The Mike Ashley-owned department store chain has just 15 shops remaining – a steep drop from the 25 stores it had as of April last year and the 59 when it acquired the business in 2018.

The closure of the Cabot Circus store, which will M&S has taken over and plans to open next year, comes after the retailer’s Reading, Solihull and Guildford branches shuttered last year.

The buildings housing House of Fraser’s Darlington and Plymouth stores are currently up for sale, however, it is understood that this will have no impact on the retailer’s current leases.

Frasers Group chief executive Michael Murray warned last year that House of Fraser could completely vanish from the high street as part of mass rebrand of the business.

Murray said the company’s current strategy is to move away from the traditional department store in favour of a premium concept model, called Frasers, filled with the group’s own suite of brands.

The House of Fraser owner revealed last month that it plans to open five Frasers stores this financial year, including transforming its former House of Fraser store in Maidstone in Kent, as it looks to expand its current portfolio of ten.

Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter

The department store told staff today (13 August) that it was making changes to their roles and realigning its staffing needs to “best meet customer demand”, however, this will result in a proposed 153 fewer roles – approximately 1% of its workforce.

The retailer hopes this will be met through natural attrition and a voluntary redundancy process.

Changes include bringing its front and back of house roles together as one, instead of two seperate jobs as they are currently, in a move it claims will enable greater flexibility and allow more store staff to support on the shopfloor during busy periods.

To facilitate the changes John Lewis will invest £5m into new digital headsets to help cut wait times and remove the need for staff to have to track each other down in the branch.

Customers will be able to call for assistance by using call points installed at key areas around its stores such as fitting rooms and customer collection points.

A John Lewis spokesperson told Retail Gazette: “We’re seeking to make sure partners are in the right place at the right time to help customers.

“We’re also removing unnecessary tasks, and introducing new technology to make their roles easier.”

It is thought that new John Lewis boss Peter Ruis wants to adopt a more “Selfridges-style” approach to customer service.

The Sunday Times reported last month that Ruis believes that staffing levels has been cut too much on the shop floor and is seeking to bring the sales culture of John Lewis’ beauty halls to other departments.

As part of the new suite of changes, John Lewis will spend £1m on over 600 new mobile printers, allowing store employees to easily replace missing shelf-edge labels.

The retailer revealed it would also introduce mobile payment to its 5,000 partner devices allowing staff to serve customers on the shop floor rather than having to direct them to the nearest till, which it said will speed up transactions, reduce queues and increase sales and conversion.

John Lewis said it piloted the initative in its Horsham, White City, Brent Cross and Cheltenham branches and reported a 4% increase in customer satisfaction scores when the alternative payment was used.

The proposed changes follow a similar programme that was introduced in Waitrose last year, which has resulted in more than 17,400 extra partner-hours on Saturday and Sunday when its stores are busiest.

The retailer said Waitrose’s product availability is also at a record high following a range of investments, including the introduction of additional shelving in shops to make the task of replenishment easier and speedier.

The spokesperson told Retail Gazette that Waitrose had been ranked the number one supermarket for customer satisfaction since the changes had been made.

Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter

The concession, open seven days a week, offers a selection of teas as well as hot and iced coffees made using Fortnum’s Piccadilly blend, The Grocer reported.

Hot chocolate, pastries and a newly launched soft serve ice cream will also be available at the department store’s first-ever fixture dedicated to takeaway hot drinks.

The new offer forms part of chief executive Tom Athron’s ongoing strategy to widen Fortnum’s appeal as it has traditionally relied heavily on gifting, major public events like coronations and tourists as a core part of its proposition.

Fortnum’s fresh buyer Zoe Norman told the publication: “We are increasing our offering to cater for even more of our customer base.

“As we see our ever-popular lunchtime offer growing we saw the need to offer a hot drinks proposition while also allowing us to offer coffee and morning goods before the lunchtime rush.”

Earlier this month, the retailer launched its new subscription delivery service, Fortnum’s Dispatch, which offers three subscriptions for top ups of the retailer’s biscuits, loose leaf teas and jam.

Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter

Writing in The Telegraph, Katherine Russell, the director of build-to-rent at the John Lewis Partnership, said the Chancellor “should look at tax incentives… where a developer commits to building right away”.

She also asked the Government to cut red tape for builders to help the industry meet Labour’s goal of building 1.5m new homes over this parliament.

