John Lewis reveals what lockdown Britain is buying amid changing customer behaviour

John Lewis has today released a report it’s called "Britain through the lockdown", which reveals what its customers have been buying from the department store online, including an upsurge in sales of sports shoes, gym kit, athleisure, loungewear and nightwear.

An impressive 44% of its customers have been doing more exercise at home, which the report terms "the Joe Wicks effect" due to the fitness instructor’s morning workouts on YouTube. There has been a 72% uplift in sales of sports shoes, with yoga and Pilates equipment up 315% and gym equipment seeing a huge 496% uplift.

As customers are keeping themselves busy during extended periods spent indoors, John Lewis has also seen unprecedented sales levels of haberdashery items including needlepoint sets, sewing machines, knitting yarn and crafting kits, with a newfound "make do and mend" philosophy seeming to be "the new normal|. Sales of elastic have also been up by a whopping 1,430% as a growing number of Brits make their own face masks.

There’s also been a pattern shift in what people are wearing during all the time at home. Head of buying for womenswear at John Lewis, Jo Bennett, said: “The needs of the nation's wardrobes have changed. We understand that comfort has been a key priority for our customers at this time. Casualwear, athleisure and nightwear have all seen high demand and we expect to see these areas continue to grow in popularity as we spend more time at home.”

As lockdown life slowly eases, the report says experts predict what might have changed long-term, including more of a move to online shopping, a focus on getting fit and staying well, changes to what we’ll want to wear, supporting British producers  and a shared sense of community and local responsibility.