John Lewis: £2 click-and-collect charge, new Birmingham store and Bruce Oldfield collections

One of the largest UK retailers John Lewis Partnership will be charging online shoppers £2 to collect the items from local stores after ordering from online stores – click and collect. The company has stated that the online business models have become ‘bonkers’ and ‘unsustainable.’

The new click-and-collect charge will be live from the July-end, through which, John Lewis customers have to pay £2 for online orders of less than £30 to collect from the available 44 John Lewis and Waitrose retail stores across the UK. If the orders cost more than £30, there will be no charge to collect.

As the company becomes the first in its category to collect a charge for picking up online orders from local stores, analysts estimate many other department stores to follow the same business model to keep them more profitable.

Andy Street, Managing director of John Lewis, points at the collapse of parcel delivery company City Link, which has been shut down in last December due to the “illogical” business model. City Link was in loss since 2007, and has seen 4 different Managing Directors in those years.

“We want to take a leadership position. This market has got to become more sustainable. We think our customers will understand this is reasonable. Customers understand John Lewis has been around for 150 years and we’ll be around for another 150 years. They understand we’re a good corporate citizen and can’t give everything away for free.”

Meanwhile, Amazon UK is planning to offer free delivery, one hour delivery, £6.99 delivery charge for 10,000 products, etc..

John Lewis’ collaboration with Bruce Oldfield, OBE:

John Lewis Partnership has announced that its 9 stores and online store (johnlewis.com) will have The Bruce by Bruce Oldfield capsule 60 piece ready-to-wear collection on September 4 onwards.

John Lewis Birmingham Store:

The company has announced that its new 250,000 sq ft regional flagship department store in Birmingham will be open from September 24 onwards. John Lewis Partnership has invested £35 million to set up an attractive fashion, beauty and home department store in the city. The store will have a wide range of products in categories like furniture, fashion, beauty, homewares and technology.