John Lewis and department stores gain fashion search share

John Lewis, Harrods and Selfridges have each gained consumer search interest over the past year, together taking 8.43% of UK fashion and retail searches ahead of Christmas 2026, according to ecommerce agency MediaVision.

The agency examined searches between July and September 2026 using its Metis technology. The findings, reported by InternetRetailing, measure attention towards retail brands rather than purchases or revenue.

What happened

Next led the fashion brand search rankings with a 7.16% share. Primark followed at 5.82%, ahead of Sports Direct on 4.17%, TK Maxx on 3.82% and second-hand marketplace Vinted on 3.54%.

All five recorded year-on-year growth, despite a reduction in overall brand search demand during the quarter. The results therefore distinguish retailers gaining a larger portion of attention from growth in the market as a whole.

Shein suffered the largest year-on-year loss of search share, falling 0.37 percentage points. Very lost 0.35 percentage points and ASOS declined by 0.24 percentage points, putting several online-first fashion businesses on the weaker side of the comparison.

Those changes are expressed in percentage points, not percentage falls in search volumes. The figures reported for these three businesses do not include their remaining shares of searches.

The background

The prominence of Primark, TK Maxx and Vinted points to continued interest in lower-priced and second-hand shopping. MediaVision interprets the rankings as evidence that consumers remain sensitive to price, rather than favouring full-price premium fashion.

Next’s leading search position also follows the strong second-quarter performance highlighted in the report. Its broad product range provides a different proposition from retailers competing primarily within a single category.

Search interest is a separate measure from household expenditure. For the spending side of that picture, Barclays has reported a 2% rise in September spending as fuel costs climbed; the MediaVision analysis does not establish how much of the attention captured by individual brands became sales.

What people are saying

MediaVision chief executive Louis Venter said the department stores’ gains brought renewed attention to businesses serving several shopping needs. Fashion, beauty, homeware and gifts give those retailers more routes to customers as competition builds before Christmas, he said.

Molly Goffin, digital PR manager at the agency, argued that department stores’ position was not simply a reflection of their traditional association with festive shopping. Bringing different brands, categories and price levels together allows them to serve consumers on more occasions, she said.

Goffin also cautioned against treating the results as evidence of shoppers moving back to shops from websites. Her assessment concerned the continuing appeal of established retail names, rather than a demonstrated change in purchasing channel.

She cited Primark’s summer campaigns and Next’s product breadth as examples of retailers actively developing consumer interest. The wider competition for visibility also extends to paid channels, with IAB UK reporting growth in retail media spending.

What happens next

Black Friday and Christmas are the next trading tests identified by MediaVision. Goffin said retailers would need to preserve the attention they had built and respond quickly as customer needs changed through the festive period.

The question of how retailers reach those customers is also developing beyond conventional search, as reflected in H&M’s SEO lead urging businesses to prepare for AI shoppers. MediaVision’s findings concern the July-to-September search period; they do not provide a forecast of festive sales or show whether the current ranking will hold through the Golden Quarter.