John Lewis Partnership (JLP) is tackling the challenge of finding customers in an increasingly fragmented market by treating its retail media offering not as an advertising channel, but as an extension of its customer data strategy.
Working with Epsilon, JLP is allowing brands to extend campaigns beyond the John Lewis and Waitrose websites into offsite environments including CTV, streaming services, online video and display advertising.
At the same time, its partnership with retail media technology provider Kevel is strengthening onsite capabilities through AI-powered targeting, self-service campaign management and closed-loop measurement that links digital advertising to purchases made both online and in-store.
Taken together, the two partnerships reflect one of the central themes in retail media: consumers increasingly expect brands to recognise them consistently across different environments. RetailX consumer survey results show that more than 70% of consumers believe good personalisation means a brand gets it right consistently rather than only occasionally, while more than half believe loyalty memberships result in more relevant communications. Customers are signalling that they value recognition – but only when it delivers genuinely useful experiences rather than repetitive advertising.
With millions of customers shopping across both John Lewis and Waitrose, supported by extensive loyalty data and purchase histories, JLP can begin to understand customer behaviour across very different purchase journeys. Grocery shopping typically involves frequent, habitual purchasing decisions, while purchases through John Lewis often involve longer periods of consideration and research. Combining those behavioural signals creates a more complete picture of customer intent than either business could generate independently.
As Jemma Haley, Retail Media Lead for the John Lewis Partnership, explains: “This move is a big step forward in creating an insight-led retail media offer that spans both grocery and non-grocery. It helps us build a detailed understanding of audiences across vastly different purchase journeys, from immediate necessities to more considered items. This will enable brand partners to target smarter audiences, powered by first-party data, helping our customers discover more relevant brands.”
JLP’s investment in measurement is equally significant. Connecting online marketing activity with offline purchasing behaviour is a persistent challenge. Traditional digital attribution often ends when a customer leaves a website, making it difficult for brands to understand whether online advertising ultimately influenced store sales.
The introduction of ROPO (research online, purchase offline) measurement also begins to close that gap. By combining onsite retail media exposure with loyalty data, advertisers can understand whether customers who researched products digitally subsequently purchased in-store.
The investment in AI-powered targeting through Kevel illustrates how retail media is evolving. Rather than targeting broad demographic groups, brands can build campaigns around behavioural signals, purchase intent and shopping context, and delivering more relevant communications.
For Kaitlin Craig, Digital Retail Media Lead at the John Lewis Partnership, the objective is to use customer understanding to improve experiences for both shoppers and brands. “With over
160 years in retail, we hold really rich customer insights – and we’re now able to share this with trusted partner brands. By targeting our retail media, we can improve the experience for brands and customers alike – whether that’s reminding customers of old favourites, or helping them connect with exciting new brands. The early results are exciting, and we’re only getting started.”
Tim Frankcom, President of Europe and APAC at Epsilon, adds: “The offsite opportunity is enormous and connecting onsite and offsite media remains a key challenge. It’s all too easy to rely on retail media partners that lean heavily on third-party data, but this can result in fragmented targeting and a disjointed customer experience. JLP is taking a different approach, giving brands access to real identity – not guesswork – and campaigns that truly reflect the customer.”
Learn more about how JLP and other retailers are tackling the increasing complexity of finding new customers and building loyalty with retail media in the RetailX data workbench report Reliable forecasting from mixed signals
