Here’s How John Lewis is Going Big on Omnichannel Customer Experience
Even before the pandemic, high street retail had found itself in a tough situation. With an increasing number of people flocking to the wider selections and lower prices of online sellers, brick-and-mortar stores were finding it difficult to compete.
One sector of the high street which has been struggling more than most is the department store. We already discussed in our Marks & Spencer article how that brand had managed to pull ahead by turning its attention to ecommerce and being more flexible about its product line. Well, now it’s the turn of one of its competitors to try and turn its fortunes around and make a comeback – albeit with a slightly different strategy.
In today’s piece, we are going to be focusing on high-end department store brand John Lewis & Partners and how it has been adapting in the face of changing customer behavior and the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 crisis.
John Lewis & Partners
A mainstay of the British high street and partner of high-end supermarket chain, Waitrose, John Lewis’ department stores were once a consistent hive of activity as customers flocked through its doors to try and buy the latest fashion items and beauty products.
However, like many other brands in the space, London headquartered John Lewis has found it increasingly difficult to encourage customers in and had seen a significant decline in footfall – one that was only exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
However, all is not bleak as John Lewis has seen a massive surge in online sales with a massive 74% of its total sales for the past year being completed via its ecommerce presence. Of these, around a quarter were completed on the John Lewis app. These figures represent a 40% boost in ecommerce sales for John Lewis compared to pre-pandemic.
"Shoppers are now coming back into John Lewis’ shops to buy larger items of furniture and beds, but that footfall is still lower than before the pandemic," said John Lewis Partnership Chairman, Sharon White. "LFL sales were around 20% lower than two years ago for the part of the half-year in which John Lewis shops were open. City center shops have been "harder hit" than those on retail parks or standalone stores. Shoppers can now buy or collect from John Lewis and Waitrose from 1,026 "touchpoints" – including 34 John Lewis shops and 327 Waitrose supermarkets."
John Lewis is leaning into this shift in buying behavior hard and making serious investments to improve its offering in the online space, devoting £800m this year into its ongoing digital transformation – spending £334m of that in the first half alone.
Customer Experience
A big part of this investment has been poured into improving the customer experience – blending the instore and online John Lewis shopping experience into a single omnichannel strategy.
The department store has developed a digital fit finder, which is designed to help customers find the best possible clothing to suit their individual figure. We have seen a lot of media focus recently on body positivity and how to embrace the many different shapes humans come in and this seems a positive way to acknowledge that catwalk models and store mannequins will not give every customer an accurate idea of how items may look on their own bodies.
John Lewis is also trialing an innovative video-on-demand shopping experience. This exciting new development would see customers consuming online content around John Lewis products and give them the ability to purchase those products from within the video content itself. We have already seen YouTube Shopping rise in popularity over the past year or so and this seems a terrific way to further remove the barriers between marketing and making a purchase which can so often result in abandoned shopping carts.
In a similar move to Marks & Spencer, John Lewis is also planning to open up its ecommerce platform as a digital marketplace where third-party brands can sell their wares. Over the next year, John Lewis expects to see around 100 new fashion brands appear on its website, including plus-size lingerie brand Oola and menswear brands like Raging Bull Spoke London.
"We’ve offered customers the option to buy larger branded home products directly from suppliers via johnlewis.com for a number of years and we’re now expanding this into fashion, providing customers with even greater choice," said John Lewis Executive Director, Pippa Wicks. "As part of our plans to modernize the John Lewis brand, we’re expanding both the number of fashion brands and the range of those we already sell on johnlewis.com. In the future, we plan to bring onboard and expand many more of our fashion brands, giving customers even more of what they love."
Final Thoughts
Omnichannel and customer experience can be key differentiators in the modern retail environment and those brands which master them are likely to see the best results. With John Lewis taking the initiative to evolve and transform with the shifting landscape of customer habits and expectations, we think this legendary brand will be around for many years to come.
Customer experience and omnichannel marketing are set to be hot topics at eTail Europe 2022, taking place in April at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London, UK.
Download the agenda today for more information and insights.