The John Lewis Partnership has kicked off a review of the direct marketing accounts for both John Lewis and Waitrose brands, as part of plans to boost CRM and ramp up personalised marketing campaigns.
The move comes just three months after the retail group created the role of customer insight director, hiring Lloyds data chief Paul de Laat to take on the post.
At the time De Laat, who has extensive experience of the mobile market, said that the idea was to turn customer data into actionable knowledge. He claimed this would “enhance our relevance to customers and increase value both for our customers and for Waitrose and John Lewis”.
Kitcatt Nohr Digitas is the incumbent agency on both accounts, having worked on Waitrose since 2006 and John Lewis since 2007.
The agency has been instrumental in developing the recently revamped myWaitrose loyalty scheme, which was originally launched as an online-only offering. Kitcatt Nohr is in the process of launching a similar programme for John Lewis. The review is being handled by AAR.
John Lewis marketing director Craig Inglis confirmed the review and said: “We have ambitious plans for CRM, which will allow us to further personalise the great service we already offer our customers. We feel that now is the right time to review the market and ensure we have the right support in place to deliver our strategy.”
John Lewis was one of the major winners during the Christmas period, revealing like-for-like sales growth of 13% for the five weeks to 29 December. Online sales for the period were 44.3% up on last year, with Johnlewis.com now accounting for a quarter of the total John Lewis business.
Sales at johnlewis.com broke through the £800m milestone during December, supported its Click and Collect facility which allows customers to buy online and collect from John Lewis and Waitrose outlets.
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