John Lewis announces new distribution centre as online demand soars

The John Lewis Partnership has inked a deal with Tesco to lease a one million sq ft distribution centre at Fenny Lock in Milton Keynes.

It says that the move will help it meet growing customer demand for online orders. Since the start of the Covid pandemic, online sales have grown from 40% to over 60% of John Lewis’s total sales.

The warehouse, leased for 11 years, will become its second largest distribution centre after its two million sq ft campus at Magna Park in Milton Keynes.

Andrew Murphy, Partner and Executive Director of Operations for the Partnership, says: “This one of a kind distribution centre represents a fantastic opportunity to power the continued growth of Johnlewis.com, ensuring that we can keep pace with customer demand - both for our products and for our wide range of fulfilment and delivery options.”

He adds: “We will invest in the site’s automation capability to support future growth and, over the next two years, we will recruit 500 new Partners to work at the distribution centre, which we plan to start operating during summer 2022.”

From last-minute holidays to summer weddings, find fashion inspiration for every occasion here ✨ https://t.co/vHDovJLOD0 pic.twitter.com/kqwPltXyUF
— John Lewis & Partners (@JohnLewisRetail) July 25, 2021

John Lewis will use the Fenny Lock site to fulfil orders for fashion, small home furnishing items and technology products.

It says that the proximity to the Magna Park campus will enable it to combine more customer orders, reducing both the number of packages it creates by approximately one million per year, and the number of lorries on the road, helping the retailer to meet its target of being net zero carbon by 2035.

This year, John Lewis is investing £50 million in johnlewis.com and its app and creating more virtual services and events, with a further £100 million+ to be committed to online over the course of a five-year strategy.

It has also signed a three-year lease agreement for a 300k sq ft distribution centre at Bardon, Leicestershire which it will start using this month in time for Black Friday 2021.

John Lewis currently uses 10 distribution sites across the UK to fulfil online and shop orders.

These are Magna Park sites 1,2 and 3 in Milton Keynes, Blakelands in Milton Keynes, Brackmills in Northampton, Grange Park in Northampton, Corby in Northamptonshire, Redditch in Worcestershire, the Waitrose National Distribution Centre in Milton Keynes, and an ancillary site in Northampton where it processes customer returns and technical repairs to reduce the number of items which get sent to landfill.