John Lewis will lease a million square foot distribution center from Tesco as he focuses more on online sales. The partnership said the deal would create 500 jobs.
John Lewis is undergoing an overhaul under the direction of Sharon White, which took over last year. It has closed 16 stores in the past year and cut about 3,700 jobs.
Web sales have jumped and now represent 60% of John Lewis’ income, up from 40% before the pandemic.
Announcing the agreement with Tesco on Wednesday, Andrew Murphy, Partner and Executive Director of Operations at John Lewis, said: “This one-of-a-kind distribution center represents a fantastic opportunity to fuel the continued growth of johnlewis.com, ensuring that we can keep pace with customer demand, both for our products and for our wide range of fulfillment and delivery options.
“We will invest in the automation capacity of the site to support future growth and, over the next two years, we will recruit 500 new partners to work at the distribution center, which we plan to start in the summer of 2022.
“We will be using the Fenny Lock site to fulfill customer orders for fashion, small home furnishings and technology products. “
The agreement with the supermarket for the Fenny Lock site in Milton Keynes will last 11 years. The site is four miles from the retailer’s largest distribution center, which measures two million square feet.
Mr. Murphy said: “The proximity to our Magna Park campus will allow us to combine more customer orders, reducing both the number of packages we create by around one million per year and the number of trucks on the road. road, helping us meet our goal of being net zero carbon by 2035.
The company has pledged to invest £ 50million in its website and mobile app, with a further £ 100million expected to be spent over five years for online growth.
A three-year lease for a 300,000 square foot distribution center in Bardon, Leicestershire, with Clipper Logistics will be used later this month in preparation for Black Friday.
Additional reporting by PA Media
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Source: www.independent.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-08-11 17:13:19
