John Lewis brings back ‘never knowingly undersold’ promise

John Lewis is reviving its “never knowingly undersold” price promise, which it ditched just two and a half years ago, as part of a marketing blitz as it heads into the all-important Christmas selling season.

The retailer said it would use artificial intelligence tools to match prices both in-store and online for 25 competitors including Marks & Spencer, Boots, Currys, House of Fraser and, on technology only – Amazon – from Monday.

Under the new scheme, if customers can show within seven days they have found an item at a cheaper price at one of the 25 brands, then they will be refunded the difference. Prices will be adjusted every day based on the AI-led assessment of the market.

Peter Ruis, the head of the department store group, said John Lewis was making a multimillion-pound investment in the relaunch of the slogan – which it used for nearly a century before it was dropped in February 2022 – including in the technology used, price changes and marketing.

He said 30,000 prices would be adjusted in the first week, backed by a big TV campaign featuring a voiceover by the actor Samantha Morton and a reworking of Paul Simon’s I Know What I Know by the singer Laura Mvula.

The promotion is one of three similarly themed ads planned in the run-up to Christmas which John Lewis said would be the brand’s “biggest ever investment in marketing in the second half [of the year]”.

Ruis said he had begun working on bringing back the never knowingly undersold policy in February, shortly after rejoining the staff-owned group, as he said the removal of the price promise had led shoppers to lose faith they were getting the best value with John Lewis.

“When we removed the price promise, [shoppers] automatically assumed all prices went up,” he said. “This is not a drive to more lower-priced product but a drive to what John Lewis has always been – the democracy of really good essential prices right up to the premium level.”

He said the brand relaunch would also emphasise John Lewis’s customer service, including its lengthy guarantees on technology or large furniture, while new systems would give online shoppers access to product within physical stores.

The group is also testing the idea of fashion brands funding workers within department stores, as some cosmetics and tech companies already do. Ruis said these would be new employees, and existing staff – known as partners because they jointly own the business – would not be transferred. However, the move is likely to be seen as a shift away from the partnership model, which offers pricey perks including an annual profit-linked bonus.

Ruis’s predecessor, Pippa Wicks, ditched the price pledge as the retailer’s profits dived amid pressure to match rivals’ prices, claiming the promise had lost relevance because it did not apply to online-only retailers.

He said new technology and a more focused approach would give the slogan a modern twist. “It has always been amazing. It just has to be appropriate for the arena we are in now. We had to pause it to change it.”

He said reviving the pledge would not hit profits but would drive sales. “We have modelled this every which way and do not see a [profit] margin problem with this,” he said.

“We are reimagining never knowingly undersold for how customers shop today – offering great quality, service and prices in store and online.

“One hundred years ago John Spedan Lewis created Britain’s most innovative and famous brand mantra. It defines why John Lewis is so special.”

The new scheme has been tested on 7,000 customers in recent weeks and 63% said they were more likely to buy from the department store as a result.