The pandemic has thrown a major curveball to the retail industry over the past 18 months, and household names such as John Lewis & Partners have had to innovate rapidly to survive. We take a look at what Britain’s favourite department store is planning over the next few years, and how shopping there might change.
John Lewis has regularly hit the headlines in recent months, with bad news on store closures and staff redundancies countered by intriguing stories on plans to shake up its business model.
So what’s really going on, and how might your experiences with this well-loved retailer change?
Here, we take a detailed look at how John Lewis is adapting in its fight to survive and thrive.
What’s happening to John Lewis’ stores?
The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) has shuttered eight of its stores since the start of the pandemic, on top of eight branches already closed in recent years. This leaves just 34 John Lewis shops remaining, with thousands of store and head-office staff losing their jobs.
JLP-owned supermarket Waitrose hasn’t gone unscathed either: four shops have closed recently, following another seven in 2019.
This is all part of John Lewis’ overarching plan to have fewer, bigger stores, which it claims will enable it to offer a better shopping experience. It’s also testing smaller, local neighbourhood stores as part of its £1bn investment plan over the next five years.
It has promised that its remaining branches will be ‘enticing and exciting places to shop; more reflective of the tastes and interests of local customers’. But what does this look like in practice?
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What do the new-format John Lewis stores look like?
Following a £517m annual loss in March and what JLP chair Sharon White described as ‘a decade of changes in shopping habits in one year’, John Lewis has had no choice but to innovate.
Some 13 branches have had the makeover treatment so far, including its Edinburgh store. It underwent a multimillion-pound refurbishment, which includes a range of services and experiences including:
- Personal styling services
- A beauty studio
- Interactive and colourful play areas
- Refreshed nursery department offering customer appointments
- Expanded electricals department.
Shopping online with John Lewis
Online currently accounts for about 40% of John Lewis’ sales, but it wants to increase this to 60% or even 70%.
One way it’s hoping to achieve this is by offering a more personalised online service: you can now make virtual appointments for advice on home design, personal styling and baby products before making a purchase. Around 18,500 virtual appointments have been held on JohnLewis.com so far.
It’s also focusing on adding around 100 more brands to its stores and website within the next year.
However, the retailer came under fire in June for how much it’s charging the third-party brands as part of the arrangement.
Brands currently pay John Lewis up to 50% of each sale in commission and fees, leading one brand – SeaSalt – to terminate its deal with John Lewis, according to a report from The Times.
- Find out more: how to get the best price when shopping online
Never knowingly undersold?
John Lewis’ online-led changes have meant the price promise it’s had in place since 1925 has finally been dropped.
In the past, the famous ‘Never knowingly undersold’ tagline meant John Lewis would refund shoppers the difference if they found a product with a lower price elsewhere on the high street, but it didn’t include online retailers.
With John Lewis pushing more shoppers to make online purchases, it ultimately binned the price pledge because it can’t always compete with online-only, ultra-low-priced competitors.
The retailer’s popularity doesn’t seem to have suffered though: John Lewis was named a Which? Recommended Provider for every retail category we’ve surveyed shoppers on this year, based on thousands of shoppers’ feedback and expert Which? analysis.
Find out how its competitors did in our full guide to the best and worst high street and online shops.
Blurring the lines
You might notice increasing numbers of John Lewis products for sale in Waitrose stores, and Waitrose-branded goods in branches of John Lewis.
This cross-promotion is partly down to the fact that, currently, only 30% of John Lewis customers currently shop with both brands.
The initiative kicked off with Waitrose Christmas hampers being stocked in several John Lewis branches last Christmas, and John Lewis Christmas trees placed at the front of 300 Waitrose stores.
Around 280 Waitrose supermarkets will start selling John Lewis homeware by the end of 2021, plus it has introduced John Lewis shopping areas in five Waitrose stores.
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Garden centres and John Lewis homes
While John Lewis is clearly working hard to improve its in-store and online shopping experience, it’s dipping its toes into new revenue streams too.
It’s reportedly exploring the potential to open garden centres and sell home insurance on top of the credit card and insurance products it already offers.
The retailer is considering creating 10,000 homes for rent over the next decade, with 7,000 due to be built on sites in its existing property portfolio. We asked a spokesperson whether this would be in space currently occupied by stores or offices, but they declined to comment.
What we do know is that it plans to start with two sites in London, and tenants can opt to furnish the rental properties with John Lewis products.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson may not be first in line, after the controversial refurbishment of his flat was reportedly inspired by a desire to get rid of the ‘John Lewis furniture nightmare’ left by his predecessor Theresa May.
John Lewis appeared to respond to Mr Johnson’s alleged comments the day after they came to light:
Time for an interiors refresh?
We pride our Home Design Service on having something for *almost* everyone
https://t.co/hbWsjU4sm1
— John Lewis & Partners (@JohnLewisRetail) April 28, 2021
Making furniture more affordable
If you’d rather try before you buy, John Lewis is now offering a range of 200 furniture products that you can rent for a year, including sofas, office chairs and dining tables.
It’s part of its aim to offer a ‘buy back or take back’ option on across all product categories by 2025.
If you’d rather buy but are on a budget, a new ‘Anyday’ range of ‘great value’ baby clothing, baby care, technology and homeware items launched earlier this year. John Lewis claims prices are on average 20% lower than its other own-brand items.
Catherine Shuttleworth, CEO and founder of retailer and shopper marketing agency Savvy Marketing. told Which?: ‘John Lewis has historically catered to more affluent shoppers, so it makes sense that it’s trying to broaden its appeal to as much of the market as possible.’
These business moves beyond pure retail are all part of John Lewis’ aim for 40% of its profits to come from non-retail lines of business by 2030.
While there are many things John Lewis and its competitors can’t control during the pandemic, it’s clear that the retailer is prepared to make bold decisions in a bid to survive and thrive. Only time will tell if it succeeds.
- Find out more: Brexit and Covid cause headache for people buying garden furniture, pet food and plants
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/07/how-is-shopping-with-john-lewis-going-to-change/