John Lewis to overhaul staff roles in bid for ‘Selfridges-style’ customer service
John Lewis is set to put storeroom workers on its shop floors in a race to improve customer service and win back sales.
The company said it will no longer have separate backroom workers and shop floor staff in order to free up more employees to work on checkouts and serve customers in fitting rooms, for example.
As part of an overhaul to create a “Selfridges-style” level of customer service, the company said it will also change staff hours so more are working during busier times.
A spokesman for John Lewis said: “We’re seeking to make sure partners are in the right place at the right time to help customers.”
Peter Ruis, who was made executive director of John Lewis in January, is reportedly keen to replicate Selfridges’ attentive approach toward shoppers in its stores.
John Lewis said it will remove “unnecessary tasks” for staff by spending £5m on digital headsets, so workers are not wasting time tracking each other down in stores.
It will also introduce more mobile payment devices for workers so customers can pay on the shop floor rather than having to go to a checkout.
However, the overhaul will lead to 153 job cuts, equal to around 1pc of its workforce. John Lewis is consulting staff on the changes.
The latest drive comes after criticism from customers over the level of service within the John Lewis shops.
Insiders have long argued the department store should be focusing on making sure it has expertise on its shop floors, rather than competing with rivals on price.
Figures from the industry publication Retail Week last year suggested the John Lewis Partnership was poised to lose its position as Britain’s seventh-largest retailer and fall below rival Marks & Spencer for the first time in years.
However, it has been battling to stem this decline. The partnership appointed Mr Ruis, its former fashion boss, to steer the company earlier this year. In his previous stint with John Lewis, he had been credited with making the shop fashionable again.
Last year Waitrose also pushed staff changes through its stores, telling workers they needed to be more flexible with their hours to ensure there were enough people dealing with customers at the busiest times. The supermarket also spent on customer service training.
Waitrose has since started to win back shoppers, with the latest Kantar figures showing it is growing its market share again. It is also planning to refurbish swathes of supermarkets over the next few years.
John Lewis has been putting more of its focus back on retail over the past year.
In March, it abandoned a drive to diversify away from retail, having previously said it wanted to make 40pc of profits in other areas, including financial services, by 2030.
It vowed to “unashamedly focus” on retail after recording its first profit since the pandemic. The partnership also recently hired Jason Tarry, the UK chief of Tesco, as its new chairman. He will take up the post in September.