JL Publishes The 11th 'How We Shop, Live and Look' Report

• 11th annual ‘How We Shop, Live and Look’ report looks back at the past year of shopping trends 
• Products that defined the year: Oura Rings, lipgloss, microplanes, and barrel leg jeans 
• Products we left behind: gazebos, chrome fittings, PVRs and small handbags
• Trends that defined 2024: social shopping, soggy weather, 80’s ‘Rivals’ decoration, our sleep obsession 

Soggy weather, our quest for good sleep, retro 80s trends, preppy and Brat Girl fashions and travel returning to pre-covid levels were among the biggest influences on our shopping habits. 

That’s according to John Lewis’s annual trend report ‘How We Shop, Live and Look’ which looks back at the products and trends that defined the past year. 

‘Social shopping’ is definitely in fashion. One in five (19%) of the 1,996 customers surveyed1 said they have shopped more with friends and family this year, and nearly seven in 10 (68%) of them said they like to combine it with other activities like eating out. This tallies with John Lewis data, which shows that more than three quarters of a million more customers ate in its Place to Eat restaurants over the past year.

Half of those surveyed (51%) said they like shopping with friends or family because it’s a good way to spend quality time together, rising to 59% of 18-44 year olds.  But only half (48%) want their advice on what to buy.

In the past year, John Lewis helped 35% more customers with personal styling appointments, and 49% more parents via its baby and nursery advice service. The number of holidays booked through in store Kuoni Travel counters also jumped 12%. 

Peter Ruis, Executive Director for John Lewis, said: “We've seen a record number of app visits this year, but the enjoyment of shopping in person and expert face-to-face advice is here to stay. What’s more, whether it’s advice for new parents or personal styling sessions, we’re seeing huge demand for our in-store services, as well as a significant rise in people turning their shopping trips into a bigger social event and enjoying our restaurants as part of their visit.”

Customers are also embracing new ways to pay. We’ve recently added Klarna and Clearpay, and this year 6.4% more customers have opted to benefit from the rewards of shopping with a John Lewis Partnership Card.  

Key trends: 

What we shopped to help us sleep: 
Borg for bedtime, Oura Rings and alarm clocks ring the alarm

Our obsession with sleep and health is increasing. The Oura Ring, worn by celebrities, rapidly became the ultimate status symbol of 2024. Since their launch in June, one in two rings sold at John Lewis is an Oura, making it not just one of the biggest tech products of the year, but a major ‘jewellery’ brand. 

More people followed advice to leave mobile phones out of the bedroom resulting in sales of alarm clocks rising by 23%. Sales of cosy borg nightwear made from a super fluffy faux-fur fabric nearly doubled over the last year, with sales up 99%, partly because they’re substantial enough to be worn all day as loungewear.  

The rain and sun impacted what we bought: dehumidifiers, water filters and underseat luggage
It also influenced what we didn’t buy: gazebos and low spf sun lotion

It was a very wet year. April was the sixth wettest April of the last 189 years driving sales of dehumidifiers up 22%, and sales of gazebos down 25%. 

When the sun finally came out we didn’t make boring ice cubes with old-school trays. The at-home cocktail revolution – given a shake and a stir by Stanley Tucci has made us rethink how we’re cooling our drinks. Sales of large, decorative ice moulds – were up 88% on last year, while sales of more standard old-school ice cube trays fell 39%.

Concerns about tap water quality seem to have driven people to make ice and drinks with filtered water. How else to explain a 37% surge in sales of water filtration kits and jugs?

We weren’t just concerned with hydration but also skin protection - sales of SPF30 creams fell significantly – down 20% on last year. Meanwhile sales of creams with SPF factor 50 jumped 18%.

While holidays abroad have been on the rise, the size of the luggage you’re allowed to take onto a plane has been shrinking.  Travellers have got a handle on the new baggage rules  and are buying underseat luggage which now accounts for one in ten luggage sales. 

What we shopped to be in fashion:  
Large bags, cut out swimsuits, barrel leg jeans, leopard print, ruffles and preppy rugby shirts

Small handbags were given the cold shoulder as we tired of forcing essentials into them and fell back in love with large, tote style bags which fit everything. The number of small bags in the top ten bestsellers halved to just four.

In fashion two new shapes stood out as a cut above the rest: cut out swimsuits and barrel leg jeans.

John Lewis sells 385 different swimsuits, but the second best-seller in 2024 was not a traditional cossie. It was the ‘Hello Sailor’ striped cut out swimsuit, bolder than a traditional costume, more flattering than a bikini.

After years of the straight-leg silhouette dominating the jeans market, customers have embraced a new relaxed silhouette - the barrel leg jean. Searches were up 60% on last year on JohnLewis.com and it’s the best selling jean shape for autumn/winter 2024. 

Other fashion trends included sequins driven by ‘Swifties’, leopard print for the Brat Girl aesthetic, ‘Chloe  look’ ruffles, and rugby shirts +30% bought to achieve the on trend preppy look.  

How we decorated and accessorised our homes: 
Rival revival maximalism, stripes, brass fittings and retro furniture 

Customers have embraced comfort, luxury and vintage maximalism over the last year. Silk bedding (popularised in  Jilly Cooper’s Rivals) went up by a third, while sales of quilted throws climbed 30%. The real 80s comeback was the curtain tieback- sales more than doubled (+108%). 

Continuing the rise of 1980s interiors, customers are opting for brass accessories while chrome fittings are down 8% over the last year. The other accessory trend was the simplest and possibly the most fun of all patterns – the stripe. Sales of striped products are up 37% from curtains and cushions to vases and lampshades. 

Retro rarely goes out of fashion. This year sales of Ercol furniture went up 52% and searches for G Plan Vintage Sofas rose 600%.  There’s one type of furniture we bought less of and that’s home office furniture as we’ve kitted out our home offices over the past few years. Sales of home office chairs fell by 24%.  

What we shopped to make ourselves more beautiful:
Lip gloss, body creams, hair masks and oils, and powerful parfum 

Just two years ago lip glosses, balms and oils made up one-third of lip product sales at John Lewis. Now, half of lip product sales are from this category as sales of lip glosses, balms and oils shot up 34% vs last year, compared with lip sticks, which have increased but only by 2%. Shoppers are prioritising hydrated lips over a splash of colour.

When Selena Gomez posted a video on TikTok applying Sol de Janeiro’s Bum Bum cream it cemented the product’s reputation as the must-have moisturiser. Sales of body creams jumped 25% last year, but the fun, youth-orientated Bum Bum really stood out: after hitting our shelves in February 2024, it rapidly became the most successful beauty launch in John Lewis’s history.

Last year glass skin, the Korean-beauty inspired trend, became a major look – now the same desire for gloss has moved to the top of the head. Sales of hair masks, hair oils and hair gloss have all shot up, climbing 33% on last year. 

When it comes to fragrance, bold and strong is the flavour of the moment. Compared with 2019, John Lewis is selling four times the amount of eau de parfum, while sales of eau de toilette have slipped a little. 

Take a look at the report 

Source : John Lewis Partnership

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