John Lewis, the UK department store chain, has long used the tagline “never knowingly undersold”, as they try to match or beat the prices offered by competitors for the goods they stock – but now finding out if they truly are beating their competitors on price will be even easier. They are hooking up with BT OpenZone to offer customers free WiFi in their stores to make it as easy as possible to compare prices using their smartphones or tablets.
John Lewis believe that 60% of their customers research a product online before making purchases (with the 40% who don’t presumably Armish or only spending a tenner), with Simon Russell, Head of Multichannel Retail at the company saying:
The roll-out of Wi-Fi in our shops is a big step forward in helping customers to have all of the information they need at their fingertips to make an informed purchase.
The internet has long held fear for bricks-and-mortar companies, with online giants like Amazon often undercutting them on price – but this looks to be real progress being offered by John Lewis, as they attempt to merge the two worlds and take the best parts from both. In-store shopping at places like John Lewis has always offered good face-to-face customer service with people who understand the products, whilst online offers user-reviews and rating alongside lower prices. John Lewis are trying to keep the face-to-face benefits of in-store, something that online buying can never compete with, whilst offering easy access to those user-reviews and ratings online, and also match online prices.
This is the sort of progress that needs to happen on the High Street, as they evolve from bricks-and-mortar stores to clicks-and-mortar multi-channel outlets. It is good to see John Lewis embracing that.