New John Lewis boss Peter Ruis said the it has had an “exceptional” response to the return of its ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ pledge as he prepares to ramp up the retailer’s customer offer over the golden quarter.
The department store chain brought back its price match promise at the start of the week after dropping the commitment two years ago.
“After a week of the relaunch, I can tell you it’s been exceptional, with some incredible sales and some incredible traffic across both big channels,” he said, adding it had 55,000 more organic visits to its website every day so far.
“It’s affecting all of our assortments. We’re seeing a very strong buzz across areas that you wouldn’t say are naturally part of this conversation, like own-brand bedding or nursery.”
Ruis previously described the pledge that it ditched in 2022 as “not fit for purpose” as staff were left relying on pencils, spreadsheets, and trips to other shops to keep track of prices at competitors.
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However, John Lewis is now using AI technology to match the prices of its products in store and online to those across 25 major retailers, including M&S, Next, Boots and AO.com.
Ruis added: “We’ve always had really good prices, so this has just sharpened us up in a few areas.”
The return of ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ will shortly be joined by the roll out of the retailer’s joint loyalty programme with its sister brand Waitrose.
John Lewis Partnership chief executive Nish Kankiwala said that customers will soon be able to see offers spanning the two retailers online and in its apps.
“We are making progress on the pan-partnership loyalty programme. This year, what the customers will see…offers across both brands – if you are a My John Lewis and My Waitrose customer – online.”
Kankiwala said it was “the first step of a number of steps in the pan-partnership loyalty”, with more updates available in “the coming months”.
The pan-partnership scheme has long been teased after the business hired former Tesco executive Emily Wells as its head of loyalty in April last year.
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