John Lewis director grilled on advertising budget amid job cuts
When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they’ll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time.
John Lewis has launched thousands of new low-price products in a range called Anyday. The retailer has financially struggled during the pandemic, and so it hopes to attract more customers to its stores and website with the new range.
John Lewis will sell 2,400 items costing on average 20p less than its current products.
Some items will be cut to half price.
The range comes after it was announced that John Lewis will not be reopening some of its stores across the UK when non-essential retailers start to welcome customers to stores again from Monday, April 12.
John Lewis has had to shut 18 stores since the start of the pandemic and it plans to open smaller branches in the place of some of its existing larger stores.
The company also said earlier this year that it will launch concept stores in some Waitrose stores across the UK.
John Lewis and Partners owns Waitrose and has said that it would roll out mini stores in 50 or more of the supermarket’s shops.
The low-price Anyday range is another of the retailer’s ideas to appeal to more customers, especially younger families.
Items in the range include everything from face cloths to sofas, all spanning eight key areas of the home: bedroom, dining room, living room, kitchen, bathroom, nursery, home office and outdoor.
The range also features baby care products, including clothing and car seats – the latter priced at just £60.
Other items include a pedal bin, a ribbed mug, a shower radio, a bed frame, a recycled cotton rug, and various lamps, including a tall floor lamp for just £30.
These products are all cheaper than John Lewis’ own brand equivalent items.
John Lewis will launch Anyday pop-up shops in ten of its stores, and the remaining branches will feature smaller designated areas for the range.
Items from the range are now available to buy on John Lewis’ website, or shoppers can wait until Monday, April 12, to purchase some in store.
John Lewis has said that it will expand the range into new categories this autumn, adding a further 1,000 products.
Pippa Wicks, Executive Director of John Lewis & Partners, commented on the range: “It’s actually about saying ‘you can get our quality at even better value for money’.
“We want to encourage people to do more of the whole shop with us.”
Ms Wicks added: “We really are modernising John Lewis from top to bottom and it’s going to take us a couple of years to do that – this is like a big first statement.”
The Executive Director went on to say: “We’re clear now postcode by postcode where the potential lies for where our customers are and how they shop.
“We’ve been spending a lot of time with other department stores and around the world – Mexico, Chile, Spain, Germany, US – and we’ve been talking about what they’re doing, what they’re learning.
“There’s been some helpful insight from those conversations, so we’re not just dreaming it up.”
Due to a rise in online shopping during the coronavirus pandemic, John Lewis faced its biggest crisis in the retailer’s 157-year history last year.
The chain experienced a whopping £517million in losses.
Source: Read Full Article
