Store backs new Quality & Value tagline with £500m investment to continue treating customers fairly
John Lewis’ renowned Never Knowingly Undersold pledge is to be retired this summer as the popular retailer promises its £500million investment will give customers Quality & Value every day.
“Customers are tightening their belts,” explains the company’s executive director Pippa Wicks, “and we’re responding so John Lewis is more affordable for every customer, every day whether shopping in-store or online.
“Never Knowingly Undersold has been a cherished sign of trust for John Lewis for a century but it doesn’t fit with how customers shop today as more purchases are made online. Our new £500m investment means all our customers can trust they’re getting the quality, style and service they expect from John Lewis at great value prices.”
The change to the new Quality & Value tagline builds on the department store chain’s more affordable Anyday own brand – including homeware, nursery, fashion and technology – which was introduced in spring 2021 and has been confirmed as John Lewis’ most successful brand launch yet, with £125m in sales to date as 800 Anyday products are sold every hour.
First opened as a drapery store in 1864, the chain now has 35 stores across the UK, each with a large greetings and stationery section, and it has traded on the Never Knowingly Undersold promise since 1925.
The company statement issued on Friday, February 25, says: “The £500m investment in value is 25% higher than the amount we spent on keeping prices affordable last year. Our founding philosophy of treating customers fairly remains.
“Never Knowingly Undersold is no longer enough to assure trust because it applies to fewer and fewer sales as shopping moves increasingly online, and isn’t applicable to online-only retailers. So, we’re replacing it with a new approach, which all of our customers can trust because it applies to however and wherever you shop – in store or online.”
Top: John Lewis’ executive director Pippa Wicks
