Lessons From Sharon White In How To Radically Change Your Business Strategy

2020 will be the year that changed retail. Even the biggest high street names have suffered, forced to make drastic actions overnight in order to ride out the peaks and troughs of the ever changing disruptions, let alone hold onto their top spots. For most this has meant a rapid shift of focus to selling online in order to mitigate the impacts of the measly levels of footfall to bricks and mortar shops. Others have taken more innovative and bold steps in completely new directions. 

John Lewis, with Dame Sharon White at the helm, is one such pioneering company. During the course of this year they have shifted their focus more onto home goods, offering furniture rental and garden supplies for the first time. On top of this, they have made marked steps into the property market through converting stores into office spaces as well as residential housing. Here we will look at how White has driven this change and how her unique leadership has pushed the company to forge new opportunities out of such a challenging year. 

Don’t let background hold you back

As soon as she took over as Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership in February 2020, White faced a wall of criticism, largely due to her lack of retail experience. Coming from her role as CEO at Ofcom after a career as a financial civil servant, she is the first to admit that she is not a retailer, but she doesn’t let that hold her back. If anything, her impressive career outside of retail has allowed her to see when things need changing. Her lack of familiarity with the invisible rules of retail or the traditional way of doing things has resulted in some truly outside of the box thinking. This time last year, no one expected John Lewis to become a residential landlord.

To fill any vital gaps in her expertise, she has put together an expert team with a proven track record. To help run John Lewis, she has Pippa Wicks, previously Deputy Group CEO at the Co-op. Meanwhile to help out with Waitrose, ex-Sainsbury’s James Bailey is her new Executive Director. The lesson here is to play to your unique strengths, rather than focus on the experience you lack. To make your innovative ideas work, you need a diverse and experienced team that will provide the necessary context and support. 

Spot the trends through listening

While listening to your customers is in no way new advice, it often seems the practice is overlooked. In fact the advice seems even more important during times of great change. By understanding how your customer has been impacted, you will acknowledge how their needs have changed, which can help to identify radical new opportunities. 

In White’s own words, “After the year we’ve all had, home has never mattered more.” By closely monitoring consumer behaviour and critically thinking how their shoppers have changed, the new heightened consumer focus on home has informed John Lewis’ strategy. White made the decision to move away from beauty treatments and mid-range, mid-price fashion (where customers regularly shop across a whole host of retailers), instead focusing their resources on home products. The move into rental items was particularly influenced by their desire to cater to the modern consumer. Subscribing to items is much cheaper and less permanent, and provides a way for shoppers to try before they buy, a rare opportunity for high-end furniture.

Change with the future in mind

White has taken the opportunity, while everything is changing, to make sure that when things settle, they do so in a way that is mindful of the future. On top of renting, which is usually a pretty sustainable practice, reselling and recycling will play a huge part in White’s sustainability plans, with shoppers getting instore or online credit for items recycled or donated. John Lewis have also brought forward their carbon neutral commitment by 15 years, all the way to 2035. Sustainability continues to be an issue that customers increasingly care about, so is completely worthwhile committing to. 

Changing with the times and respect the competition

One of the cornerstone’s of John Lewis’ brand identity is their slogan – “Never Knowingly Undersold.” The promise of refunding the difference if you buy something and find it cheaper elsewhere within 28 days matches John Lewis’ reputation of being a reliable and consumer centric brand. However, it hasn’t aged well in the modern world of internet shopping. With the constant cycle of online promotions, product prices are almost certainly going to be undercut somewhere else. Rather than scrambling to be the cheapest, which requires constant monitoring of a wide range of competitors, White made the tricky decision to abandon the promise.

When it comes to competition, White concedes that Amazon has done a great job in cementing their reputation in affordable convenience. While acknowledging that they could learn from them in terms of improving digital accessibility, she still recognises the immense strengths John Lewis has that makes the brand stand out, and doesn’t want to let them slip. Unlike sponsored listings on other digital marketplaces, John Lewis has no incentive to push particular products, instead offering unparalleled curation and impartial advice to help the customer find the solution right for them. 

So when it comes to radically changing your business strategy, it is clear that some sacrifices will have to be made. However, it is identifying the points that help define your brand and sticking by these while driving innovation. Such revolutionary change of a well-known, traditional retailer, took confidence, but through making informed strategy decisions, White has helped John Lewis evolve with the needs of their customers, without spreading themselves too thin.