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John Lewis is bringing back its 100-year-old “never knowingly undersold” price promise two years after it was ditched by management.
The U-turn on the pledge, which was dropped in 2022 partly because it was too expensive, means the department store chain will now match prices on branded goods in stores and online with 25 retailers including Amazon on technology products as well as high-street rival Marks and Spencer and chemist Boots.
The return of the price match promise is the first big decision implemented by executive Peter Ruis, who rejoined to run the department store business in January after several years away.
It marks a departure from the strategic vision of his predecessor Pippa Wicks, who left the employee-owned company in 2023, as well as outgoing group chair Dame Sharon White.
Asked whether it was a mistake to have dropped the “never knowingly undersold” promise in the first place, Ruis told reporters that the company was “just looking forward”.
He added: “My perception is that we had a price mechanism that had to change. It wasn’t fit for purpose when it was dropped, and it’s pointless for me as an individual worrying and debating what happened two years before I arrived.”
Ruis said that when the retailer removed it, shoppers “automatically assumed all prices went up”, which “wasn’t true necessarily”.
The move was announced ahead of half-year results next Thursday. The group, which also owns supermarket chain Waitrose, has been seeking to turn its fortunes around and modernise its shops after three years of losses. In March, it said it expected to be on a firmer financial footing this financial year after it returned to profit.
The employee-owned company will this month welcome new chair and Tesco veteran Jason Tarry, who is succeeding Dame Sharon after five years in charge. She has had to contend with a global pandemic followed by a period of high inflation, while trying to improve trading amid fierce competition from rivals and criticism that she lacked the retail skills to turn the business around.
The price pledge started out in 1925 as a guide for product buyers, allowing them to check local shops if customers said they could buy more cheaply elsewhere.
The overhauled price scheme means that if a customer finds the same product for less within seven days at one of the 25 competitors, John Lewis will refund the difference.
It previously applied the pledge more broadly but struggled to maintain it as distressed rivals such as Debenhams and House of Fraser resorted to frequent heavy discounting on branded fashion and beauty products.
Ruis added that he did not expect to see “a [profit] margin deficit problem” by reintroducing the scheme as it was “much easier to operate”. It will use AI to monitor prices in real time, while in the past it even resorted to analogue ways such as pen and paper to keep track of some prices.
John Lewis is expected to embark on a marketing blitz from Monday to promote it, in one of its most significant marketing pushes to date and following a multi-million pound investment.
