John Lewis looks to halt slide in fortunes with Future Partnership

The under pressure John Lewis Partnership is integrating the teams behind its two brands, John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners, and narrowing its senior management team.

It says that its Future Partnership plan will enable “a faster delivery of better products and services for our customers. The changes will also mean that the influence of our customer-facing Partners will become stronger in shaping and improving the customer offer”. Further details here.

“Our current structure has served us well in the past, enabling us to develop two of the UK’s most loved and trusted brands. In the last three years we have delivered significant innovation and driven efficiency, maintaining market leading service standards and growing customer numbers,” says Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, Charlie Mayfield.

“However, the lesson of the last two years is that we need more innovation, faster decision making and bolder steps to align our operating model with our strategy. This is what the Future Partnership is all about.”

He adds that there will be little or no disruption to shops or websites in the near-term, although there will be considerable change in many other areas of the Partnership as it brings the two businesses much closer together. “These are necessary and these changes will be difficult for some of our Partners and we will implement as carefully and sensitively as we can,” he comments.

Once the programme is complete, the Partnership will be “better positioned to break out from the cycle of declining returns that are affecting most established retailers. We will be a more modern and more unified business with a leadership team and cost structure that will enable the business to thrive in the long-term.”

Last month, John Lewis announced that it had fallen to a half-year loss and expressed concerns over the “significant” impact that a no-deal Brexit would have on its business.