John Lewis opts for e-commerce expansion

Friday, February 22, 2013 - 09:22 by Graham Miller

John Lewis is best known as a high street department store chain, although in the past few years it has also been growing its reputation in the e-commerce market.

Now The Guardian reports that John Lewis will be making it even easier for its customers to order products online, because it has committed to signing up to the Collect+ project.

Collect+ basically puts retailers in touch with thousands of corner shops and local outlets across the UK and allows them to deliver items ordered online to these locations, rather than to the buyer's home.

The main benefit is of course that consumers will not need to actually stay at home and await a delivery, which might previously have required taking time off work.

Instead they can get an item delivered to their nearest Collect+ affiliate and then pick it up whenever is convenient.

John Lewis will charge 3 for delivery to Collect+ locations and there are over 1000 located across the UK and Northern Ireland.

In addition, customers who are unhappy with items purchased online can send them back to John Lewis, via any participating Collect+ location, free of charge.

It is perhaps unsurprising that John Lewis has just joined the Collect+ network, because its new head of online used to be the boss of this organisation.

Customers of the department chain can order via Collect+ from this week and it is hoped that the retailer will eventually include all 5000 participating vendors in its network for deliveries.

Thirty five per cent of all sales made online by John Lewis in the last year were of the click and collect variety, with customers happy to head to their local outlet to grab their ordered items. With even more places to collect from, the company will definitely be catering to its user base.