John Lewis has launched a “school of service” for staff to provide lessons on better customer experience after facing criticism that standards in stores have been slipping.
There are plans to retrain 500 staff before Christmas, in hopes a renewed focus on helping shoppers will boost sales.
The school has four classrooms and one theatre, and is located inside the John Lewis store in Stratford, London.
READ MORE: John Lewis opens 10 Christmas Emporiums
If the programme proves a success, John Lewis could expand the school to other parts of the UK as well as to Waitrose.
In recent years, customers have complained about a deterioration in customer service at John Lewis amid store closures and thousands of job cuts.
John Lewis said in July that it wanted to invest more in customer service roles after it announced it would cut 1000 jobs.
The “school of service” is the latest effort from chairwoman Sharon White to turn the retailer around.
John Lewis said the initiative “reinforced our principles of putting customers at the heart of what we do”.
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