John Lewis gets a funky makeover as fashion site goes live

Published on Monday 14 September 2009 21:32

THINK of the British high street and John Lewis' 27 department stores are among its greatest stalwarts, with the employee-owned group's reputation for serving up quality household goods beloved of the chattering middle classes.

Yet John Lewis has not merely been focused on selling tea towels and widescreen TVs – in the past two years the partnership has also been making a concerted push to be seen as a fashion retailer, setting designers such as Nicole Farhi alongside its lower-priced, own-label fare.

Now, the retailer has launched its latest assault on the UK fashion retail scene, but rather than putting it on the high street, this time it is going online.

The group yesterday unveiled its revamped fashion website featuring new ranges not available in store, "brand boutiques" for luxury labels including Mulberry and Ralph Lauren and glossy magazine style-articles on the season's "hot purple".

John Lewis expects the fashion website alone to boost sales by 70 million over the next two years.

The man behind the launch of the improved site is Peter Ruis, John Lewis' director of fashion buying. It was Ruis who last year launched the group's 1.5m pre-Christmas fashion campaign – its largest ever. The budget for www.johnlewis.com/fashion was 750,000 and the project has taken eight months to set up.

The new site has nearly doubled the number of brands it sells, covering womenswear, menswear, accessories, childrenswear and beauty.

Although the "capable but dull" johnlewis.com has sold fashion since it was launched in 2001, sales of electronics and home goods far outstripped skirts and lingerie. Increasing sales of fashion on the website from 6 per cent to 20 per cent – the same ratio as in the stores – is for Ruis a "no brainer".

"We had a good Amazon-esque transaction site that was very capable but dull from a fashion point of view," admits Ruis.

"In terms of what I do, if I make big bottom line change it had to start with online. Electrical and home are our number one shop, womenswear was our number 23 shop.

"So it was a no brainer, if we can get this to our number one or two shop we have a significant change of business," he argues.

The revamp comes after the retailer realised it might be missing a trick. Despite having a "dull" website, fashion sales were nevertheless growing.

"It has been our fastest growing area online for years, it is just we didn't have enough," says Ruis.

"We made a hole for ourselves, and in the last couple of years it was fashion that has grown. We decided a big bang was needed rather than a wait and see."

Not only does Ruis expect the fashion website to increase online traffic and revenues, he expects it to boost John Lewis' fashion credentials.

"Half the time people don't realise what we have," says Ruis. "When you see the Mulberry and Ralph Lauren shops (online], it will have a huge effect just on the awareness of what we do."

During the recession, online sales have tended to continue to grow as sales on the high street have faltered.

Although there is a risk that online sales may affect sales in-store, Lesley Ballantyne, managing director of John Lewis in Glasgow, welcomes the revamped, expanded site.

"More and more we are becoming a multi-channel business," says Ballantyne. "I shop lots of different ways and so do our customers. They want to see the stock in the shop but they also want to have a browse at home."

"We are one company and it is all about capturing that market share. In the end people will use them in a complementary way. They will see something online they like and they can come in and buy it, or they can buy it online and bring it back to the shop. Both of the parts are stronger than each individually."

Ruis argues, too, that consumer trust in John Lewis is also a factor in the potential for growth. "We are good at easy, one-click shopping," he says. "People trust that we aren't going to do anything untoward. They know we are going to deliver."

And while the emphasis on the new site is towards the expensive end of fashion, Ruis insists that the format takes a "no snob" approach that fits well with these recessionary times.

"Our difference is probably the fact it is a meritocratic offer," he says. "If you take women's jeans, you have got 30 through to 300.

"We have a no snob approach to fashion. We completely accept that women will have a 5 T-shirt, a Mulberry bag and a Nicole Farhi coat, and that is probably the way we work."

"The designer brands – we make them more accessible to people who perhaps are more intimidated having to shop in Bond Street or at Jenners."

Encouraging signs for the retail sector

JOHN Lewis Partnership is due to reveal its interim results on Thursday, amid recent encouraging signs on sales.

The group, which includes the department store chain and the Waitrose supermarket business, saw its most recent weekly sales figure rise 4.9 per cent on a year earlier. The retailer said business had been driven by back-to-school sales, while TVs also sold well as the beginning of the UK switch-over to digital broadcasting started. John Lewis said it had "quiet optimism" about the rest of the month for gains at its department stores as it comes up against easier comparatives with the same period last year, when the financial crisis was beginning to bite.

John Lewis posted a 26 per cent dive in underlying profits to 279.6 million in the year to 31 January, as trading tumbled.

Meanwhile, Waitrose has grown its market share to 3.9 per cent in the 12 weeks to August, compared with 3.7 per cent in the same period last year.

Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, said John Lewis's most recent sales figures were "relatively welcome" as they provide a bellwether for the rest of the retail industry. But he warned rising unemployment and debt remained a challenge to retailers.