John Lewis’ online customers will be able to return fashion purchases through convenience stores after the retailer signed up to parcel service Collect+.

The department store retailer will offer the free service across more than 5,000 local convenience stores, newsagents and petrol stations to make it easier for customers to return clothes, shoes and fashion accessories bought at the retailer.

John Lewis joins other retailers such as online fashion giant Asos in offering the service.

From early Autumn, John Lewis will also be trialling a ‘Click+Collect+’ service in Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of South West England, enabling customers to pick up their John Lewis orders from a similar network of local stores.

The service will cost £3 and will take three days to fulfil.

John Lewis head of omnichannel development Karen Dracou said: “Orders using click-and-collect have nearly doubled over the past year, and accounted for an impressive 35% of online sales over the Christmas period, so we know that customers are looking for ever-more convenient ways of shopping with us.

“By partnering with Collect+, we can extend our existing reach of John Lewis and Waitrose collection points to a wider geographical base, providing an even more convenient way for our customers to shop.”

John Lewis offers click-and-collect at its department stores and ‘at home’ shops, as well as its sister company Waitrose stores. Waitrose is to offer its first drive through click-and-collect in the car park of its Cheltenham store next month before rolling it out to four further stores.

Collect+ chief executive Neil Ashworth said: “The extended opening hours associated with all Collect+ stores allow customers to drop off or return items outside of the traditional trading day.

“With this in mind, the Collect+ service will fit perfectly around the busy lives of John Lewis customers, making it easy for customers to fit returning purchases into the rest of their day.”