John Lewis is “optimistic” investments in its supply chain will bear fruit this Christmas.
The retailer has ploughed £400m into automation at its 3.2 million sq ft distribution centre campus at Magna Park and Fenny Lock in Milton Keynes.
In February, John Lewis began a programme to install 60 autonomous picking ‘robots’ developed by Hai Robotics. It followed the introduction of 60 smaller Automated Mobile Robots developed by Locus Robotics in March.
The 10-metre-tall autonomous Hai systems have already delivered £1m in efficiency saving, JLP said leading to a 75% improvement in storage capacity all together.
Around 82% of all John Lewis products pass through either the Fenny Lock or Magna Park, and the retailer anticipates the “step-change” investment will help it increase capacity going into Christmas.
John Lewis expects 17 million items will be picked and packed at the site in the run-up to Christmas, with delivery teams also making 375,000 larger item deliveries.
The John Lewis Partnership returned to profit in March after consecutive years of losses and market share decline. CEO Nish Kankiwala and then chairman Sharon White committed to invest £1bn into JLP’s stores and supply chain over the next four years, as part of a rejigged turnaround strategy focused “unashamedly” on retail.
It has seen the return of John Lewis’s ’Never Knowingly Undersold’ promise in September, as well as a new wave of store investment under returning boss Peter Ruis. Meanwhile, supermarket Waitrose has embarked on ambitious expansion plan to build 100 new stores over the next five years.
A combination of the Never Knowingly Undersold promise, and Black Friday had led to a 73% increase in web searches for Black Friday deals at John Lewis, the retailer claimed. John Lewis’ Black Friday deals end on 30 November.
“Customers are increasingly looking for quality products at attractive prices – especially when thinking about gifts for their loved ones – and we are delighted so many have already made the most of our amazing offers,” said Naomi Simcock, John Lewis operations director.
“Our ambition is to establish John Lewis as the retailer of choice for Black Friday purchases. We’re optimistic that our combination of outstanding range and seamless customer experience, supported by our modernised Never Knowingly Undersold price promise, will help us to achieve this.”
The push comes as the retailer became the latest to be accused by consumer body Which? for “misleading” shoppers over the extent of its Black Friday deals, reported the Telegraph this week. John Lewis was one of several retailers in which it had identified deals on items where a higher price was given, even though the price had not been charged in as much as six months.
A John Lewis spokesperson told the Telegraph: “In a highly competitive and dynamic market, our customers can find brilliant offers with us all year round.
“But the recent return of our reimagined Never Knowingly Undersold brand promise, which matches prices with 25 leading retailers, gives customers absolute confidence that they are getting fantastic value.”
No comments yet