The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) has brought in customer loyalty and marketing experts dunnhumby and Eagle Eye to help deepen its relationships with shoppers. The owner of the Waitrose and John Lewis chains has also appointed a Tesco executive as its first pan-Partnership Head of Loyalty.
Earlier this year, JLP signalled its intent to invest in data and loyalty to meet changing shopper trends, including the launch of a pan-Partnership loyalty programme in 2024.
The new five-year agreements with Tesco’s customer insights and media firm, dunnhumby, and marketing technology company, Eagle Eye Solutions Group, aim to provide greater personalisation and loyalty experiences for customers of the group’s supermarkets and department stores.
The move follows the relaunches in the last year of the My Waitrose and My John Lewis loyalty programmes. More than 9 million people are members of My Waitrose, while My John Lewis has grown to five million members, boosted by initiatives such as Members Week, which is held several times a year, offering exclusive events and offers.
JLP stated that the new partnerships would also open up collaboration opportunities with suppliers to support the growth of its Insights & Media service. The group said: “Our physical and digital estate is uniquely placed to offer opportunities for our suppliers to engage with our customers throughout the shopper journey from print offerings such as our weekly Waitrose Weekend publication through to digital placements on JohnLewis.com and Waitrose.com.”
Meanwhile, Emily Wells has been appointed to the role of Head of Loyalty, reporting into pan-Partnership and John Lewis Customer Director Charlotte Lock. She will join JLP in June and will be responsible for developing and launching the new pan-Partnership loyalty proposition in 2024 as well as leading the My Waitrose and My John Lewis loyalty programmes.
Wells is joining from Tesco, where she has held a number of senior roles over the last five years, most recently as Head of Loyalty Strategy. Prior to this, she held commercial and strategy roles across various retail and consulting settings.
Lock commented: “Today’s announcements show the ambition we have to transform how our much-loved brands can deliver a more personalised experience for customers. With Emily’s appointment and our new partnerships with dunnhumby and Eagle Eye, we can better help our customers however, whenever and wherever they shop with us.”
Dan Olley, Chief Executive Officer at dunnhumby, said: “At dunnhumby we could not be more honoured to have the opportunity to work with John Lewis and Waitrose. These are two of the UKs most iconic and well-loved brands. Over the years they have defined what it means to give customers a great experience and great service, and have visibly cherished their deep customer relationships.
“I am truly excited by the opportunity to help JLP continue this tradition, both in store and digitally, as they leverage our technology, data science and personalisation capabilities.”
Tim Mason, Chief Executive Officer at Eagle Eye Solutions, added: “We’re delighted to have won another multi-year contract with JLP and look forward to continuing to support them in delivering their loyalty and personalisation strategy. We’re excited to be able to collaborate again with dunnhumby on this new engagement, ensuring that their leading data science can be executed at scale.”
NAM Implications:
- JLP are patently wishing to optimise Retail Media opportunities.
- i.e. these moves will enhance the quality of JLP First-Party Data.
- Thus increasing its appeal to suppliers….
- …and improving its ability to deliver appropriate messages to shoppers…
- …at all stages of the shopping journey.
- (besides providing an incremental revenue stream)
