Summary
John Lewis Partnership (JLP) is a privately held retailer operating supermarkets and department stores. JLP operates 27 John Lewis department stores, 213 Waitrose supermarkets, an online shopping network, a website and a catalogues business, and Greenbee.com. The company is headquartered in London and employs around 68,300 people on a FTE basis.
John Lewis sells a range of goods including furniture, kitchenware and clothing and footwear items. The website, www.johnlewis.com, stocks more than 45,000 product lines focused on household products and giftware. John Lewis Direct also owns around 25% of the online grocer Ocado.
Waitrose operates increasingly in the convenience sector of the grocery market and offers fresh vegetables, meat and frozen foods, wines and groceries as well as delicatessen, patisserie and hot-food counters.
The company recorded revenues of £6,267.2 million ($11,365.4 million) during the financial year (FY) ended January 2009, an increase of 3.6% over 2008. The operating profit of the company was £323.5 million ($586.7 million) during FY2009, a decrease of 18.1% over 2008. The net profit was £233.5 million ($423.4 million) in FY2009, an increase of 79.3% over 2008.
Management Structure
Financials
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Group turnover £m | 5149.3 | 5698.4 | 6052.2 | 6267.2 | 6734.6 |
| Growth | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | |
| Operating profit | 251.8 | 354.3 | 411.1 | 323.5 | 389.7 |
| Growth | 0.4 | 0.2 | -0.2 | -0.1 | |
| Pre-tax profit | 131.5 | 164.0 | 198.7 | 281.6 | 155.3 |
| Growth | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | -0.2 | |
| Number of stores | 200 | 209 | 213 | 225 | 252 |
| Sales area (000 sqft) | 7,000 | 7,100 | 7,300 | 7,300 | 8,100 |
Strategy
John Lewis Partnership (JLP) has two of the strongest retail brands in John Lewis and Waitrose. It is recognised for high levels of customer service and selling quality goods and services. JLP’s distinctive positioning of its brands gives it a strong position to grow market share and it has been successful in engaging with a series of successful celebrity driven marketing campaign in its food business.
Waitrose has a well established range of organic products which it has been selling for over 20 years. “Waitrose Organic”, stocks more than 1,600 lines including pet food, wine, tea, coffee, preserves, bread and toiletries. On an average, organic products account for around 7% of the company’s food and drink sales.
Between 2010 and 2020 Waitrose is aiming to double the size of its business, driven by a mature multichannel strategy which has already proved extremely successful. The development of strategic relationships to help deliver private label goods will also be vital in securing a foot hold amongst the largest retailers. International expansion is also a key consideration through the provision of products to franchised retailers.
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