John Lewis lands RTIH UK retail innovation award
John Lewis Partnership has emerged triumphant in the Most Innovative UK Retailer category at the first ever RTIH Innovation Awards.
This year, it has launched a pilot at its Oxford store focusing on ways in which the retailer and its customers can reduce their impact on the planet.
Elsewhere, John Lewis Partnership joined forces with the Small Robot Company, strategic design consultancy Method and various UK robotics companies and industry bodies to create a blueprint for human robot interaction.
It also unveiled a concept store which aims to embrace changes in the way Brits shop.
A big thank you to our 2019 judging panel for their help in picking our 2019 winners.
Hayley Meenan-Wilkin, Web Trading Management, Ocado.com
Christine Bardwell, Global Strategy Lead, Oracle
Martin Newman, Founder, The Customer First Group
Toby Pickard, Head of Insight - Innovation & Futures, IGD
Natalie Berg, Retail Analyst, Author & Founder, NBK Retail
Tiffany Lung, Retail Analyst
Nadine Neatrour, Independent Consultant
Judges’ comments on John Lewis included:
“A very close run race between John Lewis and Co-op. I’m opting for John Lewis. Primarily because they were the first big department or grocery led retailer to recognise the requirement to move from simply ‘selling stuff’ to ‘delivering experiences’ led by a strong service proposition. They’ve continued that with their new Southampton store that has a combination of services and experiences led by ‘a dream team of experts’ taking centre stage on every floor.”
“John Lewis Partnership is really working to understand and also shape the future of retail. The retailer stands out because they’re trying out new ideas in real life scenarios, and even getting involved in creating best practices and protocol for future business technology use.”
“JLP has stood out repeatedly as the department store that takes time to look to strategic improvements in order to keep up with the ever increasing online competitive landscape. The tie up with Boden is particularly smart given the similarity of their target audience. It also has always represented itself well as socially responsible, and I love Edgar the Dragon!”