John Lewis acquires new fulfilment centre to support online growth
Image: Collected
The John Lewis Partnership has signed an agreement with Tesco to lease a one million square foot distribution centre at Fenny Lock in Milton Keynes to support the fast growth of its online business.
Since the start of the pandemic, online sales at John Lewis have increased from 40 percent to over 60 percent of the company’s total sales.
The new warehouse, which will be leased for 11 years, will be used to fulfil customer orders for fashion, small home furnishing items and technology products.
The site is set to open during the summer of 2022 and will create 500 new jobs, according to John Lewis’ executive director of operations Andrew Murphy.
It will be the company’s second-largest distribution centre after its 2 million square foot campus just four miles away at Magna Park in Milton Keynes.
500 new jobs at John Lewis distribution centre
John Lewis said the ability to combine customer orders at the new centre will reduce packages by approximately one million per year.
“This one-of-a-kind distribution centre represents a fantastic opportunity to power the continued growth of Johnlewis.com, ensuring that we can keep pace with customer demand - both for our products and for our wide range of fulfilment and delivery options,” Murphy said in a statement.
The move comes amid John Lewis’ digital-first transformation strategy, which aims to see it become a 60 to 70 percent online retailer by 2025, and to return to profit by the same year.
In March, the company reported a full-year loss before tax of 517 million pounds, compared to a profit before tax of 146 million pounds a year earlier.
That same month, John Lewis confirmed it would not reopen eight of its 42 stores from lockdown in the UK as it looked to “rebalance” its store estate amid changing shopping behaviours.
In July, the retailer announced plans to cut a further 1,000 jobs across its John Lewis and Waitrose stores as part of its cost-cutting strategy. It has now cut almost 4,000 jobs in just over a year.
Since the start of the pandemic, online sales at John Lewis have increased from 40 percent to over 60 percent of the company’s total sales.
The new warehouse, which will be leased for 11 years, will be used to fulfil customer orders for fashion, small home furnishing items and technology products.
The site is set to open during the summer of 2022 and will create 500 new jobs, according to John Lewis’ executive director of operations Andrew Murphy.
It will be the company’s second-largest distribution centre after its 2 million square foot campus just four miles away at Magna Park in Milton Keynes.
500 new jobs at John Lewis distribution centre
John Lewis said the ability to combine customer orders at the new centre will reduce packages by approximately one million per year.
“This one-of-a-kind distribution centre represents a fantastic opportunity to power the continued growth of Johnlewis.com, ensuring that we can keep pace with customer demand - both for our products and for our wide range of fulfilment and delivery options,” Murphy said in a statement.
The move comes amid John Lewis’ digital-first transformation strategy, which aims to see it become a 60 to 70 percent online retailer by 2025, and to return to profit by the same year.
In March, the company reported a full-year loss before tax of 517 million pounds, compared to a profit before tax of 146 million pounds a year earlier.
That same month, John Lewis confirmed it would not reopen eight of its 42 stores from lockdown in the UK as it looked to “rebalance” its store estate amid changing shopping behaviours.
In July, the retailer announced plans to cut a further 1,000 jobs across its John Lewis and Waitrose stores as part of its cost-cutting strategy. It has now cut almost 4,000 jobs in just over a year.
Source: https://fashionunited.uk
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