I’m not the only one to be impressed by the new John Lewis Christmas adverts. They are certainly a ‘nod’ backwards to their Christmas campaign peak years, a decade or so ago, but they also signal an exciting shift in strategy, and a bright future for this most trusted of brands.
Listen to what I have to say…
I’ve been looking back through my archive of posts and images for John Lewis. Up until a few years ago, I featured them more than any other retailer. They were constantly leading the way into a new omni-channel world, innovating and bringing new ideas to life.
Yes, there were the imaginative Christmas shops featuring the famous rabbits, penguins, aliens and music soundtracks featured in the ads.
But there was also the launching of a London pop-up store including daily cinema performances, cocktail parties, talks and workshops, to celebrate the launch of the ‘Home’ range.
There were store-wide Halloween treasure hunts, making masks in the haberdashery department, apple bobbing in the home shop, and fun and games in the toy shop.
Experimental retail spaces explored its dominance in click&collect, appearing in St Pancras station, Heathrow airport, and culminating in its new omnichannel small format concept in Exeter.
And there was the staggering new store in Westfield London, which celebrated customer service, concierge desks, personalised shopping experiences, store tour guides, immersive changing rooms, tastings, demonstrations, and customer workshop spaces showcasing soft furnishing crafts, clothing repair, and upcycling skills.
In it’s heart John Lewis was a physical retail brand, and the customer was its life & soul.
So how wonderful it is to see John Lewis re-find its focus as a retailer. An online and omni-channel retailer for sure, but at its core a retailer of physical products in physical shops to physical customers.
From this living embodiment of the brand, everything else flows seamlessly and logically across a myriad of customer touchpoints.
The brand has not only re-instated its ‘Never knowingly Undersold’ price promise, but it is celebrating it by putting it at the heart of the current seasonal campaign. This is clever and intelligent marketing.
It is showing the customer that it has re-found its purpose, it has re-discovered the wonder of selling beautiful things to people. It is once again acting as an inspirational, smart, funny, engaging and trusted leader of the retail world.
Consider John Lewis as yesterday’s brand at your peril.
Fail to notice the re-energised Christmas assortments, the fast-track re-invention of its Oxford Street store, its new sustainable fashion collaborations, and plans to turn its Peter Jones store into a world flagship of department stores, and you could find yourselves as yesterdays retailer.
It is a long-way back, and forwards, for John Lewis to regain its position at the top of the retail Christmas tree. After several years of strategic mis-direction it has some serious momentum shifts to make.
But I for one, hope that this new trajectory continues. We all need an outstanding John Lewis for our high streets and shopping centres. I suspect that the customer also wants a John Lewis which once again puts them at the centre of their proposition.
It is an important story for all of us as retailers, never to lose sight of what retailing is about. And the dangers of simply losing ourselves in brand indulgence.
Happy Christmas John Lewis. And to the retail industry in general. Maybe the new year would be a good time to start re-considering how close we all are to our retailing purpose, and our customer’s hearts.