John Lewis buries international ambitions

John Lewis has decided to discontinue its international expansion strategy. The department store chain is also closing its webshop for foreign customers.

“Too expensive”

John Lewis states that from 9 December the chain will no longer accept international orders. Reportedly, the entire international department would be too expensive, although the decision meets with internal resistance, writes Retail Gazette. At the beginning of last month, the retailer announced a new savings plan, which would lead to the loss of some 1,500 jobs.

John Lewis first started selling online abroad about 10 years ago. Currently, the company is shipping to around thirty countries. John Lewis also has 5 shop-in-shops within the Australian department store chain Myer and operates a shop at Heathrow Airport to increase brand awareness among tourists. However, the shop at the airport was one of eight that did not reopen after the first lockdown.

Last year, international sales of the British department store chain fell by almost 17% to 10.6 million pound (11.7 million euro). The operating result from these activities also fell by just over 10%.