John Lewis - Never knowingly well retailed (4 June 2021)

4 June 2021

Our part 2 of the John Lewis store visit is below, I had to split it over two emails given the length of the copy and indeed the imagery.

There were some areas of the store that were 'ok', clothing for example seemed fairly good. No major own goals in other areas but the Baby and Toys category were of most interest to me, as a relatively new father (5th time) only 14 weeks ago.

The closure of non-essential retail meant we had to order everything online, we did use a baby shop (a local, independent) who have looked after all of our needs for most of the kids.

Independents here have such an opportunity given their ability to get to know the customers and what they want, offer flexibility with payment plans and everything else that goes with it.

However, a good independent is one thing, there are plenty of others who don't do a good enough job, then blame John Lewis, or Amazon, for taking their trade.

It was never your trade to have. It never is. It's only on loan! You have to keep pushing expectations and service levels to maintain customer numbers and hopefully, grow.

John Lewis strikes me as a place that is good for baby, it's a trusted high street name and offers various strong guarantees on product. A place to encapsulate one strand of a growing, near unique high street offer (given the closure of Debenhams, Mothercare et al) is Baby.

Given that Mothercare went west and John Lewis has a strong brand equity, it seems an obvious place for parents to gravitate towards. I'm sure many do as well, the category was fairly busy when visiting.

However it was also such a relentless end of missed opportunity, wrong decisions and in some cases, near failure to look after the customer. True, its not the biggest department in the world but irrespective of that, there should be no concerns in this area.

People keep having babies and if the family trusts John Lewis, then there's an endless procession of visits for each event and the chances are, they'll go to John Lewis as they baby grows, first christening, gowns for parties, the list goes on and on.

As one enters the category, you are met with this.

I know they've been closed and as a result; there are issuse with slower moving stock, but, what is it?

Why is it here?

There's too much clearance elsewhere which might explain it. But it's a city centre store with a car park nearby, but not so close. It's a heavy item, how do I get it to my car?

It's a stretch to get customers to buy from this range, like this. A clearance issue? Slow moving stock issue? They need to do a better job of trading it, this is just so bad.

Anyday makes an appearance in Baby too which really surprised me; the John Lewis brand is trusted, Anyday must have a place and probably does in other areas, although it's a fine, fine balance between putting it everywhere and then it appealing to no one.

It should never be in baby; there's no inherent value issue in baby. People will generally spend a lot of money on various things for their precious bundle of joy.

Really not sure what Anyday brings to the party. There's a bigger risk, I'd argue, that customers may think it's a new generic brand, not linked to JL and thus, can it be trusted?

Great price, great quality would have stood under the John Lewis brand in Baby for me.

A nice room set up here; one can imagine their child sleeping in a bed / room such as this.

But where's the information? The product? Prices?

At first glance, it looks like a staged room. But every single thing should be purchasable here; it may well be. But at first glance, can I see it? Where are the products to pick up?

I'm not going to wander aimlessly around the category.

All that plastic!

Also Anyday sleep bags for Baby, point stands as above with regard to Cots. There is no need for Anyday to be used here. Sleep bags are important and you're not looking to save money here, nor are you looking for anything less than the John Lewis brand, either.

Pillows were also traded; too much plastic here also. Bedding below. It doesn't look great, there must be better ways to use the space. Where's the explanatory signage?!

Looks like an afterthought.

Not selling, are they even in stock? Which is good?

Poor.

I'm blessed in that MrsD is a true expert on all things baby and knows the developments and the changes (that happen frequently!) But for new parents, or even grandparents wanting to help by buying functional things as gifts, perhaps.

There's no signage.

Nothing is demystifying this category, there's no metaphorical hand of guidance.

Another vital tool in the baby mama toolkit is a good changing bag and the developments here remain astonishing. Backpack ones (like this) are all the rage and the amount you can get in them is nothing short of amazing.

Zero signage or explanation here either; some of these are over £100! But where's the romance with any of it? They're just hung as if they're bags for school.

Bathing and grooming products; but it's sanitised as an experience. Where's any element of personality?

