John Lewis Partnership has reported a loss of £30mn across the group, which is nearly half last year’s deficit of £59mn, stressing that its turnaround strategy is leading to growth.
In its interim results for the 26 Weeks ending 27 July 2024, partnership sales topped £5.9bn up 2% year-on-year, helped by growth at Waitrose. Sales at John Lewis’ department store struggled due to a “challenging market”.
“These results confirm that our transformation plan is working and we expect profits to grow significantly for the full year, a marked improvement from where we were two years ago,” said Nish Kankiwala, chief executive officer of the John Lewis Partnership.
“We continue to invest heavily in quality, service and value, and customers are responding well – with more people shopping with us and customer satisfaction increasing. While we have much more to do, we’re well set up for a positive peak trading period and on target to significantly improve our performance for the full year.”
A company profile in the recently published first RetailX UK 360° report looks at how John Lewis has grown from a small draper’s shop on Oxford Street, London in 1864 to a leading UK omnichannel retailer.
It has traded as a partner-owned (the partners being the staff) business since 1919. In recent years, John Lewis has invested heavily in omnichannel retailing and on the retail experience. In its latest full-year, 53% of its customers bought through digital channels, including its mobile app.
The retailer has reduced store numbers to 34 – down from the 51 stores it had before the Covid-19 pandemic – while increasing the number of collection points to 13,000 by including branches of sister supermarket Waitrose.
John Lewis Partnership said it would invest £542mn on modernising technology, refreshing its shops and simplifying the way that it works. At John Lewis, it will invest in new brands – both its own and third-party brands – as well as in customer service technology, value and the online experience.
That online investment is set to see improvements to navigation and more personalised product recommendations. JLP is also investing in staff training and development in order to offer “a differentiated experience for customers.”
Read the full John Lewis profile in the RetailX UK 360° report. The report offers a briefing on the UK market as a whole, how shoppers buy and want to buy, the retailers, brands and marketplaces that are succeeding in this market, and the services that the most successful provide to their customers.
This report is designed to be used as a benchmark tool and we trust that you will find it useful in exploring the many opportunities of selling in the UK.
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