Speaking at Shoptalk Europe 2026 in Barcelona, John Lewis Managing Director Peter Ruis reframed the retailer's competitive landscape, stating that the biggest threat is no longer another department store but rather specialist brands, social platforms, AI-powered search engines, marketplaces and technology giants (RetailNews.ai). Rather than measuring itself against traditional rivals like Debenhams, John Lewis now sits among the top one to four players in most of its categories and must compete on curation, expertise and connected experiences across stores, web, app and contact centres (RetailNews.ai).
The strategic response centres on AI as a discovery tool combined with irreplaceable human expertise. Search traffic from large language models and AI-powered search tools has grown to over 2%, up from under 0.5% just months earlier, with expectations to reach 5% within nine months (RetailNews.ai). Ruis positioned AI as a hyper-search layer that shortens the path from question to answer, while human product expertise and physical stores remain central to trust on significant purchases (RetailNews.ai). John Lewis is also investing in resale, with its most expensive single item sold last year being a secondhand Hermès handbag at approximately £12,000, and has built strong secondhand performance in jewellery and technology (RetailNews.ai).
The retailer is simultaneously doubling down on physical stores, investing significantly in store environments and introducing services like personal styling that create measurable halo effects across channels (RetailNews.ai). Social commerce is another growth vector, with John Lewis launching partnerships including one with Topshop and integrating with Uber Eats for 30-minute delivery on selected items, positioning the retailer early in a format projected to become a $16 billion market by 2030 (RetailNews.ai).