John Lewis and Waitrose to cross-promote brands
Waitrose-branded products have gone on sale in John Lewis for the first time and Waitrose Food & Home stores are poised to sell clothing supplied by the department store chain.
The developments mark a closer working relationship between John Lewis Partnership’s department stores and its Waitrose supermarket chain.
Waitrose-branded washing powder and other laundry and personal hygiene products are now available at John Lewis.
A John Lewis spokesman says: “We were looking at some of these products for a packaging review and considering how best we could source them.”
He adds that it made sense to be supplied by “one of the best” product labels.
The spokesman would not be drawn on whether other Waitrose-branded products would follow, but admits that standard Waitrose stores could start stocking products from John Lewis.
New Waitrose Food & Home outlets are also to stock a limited range of clothing for men and babies, as well as a sportswear range, when they open later this year.
The concept stores, which are to double in number from two to four outlets, already stock a range of products sourced from John Lewis including electrical goods, furniture, lighting and china. John Lewis’s Jonelle brand accounts for the majority of the merchandise.
Earlier this month the John Lewis Partnership issued a profit warning, saying that for the year ending January, it would not beat the &£150m pre-tax profits for the previous financial year ending January 27, 2001.
