John Lewis picks iForce to deliver for expanded online store

John Lewis rolled out its new and much-expanded online shopping site, www.johnlewis.com, earlier this month, and has appointed iForce to handle fulfilment for the operation.
The logistics contract, which runs initially for three and a half years, is being described as one of the largest and most prestigious in the efulfilment sector to be awarded by a UK retailer so far. No precise measure is being put on this, but the job is known to involve 5,000 stock-keeping units initially, and could run to 25,000 eventually.
The development comes as part of a move by the store chain to consolidate and expand its online activities, which are now grouped together in a division called John Lewis Direct. This includes the johnlewis.com site plus the UK operations of Buy.corn, acquired earlier this year. The johnlewis.com site alone will see investment of £30 million over the next four years.
iForce has located the fulfilment operation in its newly-opened warehouse at Bromford Gate, Birmingham, where about half of the 6,500 sq m space is being used for it. Several thousand pallet positions have been allocated to the job, and managing director Matthew Peacock says further space is available for expansion. “I’d be surprised if we didn’t need to take it UI),” he told e.Iogistics Magazine.
John Lewis had already been running a much smaller online operation called John Lewis Now, involving around 500 SKUs and focusing mainly on gifts and other items that could be despatched by post. The new service covers a whole range of products including furniture, electrical goods, kitchenware, lighting, home furnishings, tableware, sports goods and toys.
Various delivery options are offered, including next-day (f4.95), three-day (E2.95), named-day (f4.95) and “two-man” (f9.95, but this is waived if the value is over £200). iForce is using two main carriers to handle final deliveries — Parcelforce Worldwide and Citylink — and is also using Consignia Logistics (a division of Parcelforce’s parent group) for the two-man deliveries.
Ref lecting John Lewis’s emphasis
on an easy returns policy, three returns options are available. Customers can take goods back to a high-street store, send them back by through a post office with a pre-paid label, or have them collected by carrier (Citylink is doing the collections).
John Lewis retains responsibility for online ordering and payment, some of which are being provided
with the technology acquired with Buy.com. ClientLogic, a global multichannel customer management business, will be handling customer service by phone, email and fax from its Exeter call centre. iForce has taken over responsibility for warehousing, picking, gift wrapping and packing, distribution and returns management.
iForce has established links to John Lewis’s in-house systems, and the whole operation is being treated effectively like an extra store, supplementing the 26 real stores in the network.
Murray Hennessy, the managing director of John Lewis Direct, says he considers iForce “the only true specialist e-fulfilment provider in the UK”, while iForce’s Matthew Peacock describes the deal as “extremely exciting”, and says: “This really confirms our position at the top of the league table in the e-fulfilment business.”
For the time being, fulfilment for the separate Buy.com Web site continues to be handled on a “virtual” basis (involving direct deliveries by
suppliers). There is speculation that this operation might eventually be dovetailed with the new business, but there is no sign of such a move so far. The buycom charging policy is in fact slightly different; it offers free nextday delivery on any purchase of over £50, and charges £4.95 for lowervalue items.