John Lewis has announced a five-year deal with Google Cloud worth £100 million as part of its digital transformation strategy.

The move, which expands on an existing agreement between the two companies formed in 2012, will see more of the retailer’s technology migrated to Google Cloud.

They said that the migration, which will use the tech giant’s latest advanced AI and ML technology, will enable John Lewis employees to be more efficient, spend more time focusing on customers and use data insights to curate products and services.

John Lewis said it will also use the migration to create a pan-partnership loyalty programme next year to link Waitrose and John Lewis, with the technology upgrade being rolled out both in store and on all digital platforms.

Zak Mian, chief transformation and technology officer at the John Lewis Partnership said that the agreement with Google Cloud will give employees the tools to personalise shopping experiences for customers.

"Imagine a world where a customer can use an image scanning feature in their John Lewis App to show our Home Design Stylists a room they're looking to furnish, which tells us all we need to know about the intricacies of the space, layout and measurements,” added Mian. “Not only does it save customers a lot of time and hassle, but even before the appointment we can take inspiration from their unique preferences and give tailored recommendations that can even complement products they already have. We're looking forward to an era of fresh innovation."

Earlier this month, John Lewis reportedly gave staff “de-escalation” training to identify when a potential shoplifter could become violent. Staff in some departments have been given body cameras to tackle the shoplifting epidemic

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