John Lewis plans multimillion pound tech investment to boost in-store customer service

John Lewis is planning a multi-million pound investment designed to help simply processes, roll out new technology, and restructure staff to improve customer service across its stores.

Around 150 John Lewis shop workers could face redundancy as part of the restructuring plans.

The move, first reported by Retail Week, also involves a £5 million investment in new digital headsets to improve communications which could reduce wait times by removing the need for staff to track eachother down across stores.

The company has already rolled out more than 6,000 headsets across its branches.

Additionally, John Lewis will spend £1 million on mobile printers so that staff can replace missing shelf edge labels.

5,000 staff members will receive devices enabling them to take mobile payments away from the tills on the shop floor.

The British retailer is also making changes to staff hours and adapting front and back of house roles so that all staff can work on the shop floor during busy periods.

A John Lewis spokesperson said that the company’s plans are similar to those carried out in Waitrose earlier this year.

“We’re seeking to make sure Partners are in the right place at the right time to help customers,” they said. “We’re also removing unnecessary tasks, and introducing new technology to make their roles easier.”

The plans come after John Lewis Partnership announced earlier this year a return to profit after several years of losses.

The department store attributed the improved performance to a rise in sales, an improvement in gross margins, and an increase in productivity.

In September 2023, John Lewis managed to narrow its losses by 14 per cent in the first half of the year.

However, rising costs driven by inflation knocked back the company's ambitious transformation plan.



Share Story:

Recent Stories


Bringing Teams to the table – Adding value by integrating Microsoft Teams with business applications
A decade ago, the idea of digital collaboration started and ended with sending documents over email. Some organisations would have portals for sharing content or simplistic IM apps, but the ways that we communicated online were still largely primitive.

Automating CX: How are businesses using AI to meet customer expectations?
Virtual agents are set to supplant the traditional chatbot and their use cases are evolving at pace, with many organisations deploying new AI technologies to meet rising customer demand for self-service and real-time interactions.