Russell warned that construction has stalled across the country even as “most people accept the drastic need for new housing”.

“Many good schemes… still continue to be refused,” she added.

• Related Story

  • 

    Exclusive: John Lewis restructures shop floor teams in customer service push

    13/08/2024 x 2:00 PM

John Lewis is aiming to push into property by building rental homes above its shops.

Last week, the retailer was given the green light to transform its Waitrose site in Bromley, south-east London into a new residential community of 353 rental homes as well as a modernised store.

Russell told the Telegraph that “cutting red tape” would speed up investment in new housing, as would spending the billions of pounds worth of unused development levies.

However, research by the House Building Federation last year found £2.8bn was currently sitting unspent.

It estimated that the property industry pays more than £7bn in direct taxes each year.

The call for tax breaks comes after Labour kicked off a drive last week to get Britain building in a bid to fast-track thousands more first-time buyers onto the property ladder.

Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter

Changes at the retailer will include the addition of 48 new roles, though consultations about the future of 20 other positions are underway, Retail Week reported.

The business is looking to re-establish individual buying and merchandising leadership positions across its fashion and home departments.

A John Lewis spokesperson told the title: “As we look to turbocharge our business and offer the best possible products to customers, we’ve proposed some changes to our buying and merchandising teams including the creation of nearly 50 new roles.”

• Related Story

  • 

    Exclusive: John Lewis restructures shop floor teams in customer service push

    13/08/2024 x 2:00 PM

Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter

The move means brands will be able to create and manage their own campaigns, including through banner adverts and sponsored product listings.

The department store will provide users with a dashboard showing how their campaigns are performing, how shoppers are engaging, as well as how many sales are being made.

The new measures will allow brands to quickly adapt to seasonal trends and sales peaks, and measure the impact of their initiatives down to the individual product level and search terms.

All of the ads will be reviewed by John Lewis’ in-house team to ensure they are suitable for customers.

The new measures have been delivered in partnership with advertising company Epsilon, which expanded its partnership with Kingfisher in December to launch a retail media offer with B&Q.

John Lewis retail media business and proposition strategy Jemma Haley said: “While retailers have long been advertising on their own websites, we want to improve the experience, and make it even easier for customers to connect with the brands and products that meet their needs.

“As part of this, we’re providing brands with more targeted and relevant ways to connect with customers. Our shoppers are unique in terms of the ways they research, browse and buy, and we need to be ready to meet them in the moments they are ready to purchase or engage with a brand.”

Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter

A paid-for Facebook ad for the online department store, seen on 9 March 2024, featured a caption that read “Step into Spring with up to 60% off fashion, home and beauty at Debenhams”.

Below the caption, a carousel of images featuring different products was shown next to text stating “up to 60% off” as well as a “shop now” link.

However, a complainant, who understood not all of the items featured were available at the advertised discounted price, challenged whether the claim “up to 60% off” was misleading and could be substantiated.

In response, the retailer said third-party suppliers decided whether to take part in a promotion, and therefore claimed it was beyond their control if those partners decided to exclude certain items from a Debenhams promotion.

Additionally, since the products featured were from third-party suppliers who controlled their own pricing for legal reasons, Debenhams insisted they were not able to obtain the relevant sales data.

• Related Story

  • 

    Global fashion retailers divert Bangladesh orders due to political unrest

    15/08/2024 x 8:50 AM

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which banned a Warehouse advert for featuring an ‘unhealthily thin’ model last year, considered that shoppers would interpret the advert as claiming all of the products featured were included in the promotion.

Additionally, it said it had not received the pricing history of any of the products from the retailer, and that only one of the three product listings appeared to have a promotional price applied.

Furthermore, it acknowledged while the promotion appeared to have been applied to one of the items featured in the advert, because Debenhams had not provided any sales data to verify it had been sold at the higher reference price, it could not confirm the price at which it was normally sold.

Due to this, the ASA concluded the advert was misleading and had breached the code, with the advert banned from appearing in its current form.

Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter

The department store retailer has partnered with luxury reseller Sign of The Times to allow customers to shop over 150 options of second-hand designer pieces from the likes of Chanel, Christian Dior, Saint Laurent and Gucci.

It builds on the pair’s current partnership, which will see Sign of The Times open a permanent shop in the Peter Jones department store in London’s Sloane Square following a successful pop-up.

