L ondon-basedretailer The John Lewis Partnershipfared exceptionally well during last year’s Christmas selling season. For the five weeks leading up to December 28, 2013, its total sales, in stores and online, amounted to £734 million—a 7.2-percent increase from the same period the previous year. Although in-store sales rose only slightly, online sales jumped by 22. 6 percent compared to the same period in 2012.

As the December sales results show, John Lewis has been very successful with its omnichannel strategy. To maintain its leadership in omnichannel retailing—which allows consumers to buy, take delivery, and make returns when and where they choose—the company has been redesigning its supply chain. As part of that initiative, John Lewis has begun restructuring its distribution center (DC) network to support a shift to an in-store replenishment strategy that will require major changes in the way it picks, delivers, and stores the products it sells.

A NEED TO SIMPLIFY

John Lewis has been a familiar name to London shoppers since the days of Charles Dickens. The retailer opened its first store in 1864, during England’s Victorian period. Today John Lewis has 41 shops in England, Scotland, and Wales. The company also owns the grocery chain Waitrose, which has more than 300 stores throughout Great Britain, most of them

To maintain its lead in omnichannel
retailing, the venerable U.K. retailer
John Lewis has adopted a very modern
strategy: converting to “hybrid”
distribution centers that fill orders for
both retail stores and online sales.