Bathtime with kids conjures all manner of bubbles, toys, water everywhere and the latest in bathing developments. Whilst jelly baths and bath bombs are not suitable for the baby (!) there's no fun here either.

Just product on shelf, in plastic too.

The display kit is all wrong, it allows for nothing to be shown particularly well. The flow and layout wasn't right at all either, the store was laid out as if someone did things by a spreadsheet and internal grouping.

It wasn't done by mission, for example.

Just too low key. Baths on the end there, out of sight and on the back end facing the back wall, entirely away from the passing traffic.

More Anyday products adorned the end where baths (or similar) should have lived.

Just "bedding" - say what you see.

Quality credentials?

Signage?

Why should I buy if not desperate?

Nothing.

Another example of the missions being wrong was the ranging and merchandising of baby monitors here. There aren't enough really to justify it being called a category, but these are distinctly different as some are video, others just voice, some have two way radio functionality etc.

It's something that could be bought as a gift as much as it is new parents buying them, but absolutely zero product signage or information, again.

Reviews could feature next to shelf edge label, hell even digital shelf stripping would be good to drive sales and highlight product benefits.

But there's nothing, just signage overhead that says 'monitors.

Coat-hangers were merchandised alongside baby monitors, alongside other gro-lights and other sleep time based products.

They are all solving a need and have a specific purpose. People don't always know and some want guidance from signage and then will use other sources of information.

Yes, partners were around but customers don't always want to interact, or ask basic questions. Sometimes the partners are also busy.

There needs to be more accessibility for all customers, not relying on a person to help them.

Not all toys, some are dummies e.g.

A strange range of product to feature on an end - all of these ends should have been feature collections, or step by step guides -

Fill your hospital bag - today

Must haves for your changing bag

All you need for cloth nappies

Whatever, you get the idea.

Personality, warmth, can be changed to reflect trends and things that are happening / being talked about / events in the wider world etc.

You're solving a problem for the customer! That's the business in baby and indeed retail! Generally that means they have to buy something to solve said problem - baby monitor, a new cot, changing bag etc.

The business is listening, recommending, solving with purchase, or without (customer service = not selling if not suitable).

To listen, you can also set displays up and have signage to advise and guide, it doesn't always have to be a physical person doing it.

There's none of this thinking in baby at JL. A real shame.

Not a terrible example here; but it's not solving a problem.

It's highlighting the anyday range.

That in itself remains unclear in terms of the problem it solves for baby, especially when the John Lewis range and brand name is so well established.

Also the sheets are in packets, so you can't necessarily feel, or see how they look / fit etc. Not ideal.

More examples of the range also being pushed together - even gifting lines (3rd shelf on left bay) are merchandised in with their host product range.

Which isn't right, they\re gifts and could be put somewhere else to drive sales.

Nothing really guiding anyone here; it's a tight space and whether they can offer the authority in range, in such a tight space remains to be seen.

Potty and Toileting is far ahead in terms of development versus the Nappy Bin and refills that are on the bottom shelf, but they're put together.

Presumably on the spreadsheet, they're bought by similar people / the same buyer?

But as a customer? It's all wrong.

Prams!

Not great all, this provides no faith in the travel system if a seat has simply fallen off.

Product info was far too lightweight and also on a piece of paper right on the floor, so you have to crouch down to read it.

Digital is a must have, here.

Some customers I observed were looking at a pram system and the partners were broadly around. One was asked about a certain travel system, the customer was told that no, they don't do that one.

No offer of help, I'll check online, no service. Nothing. I appreciate COVID makes it somewhat more difficult but there are remedies that can be put in place.

COVID can never be an excuse for poor service.

Indeed as I left, some customers were looking at the next size up in pram with their toddler, they were trying to move some prams to test what they're like when pushing (why do we do that?!)

No partner around (there had been). All 3 were sat in here.

Very disappointing indeed.

Clearance was a first for me, not sure I've ever seen a store willingly give up prime selling space (top corner of store near prams) to their clearance products.