John Lewis said it had seen searches for pre-loved handbags rocket 24% year-on-year and that premium handbags represented nearly 65% of all handbag sales across the business.

The retailer’s innovation lead Danielle Gagola said: “We’ve seen tremendous success with our pre-loved designer pop-up with Sign of the Times in our Peter Jones shop and are thrilled to continue to build and make shopping more sustainably easier for our customers through JohnLewis.com.

“As a brand we are committed to prolonging a product’s life, whether that is buying second-hand, renting or more recently offering repairs.

“Doubling our pre-loved offering online is just one step in the right direction and one we will continue to grow for our customers.”

As part of the Sign of The Times shop, John Lewis customers will be able to bring in their designer pieces to be authenticated and then resold.

The luxury reseller’s owner and CEO Antonia Johnstone said: “We were so excited to bring Sign of the Times to Peter Jones in Chelsea on a permanent basis last month – following the huge success of what started as a Christmas pop-up – so we are thrilled with the success of the pop-up, and to continue our partnership with John Lewis this year, both in-store and online.

“Resale is a growing market and great opportunity for retailers to engage new consumers, where there is an increasing demand for more sustainable choices in the fashion sphere.”

John Lewis has also partnered with childrenswear rental and resale brand TheLittleLoop, where shoppers can purchase second-hand clothing at a pop-up in its Oxford Street store.

Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter

Blow, who joins in October, succeeds John Edgar, who has left the business after almost five years, Retail Week reported.

The incoming chief executive is the current boss of London-based department store Morleys after joining the retailer in 2019.

Prior to Morleys, Blow worked at Dublin-based Arnotts from 2010 to 2015 and Brown Thomas before that, from 2007 to 2010. He started his career in 1992 as chief merchant in Harrods.

Edgar is among several senior Fenwick’s executive to have left the business, with its people director and retail director also understood to have departed.

The retailer’s chair Sian Westerman said: “John Edgar is stepping down as CEO as part of a reorganisation of our executive leadership team and wider changes to the management structure of the company.

“We are excited for Nigel to join us, bringing with him a wealth of retail experience, and we know he is ready to help lead Fenwick into the next stage of its growth.”

She added: “John has successfully steered the business through the Covid-19 pandemic, launched our online proposition, enhanced and expanded our restaurant business, focused on the development of key stores, including a masterplan project in Newcastle and significant improvements to the Kingston store. We appreciate John’s contribution and wish him every success for the future.”

Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter

Keith, who was elevated from managing director to CEO last year, is leaving to “pursue new ventures”, WWD reports.

Newly appointed Selfridges Group CEO André Maeder, who joined in May, will take over Keith’s responsibilities in the UK.

Tos Chirathivat, Selfridges Group chair and executive chair and CEO of Central Group, which co-owns the department store business, said the firm was “grateful to Andrew for his contribution to the success of our iconic UK business”. 

“He has been an invaluable member of the Selfridges team, leading the business out of the Covid lockdowns and through its acquisition in 2022.  

“The launch of the Selfridges Strategy under Andrew’s leadership has resulted in many new customer innovations and enhancements. He has also been instrumental in helping to drive and champion the brand’s creative expression through a roster of world-leading collaborations and thought-provoking campaigns. 

Keith said it was “an honour to lead Selfridges over the past few years”. 

“From my first day I have sought to build on its amazing reputation as a creative, inspiring destination where everyone is welcome. 

“However, I feel that now is an appropriate time to leave the business and pursue new ventures. I am proud to be leaving Selfridges in such a strong position and to pass the baton to André to continue this journey with our great team.”   

Maeder joined as group CEO just two months ago from German department store group KaDeWe.

He said he planned to focus on “innovation, enhancing customer experiences, and maintaining the exceptional quality that defines our legacy”. 

“Together, we will ensure that our brand continues to set the standard in the industry, providing the unrivalled offering Selfridges is renowned for,” he added 

Keith’s departure comes at a tumultuous time for Selfridges, which has seen its ownership hang in the balance after co-owner Signa filed for insolvency last November, just two years after it acquired the department store with Thai conglomerate Central Group.

Selfridges investor, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), is understood to be looking to up its stake from 10% to 50%.

The Saudi wealth fund plans to pay just £1m for the stake as it is a creditor of Signa and this would reduce its claims against the firm by up to £52m, Bloomberg reported last week.

Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter