Never Undersold (John Lewis)

Member Name: CARIAD_FACH

Product:	John Lewis
Date:	11/09/02 (2561 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great range of products

Disadvantages: Can be stuffy

John Lewis is not just a store in Oxford Street; it is in fact the flagship store of the ‘John Lewis Partnership’.

Now this is not a mere department store group but also includes the supermarket chain called ‘Waitrose’ Along with many other properties that many people do not even realise are owned by the group. They also own Apple orchards at Leckford and holiday homes, which are primarily for the use of the workers within the group. These workers are called partners and it is this fact that makes John Lewis different from all other department stores.

Now I have read comments in other reviews about Christmas bonuses being paid to workers and unfortunately have to inform you that there is a bonus paid to all the work force (partners) but it is a yearly event and is paid out in April. No doubt they would like a Xmas bonus but apart from the chance to have some of their Xmas pay paid early to them there is no Xmas bonus.
The first store run under partnership lines was not John Lewis Oxford Street but in fact Peter Jones of Sloane Square, it was the founder’s son who on being given his own store decided to run it under democratic lines. It was only when he took over the Oxford Street store was that branch bought under the current doctrine.

Basically the partners run the store group themselves under the guidance of the groups Chairman. Each store in the group elects partners to what is known locally as the ‘Branch Council’ this enables the partners to question their own branches Managing director as to how he is running the business. Each store then elects Central Councillors who attend meetings at head office to discuss the running of the whole group, including Waitrose and the distribution centres.

The Chairman of the partnership has overall responsibility for the well being of the group as a whole and is held accountably for this by a group of elected board members. One of whom has to b
e what is endearingly termed a ‘Rank & File’ member. I.e. somebody who has not attained management rank within the group.

Now the radical part of John Lewis was making all the work force responsibly for the business, they are share holders if you like and their stake is directly controlled by how much they earn. Each year the firm’s bonus is announced and shared out between the workforce. If the bonus is 10% for example if you earn £20,000 an year you receive a bonus payment of £2000, sadly tax and National Insurance is payable on this due to the current Chancellor revoking the special deal. So in reality that worker receives roughly £1400 as a bonus payment. This happens once a year and is not a guaranteed amount. That is the highest it has been is 24% but it is feasible that no bonus will be paid.

The stores in the group are all run under central guidelines as to how the stores must look and as to how the merchandise is displayed. The ticket when such things existed was meant to be in a certain place on the product and woe betide the stock keeper who priced up incorrectly.

This has led to a certain sameness within the group with individual stores losing their own identity. Go into any partnership store anywhere and you will feel at home with the lay out and decor.

The main premise for the buying public is the slogan ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ this is the whole ethos of the partnership and seems to be misunderstood by some doo yoo members.
Unlike other stores who will refund you your money if you can buy cheaper elsewhere the partnership does things differently. If a local competitor sells an item cheaper than they do instead of refunding you alone the difference or twice as one group does. The stores in the John Lewis group drop their selling price for everybody. So if a tin of paint is £10.99p in a local competitor and JL was selling it for £say £12.50p they reduce their store price to £10.95
p for everybody not just the person reporting the cheaper item.

Each store is responsible for their own areas and reducing the prices accordingly, however as some competitors are national you do get Central under sales that result in every store reducing their price not just the one with a local competitor. The local area for a store to reduce the price is within a close area of the store itself however they will still match a price from anywhere in the country.

This means if it is sold in a John Lewis store you will not buy it cheaper anywhere else in the country, they will match the price. This includes all the prices offered on the internet for white goods etc, as long as you have proof of the offer and it can be checked the price is matched.

As I have said there is a certain sameness about the stores and although each branch can choose its own selection of goods they are centrally bought and the buyers for the groups have a lot of control over what each branch stocks. There is some limited local buying but not enough to make any marked effect on the group as a whole.

That being said the merchandise offered by the partnership is of high quality and not towards the tat end of the trade. Merchandise is quality controlled and complaints can be handled either at branch level or centrally.

A tip each branch has a complaints process working up from the assistant on the floor via section managers to department managers. Then if know progress is maid there is a complaints department that will handle your complaint and see a fair result even to the detriment of the store, in the interests of goodwill. If all else fails a letter to the chairman will always elicit a rapid response.

Goodwill is very important to the partnership, they would rather be seen to being take advantage of rather than lose a potential customer. They however keep a careful note of complaints and serial offenders are politely asked to take their fu
ture business elsewhere.

John Lewis closest competitor in the marketplace is Debenhams but they are aiming slightly higher than the average Debenhams customer. They are closest to good old Marks & Spencers in customer ethos and if M&S ever becomes a Department Store group they would be the biggest competitor for the partnership.

They offer a vast range of products and if you have only on store to visit I would thoroughly recomend this store group for your shopping needs.

Lastly the under sale policy does not apply to the food group although they do endeavor to offer a fare priced average shopping basket.

Summary: