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:

https://www.localdatacompany.com/blog/how-are-john-lewis-leading-the-way-with-their-click-and-collect-service

 

Bibliography:

Aliyev, F., (2015) ‘Strategic marketing plan for the John Lewis Partnership using marketing theory and analytical tools’, Research Gate. [Online] [pdf] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287724083_Strategic_marketing_plan_for_the_John_Lewis_Partnership_using_marketing_theory_and_analytical_tools (accessed 04/12/2018)

Avgousti, M., (2017) ‘ How are John Lewis leading the way with their click-and-collect service?’ [Online] Available at:https://www.localdatacompany.com/blog/how-are-john-lewis-leading-the-way-with-their-click-and-collect-service (accessed 12/12/2018)

Dibb, S., (1998) ‘Market segmentation: strategies for success’, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 16 Issue: 7, pp.394-406 [Online] [pdf] Available at: https://www-emeraldinsight-com.ezproxy.brighton.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1108/02634509810244390 (accessed 04/12/2018)

Gwynn, S., (2018) ‘John Lewis to put marketing in the hands of staff’, Campaign[Online] Available at: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/john-lewis-put-marketing-hands-staff/1459016 (accessed 04/12/2018)

Gwynn, S., (2018) ‘John Lewis and Waitrose unveil ‘modern, progressive’ new brand identity’, Campaign. [Online] Available at:https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/john-lewis-waitrose-unveil-modern-progressive-new-brand-identity/1491742 (accessed 04/12/2018)

Hammett, E., (2018) ‘John Lewis promise ‘bold moves’ as it vows to reinvent high street shopping’, Marketing week. [Online] Available at: https://www.marketingweek.com/2018/03/08/john-lewis-high-street-shopping/ (accessed 04/12/2018)

Hammond.,  A.S.C. Ehrenberg, G.J. Goodhardt., (1996) ‘Market segmentation for competitive brands’, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 30 Issue: 12, pp.39-49 [Online] [pdf] Available at: https://www-emeraldinsight-com.ezproxy.brighton.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1108/03090569610153291 (accessed 04/12/2018)

John Lewis., (2017) ‘The John Lewis Retail Report 2017 How We Shop, Live and Look Five Year Special, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013’. [Online] [pdf]Available at: https://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/content/dam/cws/pdfs/media/how-we-shop-live-and-look-2017.pdf (accessed 04/12/2018)

John Lewis & Partners., (2017) ‘Your Space, Your Way with HOUSE by John Lewis’, YouTube. [Online] [Video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv7dU8hfZuA (accessed 12/12/2018)

Marks&Spencer., (2018) ‘Marks and Spencer Group Plc Half Year Results For 26 Weekdays Ended 29 September 2018’. [Online] [pdf] Available at: https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/documents/reports-results-and-publications/press-releases/2018-19/m-and-s-half-year-results.pdf (accessed 04/12/2018)

Parihar,P. Dawra, J & Sahay,V., (2018) ‘The role of customer engagement in the involvement-loyalty link’, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, [Online] [pdf] Available at: https://doi-org.ezproxy.brighton.ac.uk/10.1108/MIP-11-2017-0318 (accessed 04/12/2018)

Ward, S., (2018) ‘Target Marketing can be the key to increasing sales’, The Balance small business.  [Online] Available at: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/target-marketing-2948355 (accessed 12/12/2018)

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                       

IKEA is known worldwide for their famous ‘flat-pack’ furniture. The 21st Century is changing the way in which people shop and with the help of social media, IKEA is able to utilise cookies to help them understand what their customers want to be looking at. This can be shown across many different social media platforms. Cookies are designed to catch your eye when you are browsing sites such as Facebook or Instagram, Ikea even went as far as designing a campaign based on them:

“Where Life Happens”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9SFeRNAfEA

Brandwatch 

IKEA’s online marketing is set out to listen to what the customer wants and search for the products that they might not of seen before. Brandwatch is one of the worlds leading social media listening and analytics technology platforms. By having this platform, IKEA are able to understand what the business needs to do to enable them to make proactive decisions for the future. By having a media platform such as Brandwatch, IKEA are able to set a clear target market for certain products which can then be linked into peoples everyday feeds, whether that be on social media, by e-mail or  by post.

 

Brandwatch does work with other companies, however  IKEA has a  global manufacturing, distribution and retail marketing system that makes the company a formidable market focus with no competition. Another system that IKEA has unique to them is the ‘listening hub’.This platform was created so that the marketing team can present a real space for sharing new ideas within the organisation, both in Europe and America.

 

 

Facebook:

• Attracts almost 200,000 fans
• The social media team post questions, links to photo albums and posts youtube clips
• engagement is excellent on this platform- each post gets a few hundred likes
• Customers have a voice: e.g ‘The Ikea Big Sleepover’ Thousands of customers came up with the idea of a sleepover at Ikea, make a group via Facebook which lead to 100 lucky customers getting to spend the night in an Ikea warehouse in Essex.

Twitter:

• responds quickly to @ mentions
• Used widely to respond to complains or queries from customers

Utilised more in the US – the UK tried the platform but didn’t get a positive response

Pinterest

• Around 3,000 followers in the UK
• John Lewis- one of Ikea’s main competitors uses this platform, however Ikea believes that the platform doesn’t promote Ikea in the manner they want to promote it in
• Still a new venture for Ikea- other social media thrive better so more time and money are spent on them
• Pinterest does offer companies to express themselves, focusing on their personalitY and values- something that Ikea might be missing out on

Ikea is moving forward by working with the popular social media platforms.By adapting their brand to individual customers needs, they are able to branch out to a wider audience which means  they can advertise and sell to many different generations. They are creating a platform that can be understood by all, which from a business perspective can only lead to positive results.

 

References:

Brandwatch., (2014). ‘Case Study/ Ikea and the Socializers’ [Online] Available at:  https://static1.squarespace.com/static/587bf6fc4402438507f325b1/t/595ec388099c012b130166e0/1499382665801/IKEA_CaseStudy.pdf (accessed 01/10/2018)

Moth, D., (2013). ‘How Ikea uses Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Google+’ [Online] Available at: https://econsultancy.com/how-ikea-uses-pinterest-facebook-twitter-and-google/(accessed 01/10/2018)