What: John Lewis has unveiled its 20th Christmas advert, a Saatchi & Saatchi campaign with the tagline "Don't give up on giving", featuring Dame Kristin Scott Thomas and Paul Whitehouse voicing Pickles the dog.

Why it is important: John Lewis is building its golden quarter message around shoppers' confidence in choosing gifts rather than around product or price, the same theme as its Gift List vodcast and its early Christmas shop launches.

John Lewis has unveiled its Christmas advert for 2026, marking the 20th year of its high-profile seasonal campaigns. The ad, created by Saatchi & Saatchi, focuses on consumers' lack of confidence in choosing a Christmas gift and seeks to bring people together across generations in a spirit of seasonal joy. It centres on "rediscovering the joy in gifting" under the tagline "Don't give up on giving".

It features Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, with Paul Whitehouse voicing Pickles the dog, set to a Sam Fender soundtrack of the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want".

Marketing and loyalty director Rosie Hanley called the advert a beloved tradition that the team wanted to feel extra special this year, with a storyline many customers will relate to. She said she has resorted to putting cash in an envelope for fear of getting a gift wrong, and hopes the campaign restores the nation's gift-giving confidence.

The ad first aired on John Lewis social channels, including YouTube and Instagram, from 7.30am on 3 November, and runs on TV during Coronation Street and The Great British Bake Off that evening.

IADS Notes: The advert follows an early start to John Lewis's festive season: the online Christmas shop opened more than 100 days before Christmas after searches for "Christmas" on johnlewis.com rose 33% week-on-week following the World Cup final (Retail Week, August 2026), and the in-store Christmas shops opened 93 days ahead of the day, with gift-wrap searches up fivefold (Retail Week, September 2026). The gifting theme also runs through the six-episode Gift List vodcast, hosted by Angela Scanlon with celebrity guests and framed as entertainment rather than promotion, which is distributed across YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and johnlewis.com alongside social cutdowns (Fashion Network, September 2026). The campaign arrives as John Lewis holds 3.09% of UK fashion and retail brand searches, up 0.03 percentage points year on year, while online-first players such as Shein, Very and ASOS lost share (Retail Times, October 2026).

John Lewis unveils its 20th Christmas advert

What: El Corte Inglés has put a new managing director, hired four months ago from Karl Lagerfeld, in charge of Sfera, its fashion chain of more than 500 stores, while reorganising the group's fashion division.

Why it is important: El Corte Inglés is rebuilding its fashion organisation around executives from fast fashion and international brands, as fashion becomes the group's main growth driver.

El Corte Inglés has hired Paula Jiménez Tamayo as managing director of Sfera. She joined four months ago from Karl Lagerfeld, where she spent seven years and rose to vice president of sales. She started at Inditex, with more than seven years at Tempe, before moving to Mango and then Converse in the Netherlands.

Sfera turned twenty-five in 2026 and is the group's main fashion brand, the only one with an independent distribution network. At the close of FY2025 it had 547 stores: 167 owned, 309 franchised and 71 corners inside El Corte Inglés. It operates in around twenty countries, mainly in Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

The appointment coincides with a reorganisation of the fashion area. Elena Lazcanotegui now leads external and own women's brands as a single unit. She reports to Laura Moreno, head of home and fashion purchasing, alongside the men's, children's, intimates and swimwear, and Sfera directorates.

Fashion sales reached €5,882 million in FY2025. The group posted consolidated revenue of €17,247 million, up 1.14%, and net profit of €628 million, up 22.8%.

IADS Notes: The Sfera appointment follows a run of management changes at El Corte Inglés under chairperson Cristina Álvarez. In March 2026 the commercial side was reshuffled: Enrique Hidalgo was promoted to sales management director, a new country manager was named for Portugal and the purchasing department was split (Modaes, March 2026). In June, Javier Catena returned as CEO, the seventh leadership change in recent years, with every business unit now reporting to him (Modaes, June 2026). Fashion is the division being reinforced. Fashion sales rose 3.1% in FY2025-26 and the segment is described as a key growth driver, alongside a €3 billion investment plan through 2030 (Press Release, June 2026). Sfera is the group's main international vehicle. It closed FY2024 with 529 stores, owned in core markets and franchised abroad, and was preparing to launch its renovated format in Mexico. Its store and expansion strategy has been led by Ángela Goitia since late 2023 (Modaes, November 2025).

What: El Palacio de Hierro’s third-quarter net income rose 18.1% to 383 million Mexican pesos on revenue up 7.2%, after a year of declining profitability.

Why it is important: Digital sales are growing more than twice as fast as total revenue while the margin holds steady, so the group’s omnichannel investment is adding volume without eroding profitability.

El Palacio de Hierro, one of the largest department store groups in Latin America, returned to profit growth in the third quarter of 2026 after a year of declining profitability. Revenue for the quarter reached 13.957 billion pesos (666 million euros), and the margin was unchanged from a year earlier at 34.6%.

Operating income rose 6.5% to 838 million pesos (40 million euros), a slower pace than net income. Digital sales grew 17.5% year on year, according to company data.

Over the first nine months of 2026, revenue reached 42.606 billion pesos (2.0359 billion euros), up 5.5%. Retail sales, which make up the bulk of the business, grew 4.7%, while the margin was virtually unchanged at 34.5%.

Despite the stronger third quarter, year-to-date profitability remains below 2025 levels. Net income for the nine months totalled 1.648 billion pesos (78.7 million euros), down 4.22%, and operating income fell 5% to 3.156 billion pesos (150.8 million euros).

IADS Notes: The third-quarter rebound reverses the first-half trend, when sales rose 4.65% but net income fell 9.46%, with second-quarter net income down 3.56% (Modaes, August 2026). Across the region, the five largest Latin American department store groups grew combined first-half revenue by just 2.3%, against 7% a year earlier, with El Palacio de Hierro's profit down 3.5% while Liverpool's rose 25.3% (Modaes, September 2026). The third quarter turned that comparison around: Liverpool grew revenue by 2.2% and widened its gross margin to 42.8%, but its net profit fell 14.5% under Nordstrom acquisition accounting (as Modaes reported in October 2026). El Palacio de Hierro's digital growth has eased from the 22% recorded over 2025 (Modaes, March 2026) but still far outpaces total revenue. It is backed by an omnichannel programme that includes an e-concession model for digital luxury, fast delivery and new payment options (Fashion Network, May 2026).

El Palacio de Hierro returns to profit growth with an 18% rise in third-quarter net income