Never seen an area with the proper signage on the wall either, showing that it's planned space?!

The merchandising leaves a lot to be desired, it's not easy with giant boxes to do much at all. But the reality is, the IKEA-esque 'reclamation zone' look and feel wasn't really in keeping with the brand....

Why were so many of the same product out on shelf I do not know.

Another key question - what actually is in the box?

You only need 1-2 out on sale, partners can make a note / have some incognito marker somewhere that more are out the back, if they need them....

Clearance is a huge issue; this just looks a total disaster.

Shelf stripping on the floor and it's just a sea of boxes, ex display, I didn't look at the markdown for fear of spontaneously combusting, but given they were trying to sell advent calendars in June, at £16.

I didn't hold out much hope.

Just so much product dumped here. Where are the prices? No clarity.

Gifting items (featuring toys) were merchandised under Soft Toys despite the mission being entirely different.....

One was open too. Just another example of the thought process around how someone would shop this category being non existent.

Similar product.

Why is there a difference of a penny?

Forget charging .99p for things.

There were some glimmers of hope amidst the self help overload that is Baby within John Lewis (in this store, others may be different, but with a reducing number of stores, one store like this is certainly too many).

Wooden toys are on trend given focus on plastic waste and reducing the use of that material and these worked well.

A great product and an ideal gift as well. Packaging was nice and you'd just know it was from John Lewis.

Which makes Anyday appearing all over the category even more curious.

Feeding alongside cups alongside reins so they don't run off alongside gifting lines in the base for when they start eating / christenings etc.

Signage to help? To guide?

No.

An abundance of Toys meant some had to be stacked on the floor, near a lift that said 'no customer access'.

That sign would have been useful in the wider baby category whilst they sorted it out.

The wider Toys category suffered the same issue as other areas in the store; fixtures too high, all fixed the same way, no variance, just 'aisles'.

Product near enough invisible. no lighting, no navigation to key ranges or new.

Nothing.

Just a sea of Toys, get stuck in!

Another abject piece of retailing saw the entire range of Summer and Outdoor Toys (strong range too) hidden behind the core Toys from view, unless you go to Baby.

Even then, you have to notice them as you walk past.

Why are these not front and centre!?!?

Further examples of the strong branding and packaging; a great piece of work.

Adding to my confusion over Anyday and what that means in many categories. A selected few? Fine, sure, get on with that.

But even adding it to Baby looks alarming, where else will it end up!?

These Toys are great, you'd be happy to gift them, wood everywhere rather than plastic and a feeling of durability and quality abound.

However - it was so hard to shop, shelves far too high and regimented so nothing was given a chance to breathe.

One of the most child unfriendly categories I have visited, no fun, at all.

An example of the hidden Summer range, tucked away there. Also aisle width was a challenge, very narrow and a struggle to get a pram down as well.

Social distancing issues when browsing Toys in these narrow aisles means it could quickly become a category that is impossible to go in to at busier times.

There's just no space to move and it's poorly planned for the customer.

Having spent more money than I care to even think about when shopping for Toys (or indeed, nothing related to Toys), I'm surprised to see a brand, in prime selling space, that I've never heard of.

tonies is some interactive based toy but I'd never heard of it, nor had anyone ever mentioned it. It must sell, you'd think, given the space but for prime space - there was no mention of trends or the latest and greatest toys.

Nothing, no curation. Opportunity missed, again.

Also notable, the coding lines from Osmo, good work and we need more people getting in to coding.

Alas, the screen didn't work. It's a big investment for a parent, or child, to not have that digital aid to decide whether to buy or not.

Just so much to do!

But it's all fixable. Challenge with baby was everything, near enough. This is a relatively new store too, other stores in the north - Trafford etc suffer with the same issues around Baby, Toys too!

There's lots of work to be done to fix their own basics and stop punching themselves in the face.

But, is it on anyone's agenda?

Next week - We take a look at Boots

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From the Grocery Insight newsletter archive, first sent to subscribers on 4 June 2021. Steve now writes at read.groceryinsight.com. See also the blog archive and briefings.