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John Lewis pursues digital platforms for shopping revolution

Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - 21:12 by Graham Miller

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John Lewis is one of the few high street chains which is managing to remain profitable and popular amongst consumers, both via its bricks and mortar outlets and its online shopping site.

It has seen significant growth in its e-commerce sales in recent years and now the Guardian reports that it is looking to make significant investments in digital solutions and services, as well as individuals who have ideas for changing the way that people shop, or at least harnessing online trends for in-store benefits.

Company spokesperson, Andrew Murphy, said that melding the two worlds of real world commerce and shopping online was vital for the future of John Lewis, as well as something which will enable it to compete with similarly motivated rivals.

It is creating a digital workshop, which will first be held in the summer so that third party companies, many of which are digital start-ups, will get a chance to engage with it and work out whether they can offer anything new to John Lewis which will be mutually beneficial.

The workshop will eventually see an overall winner chosen out of the select group of firms involved, with £50,000 of investment available to this top company, which will help facilitate any further work it chooses to do.

Although John Lewis has performed well in recent years, it is also expected that the amount of bonus received by its employees will be lower this year than it has been in previous periods.

This has a lot to do with the transition which is being made towards a digital approach, where online is key, away from an arrangement which saw high street shops forming the focal point of the entire industry with online sales on the periphery.