“AT JOHN LEWIS, EVERY PARTNER RECEIVES THE SAME PERCENTAGE OF BONUS, FROM THE CEO TO THE STORE HANDLER.”
Whilst profit slides at Tesco and Debenhams, John Lewis Partnership’s sales have been growing for 6 years through a strategy focusing on the U.K. home market. Sophie Baqué met Andy Street, Managing Director of John Lewis department stores.
Andy Street is Managing Director of John Lewis department stores
Sophie Baqué: Can you explain the John Lewis Partnership?
Andy Street: John Lewis Partnership (JLP) is a multi-format retailer created more than 150 years ago. In the semester ending in July 2014, JLP ran 31 John Lewis department stores (an average of 12,200 sq.m GLA), 10 “John Lewis at Home” furniture stores, 326 Waitrose supermarkets and two e-commerce websites. In the fiscal year ending in January 2014, JLP’s gross sales (including VAT) rose by 6.6% to £10.2 billion (€12.9 billion) and outpaced those of Marks & Spencer for the first time.
What is the long term strength of John Lewis?
Our department stores are historically fo-cused on the home equipment sector, a category founded on our reputation of price, reliability and high quality of customer ser-vice. Our portfolio is incredibly well balanced: 33% of the turnover comes from home fur-nishing, 33% from home electrical and
