: Christmas trees, baubles, cards, lights and wrapping paper.

Jason Billings-Cray, Partner and Christmas Buyer said; “Christmas always provides a reason for celebration and a welcome break.  Understandably it looks as if people are looking forward to and planning for it earlier than ever this year.

“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.

“During the lockdown many people have spent more time outdoors and become closer to nature. From the hundreds of emails from customers asking to be alerted when specific decorations become available it looks as if animal baubles will be the most popular this year with peacocks, squirrels and toucans topping the list of most wanted.”

Shoppers are not just thinking about trees and decorations. Searches for ‘Christmas’ on Waitrose.com over July and August are up 42% on last year. The number of people looking for Christmas puddings is up by 75% on last year, mince pie searches are up over 110% and searches for mincemeat are up nearly 400% as people think about making their Christmas pudding.

This year, John Lewis’s decorations are inspired by  seven different art movements ranging from Art Nouveau to Pop art and Renaissance. The John Lewis website will have the full range of Christmas products by the end of this week and Christmas products will be available in John Lewis shops across the UK from 25 September.