John Lewis is set to scrap its longstanding ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ price pledge on August 22 but is yet to unveil the scheme that will succeed it.
John Lewis has emailed customers to tell them that its 97-year-old price match scheme will be retired this month, with no new claims accepted from August 23.
The retailer has not unveiled a new slogan to succeed the outgoing scheme yet but it is expected to launch a marketing campaign in the coming weeks to demonstrate its commitment to “outstanding value”.
John Lewis said in February it would be retiring Never Knowingly Undersold as it “doesn’t fit with how customers shop today”, and would instead be investing £500m in price, up a quarter from the previous year, focusing on everyday low prices across its ranges.
This pivot follows the success of the Anyday own-brand launch, which it introduced last year and attracted 2 million customers in the nine months following its debut, a quarter of which were new shoppers.
The Never Knowingly Undersold scheme, which was put under review by chair Dame Sharon White shortly after her arrival at John Lewis in 2020, has been in place since 1925. It pledges to refund shoppers the difference if they find an item they bought from the retailer is sold cheaper elsewhere within 28 days of purchase. However, as the scheme only applied to chains of physical stores rather than online operators, it has increasingly fallen out of step with how shoppers spend and research potential purchases in recent years.
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