John Lewis brings back iconic price match pledge in bid to take on its high street rivals

John Lewis is bringing back its ‘never knowingly undersold’ pledge in a new price match with major rivals.

The High Street stalwart has promised to bring back the historic strap line after customer feedback and a leadership shake-up.

But now the promise will specifically apply to 25 major competitors including Boots, Marks & Spencer and Dunelm.

Executive director Peter Ruis insisted ‘it’s not just back, it’s better.’

‘It gets us back on the front foot,’ he said, adding that the multi-million investment would help to boost the Middle England favourite’s financial fortunes.

The High Street stalwart’s executive director Peter Ruis (pictured) insisted ‘it’s not just back, it’s better’

Around 35,000 prices have been changed this week ahead of the launch next week on Monday September 9.

The company, which is owned by its employees known as partners, will now use a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology programme to check prices are competitive.

It scrapped the pledge just over two years ago in August 2022, saying it would instead focus on ‘everyday quality and value.’

And boss Ruis admitted there were some issues of ‘confusion’ with the older system, which had felt ‘pre-web.’

John Lewis is also launching a new advertising campaign alongside the pledge later this month.

And boss Ruis admitted there were some issues of ‘confusion’ with the older system, which had felt ‘pre-web.’

John Lewis is also launching a new advertising campaign alongside the pledge later this month.

A series of videos will focus on the historic decades observed by the brand’s shop window of its flagship Oxford St store.

This will launch on September 19, and feature actor Samantha Morton and singer Laura Mvula.

There will be scenes from Londoners diving into the shop’s basement bunker for safety during the Blitz in the Second World War to the fashion heyday of the 1980s.

The retailer has been vying with rivals M&S and Next, who have succeeded in enticing customers away from the department store.

John Lewis is also joining its rivals in boosting the array of big names available to shoppers.

John Lewis has promised to bring back the historic strap line after customer feedback and a leadership shake-up

Now the promise will specifically apply to 25 major competitors including Boots, Marks & Spencer and Dunelm.

The department store and Waitrose owner has had a troubled few years but finally returned to profit in the spring.

Now, it is reviving its fashion ranges and brand power to woo Middle England.

It is also pinning hopes on services including clothes rental and free personal styling to entice younger shoppers, and last month the 95-year-old partnership hired former Topshop boss Rachel Morgans as director of fashion.

It comes as the group chairman Dame Sharon White, 56, stands down after five years this month.

She will be replaced by ex-Tesco managing director Jason Tarry, who is seen as a safe pair of hands – given his credentials leading Britain’s biggest supermarket.

The September launch of John Lewis’s autumn and winter range included Princess Beatrice’s favourite label Kooples and the trendy Danish brand Numph.

Ruis, added:‘100 years ago John Spedan Lewis created Britain’s most innovative and famous brand mantra. It defines why John Lewis is so special, and its unique position in the retail landscape. For the past seven months I’ve talked to our customers and our Partners about what John Lewis means to them.

Undated handout photo issued by John Lewis of their famous slogan ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ being used for the first time in a paper, 1928

‘Today, we’re kick-starting our brand for the next 100 years, the perfect fusion of heritage and British eccentricity blended with radical relevance for the modern customer.’

It comes as the Marks & Spencer clothing and home segment has been increasing its lead over the John Lewis department store.

M&S increased its slice of this market to 3.7 per cent from 3.4 per cent in 2019 and as little as 2.6 per cent in 2020 during Covid lockdowns, according to analysis seen by The Mail this year.

In contrast, John Lewis’s share has been broadly flat over the past five years. It held on to a 2.3 per cent slice last year after it dropped from 2.4 per cent in 2022.

And analytics firm Global Data forecasts that M&S will have 3.9 per cent of the market by 2027 with John Lewis still at 2.3 per cent.

The swing in financial fortunes is a boost for chair Dame Sharon White who had said John Lewis would not return to a sustainable profit before the 2028 financial year.

Experts said the main reason behind a profit in 2023 was an aggressive £900million cost-cutting programme rather than a fillip in sales at Waitrose or the department stores.

John Lewis: From a small shop on Oxford Street to one of Britain’s biggest retailers 

John Lewis has become one of the most recognisable brands on Britain’s high streets with the company also owning supermarket giant Waitrose.

But its history can be traced back to 1964, when founder John Lewis opened a small shop on London’s Oxford Street.

Over time it expanded, and the Lewis family purchased Peter Jones, a business in Sloane Square, before control of the company was handed to the founder’s son, John Spedan Lewis.

Spedan Lewis wanted to ‘create a way of doing business that was both commercial, allowing it to move quickly and stay ahead in a highly-competitive industry, and democratic, giving every Partner a voice in the business they co-own’, according to the brand’s website.

As a result, all members of staff are referred to as ‘partners’ and the company is run by a trust on their behalf. 

John Lewis opened as a small shop in Oxford Street in 1864

The Oxford Street store with a festive display in 1936

Among its eye-catching schemes is a six-month leave for employees who have worked at the company for 25 years, an idea that was started in 1979. 

In 1920 the firm offered its first ever bonus to all of its staff, and nine years later set up a medical service providing free healthcare for all partners – 19 years before the NHS was founded. 

By 1940 the company had expanded further, purchasing Waitrose and 15 branches of the collapsing Selfridge Provincial Stores Group, by 1960 it was able to reopen a much larger shop on Oxford Street.

In 1963, Spedan Lewis died. Seven years later the company issued its annual bonuses to staff in cash, rather than in stocks and cash. 

Stanley Carter, the ex-managing director of the department store on London’s Oxford Street, pictured in August 1965

At the turn of the century, John Lewis was preparing to move online, launching its website in 2001, while using Waitrose to supply online supermarket Ocado. 

In recent years it has become known for its iconic Christmas adverts, the first one being launched in 2007. 

Changing demands from shoppers and the decline of the high has had a negative impact on John Lewis’ stores. Last year it announced eight shops were to close, including a flagship site in Birmingham.

Today, a further 1,500 jobs have been put at risk, as it plans to close another eight stores in Kent, York, Hampshire, Northamptonshire, Cheshire and Aberdeen.

It plans to rely on smaller Waitrose stores that stock some John Lewis items, while also profiting online by expanding its click and collect service.