John Lewis – Never Knowingly Understood?
The John Lewis Partnership. Four words that are catnip to Middle England.
We just love ‘em, don’t we? Competence, reassurance, value and consistency.
John Lewis may well be the tallest of the ‘tall poppies’ in the big, muddy field of organisations seeking to do right by their customers and employees.
However, this recent article in The Guardian – which you might think of as the John Lewis (JLP) house journal; beautifully aligned in terms of customer profile and corporate values – entitled ‘Has John Lewis Lost the Plot on Complaints?’ really set me thinking.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2015/sep/12/has-john-lewis-lost-the-plot-complaints
The John Lewis Partnership. Four words that are catnip to Middle England.
We just love ‘em, don’t we? Competence, reassurance, value and consistency.
John Lewis may well be the tallest of the ‘tall poppies’ in the big, muddy field of organisations seeking to do right by their customers and employees.
However, this recent article in The Guardian – which you might think of as the John Lewis (JLP) house journal; beautifully aligned in terms of customer profile and corporate values – entitled ‘Has John Lewis Lost the Plot on Complaints?’ really set me thinking.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2015/sep/12/has-john-lewis-lost-the-plot-complaints
The article highlights questions about the running of JLP’s outsourced contact centres (which I think we will come back to*) and states that The Guardian’s ‘consumer champions’ now received a “steady flow” of complaints about JLP when there used to be none. What I thought was really interesting, though, were The Guardian’s linked concerns about John Lewis’ business model and its impact on their renowned customer experience.
Specifically, the writer expresses concerns that, for instance, JLP’s fulfilment of some white goods ordered online will be carried out by third parties. This doesn’t strike me as either inappropriate or surprising. Needlessly shipping goods between warehouses costs money and takes time, which isn’t in JLP’s interests or their customers’.
The age of companies being able to address customer needs with an either “buy it ourselves or build it ourselves” approach has long gone. With increased complexity, specialisation and scarce capital it doesn’t make sense for JLP to ‘own’ all the moving parts of their business. It’s rational and sensible to work in collaboration with others to meet market and customer expectations, be that through outsourcing, partnerships, co-branding or joint ventures.
So, what’s the problem?
The problem – and it’s common to nearly every brand and organisation Channel Doctors work with – is that integrating a complex network of suppliers and partners in order to ensure its efficient functioning is hard enough. To do so in a way that is effective – so that you can deliver the right brand values and experience, across channels and touchpoints, even when things go wrong – is a perpetual challenge that demands constant positive attention.
Do JLP’s customers care that their dishwasher, ordered online and delivered or available to collect in-store next day (for those with stronger and longer arms), hasn’t actually sat in a JLP warehouse or been moved by a delivery van driven by a JLP Partner? I doubt it.
That said, are their customers likely to care if they feel information, contact channels and the brand ‘look & feel’ are disjointed and that the service they receive isn’t of the standard they expect from John Lewis? Too right they will! Especially when they experience product or service failure. “This catnip doesn’t work anymore …” will be the resounding cry.
The irony is that JLP are probably significantly better than their competition at selecting, integrating and aligning partners, whilst ensuring a consistent ‘coating’ of the JLP customer experience. However, they suffer from customers’ high expectations. JLP are consistently one of the UK’s top 3 most valued and trusted brands, so perceived failure costs; their customers are demanding and vocal. JLP’s customers don’t need to understand the inner workings of the John Lewis ‘machine’, as long as they’re not impacted by failings and/or disengaged partners – and so long as JLP can make good on their customer promise, irrespective of the complexity of what ‘lies beneath’.
And the rest of us?
At least JLP face the challenge of meeting customer needs consistently through a complex infrastructure with the advantages of financial stability, massive brand equity and both staff and customer engagement. Most organisations don’t.
So the need to plan, execute, manage and maintain complexity is even greater for us shorter poppies.
*We will blog about what the steady drip of negative stories and sentiment about JLP’s contact centres might tell us shortly
