John Lewis in Trouble

[TrainedByCatsToBeScathing]

John Lewis are struggling, even the Waitrose side of things. 11,000 out of a workforce of 80,000 is a lot, I’m sad for their mostly female sales force and there’s many reasons for their problems particularly with them not adapting quickly to the challenge from online sales.

However I was a very regular shopper in my local John Lewis and I stopped completely after their patronising offensive response to my query about single sex changing rooms a few years ago. I’d buy furniture, white goods, kitchenware, electronics, carpet, clothes, toys, haberdashery, cosmetics, shoes even jewellery (I was shocked when I realised how much I defaulted to John Lewis as it took a little while to switch to alternatives some of my loyalty was convenience). Obviously I’m just one shopper but it never seemed a good idea to piss off loyal customers as when trading conditions are challenging you need those customers even more.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13082653/John-Lewis-threatens-staff-disciplinary-action-unacceptable-comments-internal-intranet-retail-giant-considers-cutting-11-000-jobs-bid-recover-230m-losses.html

I’ve been shopping for baby items recently. JL was a complete disaster. Visited two different stores and the baby sections were either completely rammed or in stupid places (like on the pathway to the toilets) so you’re trying out a pram and keep having to move for people trying to get to the toilet. There was no staff around but as we left realised two of them were actually in a section round the corner chatting away! Didn’t get offered help once.
In the end went to an independent shop and got first class treatment, was able to try products out with space and got the full attention of a sales assistant who was happy to help.
I unfortunately have a voucher to use as well, and when I look online the selection of items is dire or out of stock. Their stores look shabby, customer service absent and it’s got a BHS end of days feel about it. Such as a shame as a few years back you could reliably rock up intending to buy a coffee machine and get lots of help in a well stock, clean modern store and actually want to part with your money.

I am another who refuses to go in since they started allowing random dogs in (more than happy for service dogs to be there as they are trained)

I do still have a voucher that I got at Christmas but it will be used online and will likely be my last purchase with them

PPs happy to see the M&S recovery or who are swapping from JL to M&S - have the latter changed their "men are welcome to come and wank in our knickers in the women's changing rooms" stance recently? I've been boycotting M&S since around 2018 over that but if they've seen the light about single sex spaces I'd be very happy to return as it has been a genuine sacrifice.

That is a disturbing read. I’d switched some of my Waitrose food shopping to alternatives including directly with smaller producers but it took more planning and I’d noticed I’d slipped back to using Waitrose but I’ll be making more effort to find alternatives again as that’s horrendous. My local store has an unkempt looking assistant cos playing as a woman which has also been putting me off. I can’t imagine a non ‘extra-special’ employee getting away with obvious poor personal hygiene the way this one seems to be able to.

Bloody fuck.

Well I'm probably not as posh as their ideal customer. However, both my parents amd in laws like to give us JL vouchers for Xmas and birthdays. I will have to ask them to stop on the basis of the leak from James Esses. I can't fund misogyny. Sometimes a boycott feels like the only way I have any power in this society.

Bollox there's a few vegan items I get from Waitrose that I need to source elsewhere. I've never ordered food from anything other than a supermarket.

Two years in a row they cancelled my Christmas presents order; no notification. Up till then, really dependable and I knew the quality of what I was buying. A shame but clearly they didn’t want this customer’s business.

Used to rate JL so highly.Last big purchase made a couple of years ago. Spent ££££ on designer bespoke curtains. Was a huge purchase for us. Unfortunately, I was patronised and treated with utter contempt by online customer service who did not care one iota about ongoing delays. They gave several masterclasses in how to alienate hugely loyal customers. Honestly, we were shocked by how awful it was. This was in marked contrast to the brilliant, expert staff in Bluewater who were fab when we placed our order for the item in question. It is really plainly obvious that employing prob largely min wage customer service online is a false economy indeed. I think JL is in a death spiral. Hope I am wrong but I will never buy big ticket item there again.

Amazon groceries are good for specialist items like this

I’m coming at this as a former merchandiser. Not visual merch but the role where you get the stock into stores. The high street got into online too late and at the expense of brick and mortar. This bit will sound odd but for me I have a test to see how a store is doing and it’s pretty accurate! If you can’t buy the basics the store is in trouble. It’s my Tights knickers and toasters test. If you can’t get a pair of black tights, 5 pack of knickers, baby bodysuits or basic toaster, (maybe not all at once!)the chain is in a mess. They’re all things you need now, not next day or 3to 5 business days. I’ve done my test in M&S and Debenhams the M&S store closed and Debenhams totally collapsed.
I know my test sounds daft but at Christmas I was in JL buying black nights for that night’s Christmas party. They didn’t have any and hadn’t “for quite a while” according to the apologetic assistant. Another woman came along on the same search. We attempted to trade up to fancy Wolford, still nothing. Bizarrely wolford had same shelf space for fishnets as for plain black. WTF?!? The other lady said “they’re not really our market are they “ We both had to leave. The point is we both left without buying anything. If we’d been able to quickly get the basic we’d have had time to browse and more than likely spend more. And that’s where retail is at. It’s incredible considering 20years ago you could replenish stock next day and easily forecast the stock levels by store 3 months out on a black tights or baby bodysuits. Today we can buy a cheap delivery meal in 20mins via an app, but if you need 5 pack of pants for a 6 year old no chance.
And as for the batsh*t inclusive magazine. Ha! Get back to basics and be more inclusive in providing an actual department store that people actually need.

