John Lewis has announced that from 28th July it will introduce a threshold for online orders, where orders over £30 will remain free of charge and small orders below £30 will incur a £2 charge, saying that the move "reflects the unprecedented growth of online shopping across the whole retail industry and will ensure that the service is fit for the long term".
Since launching in 2008, John Lewis’s Click & Collect service has rapidly grown to become the fulfilment option of choice for the retailer’s customers. The retailer has significantly invested to support its growth, and this year alone will invest over £80m in its supply chain function and £100m in IT – the latter five times more than five years ago.
Today the department store processes over six million Click & Collect orders a year, compared to just 350,000 in its first year. At the heart of this is the operation of moving tens of thousands of parcels overnight, every night, from its distribution centre to over 360 collection points across the country ready for customers to collect the following day.
Mark Lewis, online director, explains: “John Lewis is committed to being a leading omni-channel retailer and understands the importance of providing its customers with choice, convenience and above all else a long-term commitment to customer service. We offer our customers a wide variety of delivery options but we know right now the delivery option of choice is next-day Click & Collect. The change we have announced today will mean that the majority of orders will remain free of charge while allowing us to invest further in the expansion of Click & Collect to ensure it continues to delight customers as it grows in popularity."
