John Lewis’ website offers a variety of products suited to all types of customers. The site has easy access to a variation of retail departments. Each day John Lewis receives lots of orders, over 9,000 being during the night (John Lewis, 2017). According to their 2017 annual report, over one third (37%) of customers shopped online, a significant increase in comparison to previous years. Customers were browsing for a shorter amount of time in 2017, leading them to make more of an impulse purchase.
“Your Space, Your Way with HOUSE by John Lewis”
Target market concentrates on the company’s chosen customer, whose wants and needs match the product or service that is being offered (Ward, 2018). John Lewis does not have a specific target market as they offer a variation of products that meet different customer tastes and requirements (John Lewis, 2017). This is due to the fact that ‘consumers differ widely in their individual brand choices’ (Hammond, Ehrenburg and Goodhardt,1996, p.39).
John Lewis delivers products to consumers within the UK. Demographics includes both male and female customers who would require an average income of over £40,000 per year to purchase high-end product offers. The focus is on the customer as Mayfield (2018) a director stated ‘expect to see more focus on the customer, more focus on innovation’. John Lewis new aim is to build on their customer loyalty scheme. According to Dibb (1998, p.395) segmentation is to be used as the following (see appendices figure 1): Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. John Lewis can utilise this method to better influence their market and customer satisfaction.
M&S and ASDA are the top competitors as they both offer similar products. ASDA provides a service similar to John Lewis’s partner Waitrose, however the site appeals to a different audience as prices are significantly lower. M&S is the main competitor. It sees over 20.4% of its UK purchases to be made online (M&S,2018). It’s also extremely easy to navigate. 192,000 results occur when doing a raw search, but access to the website is simple. Customer enquires is difficult to navigate, thus being an improvement that they can work on in the future. John Lewis’s website appeals to consumers as it is easy to navigate, suits a variety of needs and has an array of support platforms.
Customers’ Journey:
To understand how effective the website portrays itself, a customer journey map has been created (see appendices figure 2). Persona one is 65-year old Alison (see appendices figure 3) and persona two is 27-year old Jake (see appendices figure 4).
Alison started her journey on her desktop, she found over 600,000 results when searching for John Lewis. The website was accessible as it was in the top spot. The experience began when she encountered the chat support, enabling Alison to gain confidence with her purchasing procedure. One negative aspect of her shopping experience was the customer queries post-purchase. Alison was left unsure about her order, this was caused by the need for an account creation. She usually prefers to shop physically; the technological aspect was confusing. However, her most positive experiences came from interacting with staff virtually. Alison did look into the competitor M&S, however with a similar website and matching prices, John Lewis was chosen because of its variation of brands.
Jakes’ journey was similar; however, he chose the mobile version as it was easier to navigate on the go. Social media was a big aspect of his search as they showed the latest products on display. Jake is a loyal customer as he has links with the Dyson merchandise stalls. When purchasing, he opted for the ‘click and collect’ option as it was free and the item ordered could be collected within 24 hours at his chosen Waitrose. He read that over 72% of customers used this service and had had positive experiences (Avgousti, 2017). The only negative experience came from customer queries post-purchase. There was a high demand of products being purchased, which delayed questions about his order.
Link to ‘click and collect’ blog below:
Bibliography:
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Appendices:
Figure 1: Market Segmentation Model
Source: Adapted from Dibb, S.et. al (19987, p.205)
Figure 2: Customer Journey Map 
Figure 3: Persona One
Figure 4: Persona Two