JL in Oxford Street didn't have any women's black socks in for week after week last Winter. I ordered on line and clicked and collected at JL in Oxford Street

The Waitrose in my town is looking really shabby now. The trolleys are wonky and noisy, the fridges leak, some of the fresh fruit and veg is not up to standard. I think M&S has really nailed the luxury end of food shopping and Waitrose is now charging a premium for a pretty bog standard experience. Our store is only about 10 years old too - it used to feel a bit special but it really doesn't anymore. Can't fault the staff though, they're lovely.

I've not heard that they rolled back on this.

And my local m and s now has changing room signs, not sex designated. Which is an improvement. But I think I'm the only one who noticed.

I personally am boycotting until they return to single sex, ( I was in with another person, I wouldnt know about signage otherwise)
They have lost about £600 a year from me, but it's still £600 they dont have but another company does.

I used to shop at JL when there was a branch locally-ish. My next nearest branch is totally fur coat and no knickers. I've given up going as they never have anything I've gone for. The next next nearest branch is 1.5 hrs away. So basically I don't shop there anymore. We are also in a Waitrose desert to the extent that their grocery delivery site won't accept my postcode as real, so I can't get Waitrose deliveries - we're 10 mins off the M1!

JL are not making it easy for me to shop there!!

Do all these posters not shop online - that is why JL is going downhill

I don't want to shop online, my nearest store is about 10 minutes away and I want to be able to go and get my shopping! JL started really pushing online around the time of the pandemic and I think Sharon White (or whoever was advising her) mistook "We're shopping online because the shops are shut" with "Shopping online is what people want".

You only had to look at the queues once we were released from Covid restrictions to see people want to go into a physical shop. If you've forgotten someone's birthday you can't wait for even next day delivery And stores should want us to go in - after all, wandering round is a) how you sell more stuff because people pick up extra things they've seen and b) how you build your brand/customer loyalty via an enjoyable shopping experience. Enjoyable shops = more customer time spent in them = more purchasing.

If I can see that, why can't the Chair of John Lewis?

I never buy over the counter. Buy everything online. So does all my family.

Our city centre shops are shite though.

We want choices though. I do both.

The shoe selection in the Edinburgh one was awful last time I looked. Very expensive and samey. Either flat sandals or sky high.

This popped up on another newsfeed; as well as aligning to the more controversial verges of society, it appears to be morphing into a sex shop.

Do all these posters not shop online - that is why JL is going downhill

I find that JL - and other shops - will direct you online! And I alway think: but I came in to see (this top) IRL, not to find you don't have it in my size and order it online.

I think shoppers have moved online a lot for sure. But shops now also want to push you that way. They don't want to help very much.

I also loathe self service for clothes. Bought something in M&S this week. It had a tag on so I went to a normal desk but they seemed to be preserving it for refunds only. I pointed out the tag and someone almost shouted at me (it was quite loud) to use self service and they would come and take the tag off!

I think this is all pushed by those in HQ, in all these places. They want to get rid of interactions with staff so they can cut staff. Then they're shocked when people stop shopping IRL as much.

I can't imagine anything more stupid than taking my slobbering retriever into John Lewis.

Well quite. If I took my Dalmatian in everything would be covered in hair too. He sheds horribly. It’s it’s a pain to get out of things 🤣

its actually a Diversity and Inclusion fail. Many people can’t use self checkout. I’m not saying this is you but for other people. The whole point of being inclusive is not having to explain why you can’t or don’t want to use self checkout. Some find them confusing, other people want to have conversations with staff. In the Netherlands they’ve introduced checkouts where you can chat. It’s great customer service.
Meanwhile D&I over here is designed to exclude disability and promote biological males using womens changing rooms… what a mess.

PrimalLass Thank you. I'm not a dog lover but I suspect your retriever would prefer not to be in JL. I remember the days when people left their dogs at home.

Do all these posters not shop online - that is why JL is going downhill

I liked wandering around a nice shop and being able to try clothes on. I have 3 different returns to do right now for on-line and it’s a pain. However I’m only going to try on clothes in shops if I can be sure the changing rooms are single sex so online it is.