John Lewis men's styling service to roll out after test store success

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 29, 2018

John Lewis will roll out its men’s styling service to more stores following a successful pilot programme in its still-new store in Oxford’s giant Westgate shopping centre.

The service will be available in at least eight more locations after a strong reaction to it at Westgate. The retailer said that at least one-third of all personal stylist appointments booked there have been for menswear.

John Lewis’s weekly trading updates last year showed that menswear was a consistent strong performer for the company. And with experiences being an increasingly important attraction helping department stores to get shoppers through their doors, menswear personal styling seems like an obvious service to pursue.

The new £33 million London store at Westfield, opening in March, will be one of those to offer men’s styling, among 22 other services.

The news came as John lewis director of shop trade Maggie Porteous spoke to The Guardian about the firm’s plans for the new Westfield site with services such as beauty, food, and events all set to be a focal point of the store. There will be an upgraded version of the ‘experience desk’, where concierges book appointments, that has been a hit at the Oxford store.

Porteous said the company is “reinventing the department store for the 21st century. We want this shop to create a day out. White City and John Lewis are a destination that customers are really looking for which is a real experience. I think this will be very successful.”

Other elements that have been a success at Oxford include John Lewis giving the 600 staff acting lessons to teach them voice and body language skills after this was seen to have a positive impact on sales.