John Lewis turns to National Theatre to improve customer service

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Mar 7, 2018

More than 500 John Lewis employees are receiving training in theatrical skills in a bid to make the customer service at the company’s new shop at Westfield London more inspiring.

The initiative is run by Theatreworks, the National Theatre's training service, which is working with every ‘partner’ recruited to work at the new shops, from those who work in the stockroom to the head of branch.

The training aims to provide staff with voice and body language skills used by actors to communicate with confidence and bring some of their personality to every interaction.

“Retailers have talked about 'retail theatre' but as shopping habits change this has never been more important,” comments Peter Cross, Customer Experience Director for John Lewis.

“We're investing in this training with one of the world's leading theatre companies because actors are outstanding communicators and that's an important element in offering outstanding personal service.”

The retailer is gearing up to open a new anchor store at the £600m extension in Westfield London later this month. The four floor shop will include new and exclusive features, such as Loved& Found - a stand-alone boutique for new and contemporary brands - and &Beauty, John Lewis's spa concept. 

In total, 23 in-store services will be available to book via the new Experience Desk, including personal styling. The experiential features aim to create an inspiring destination at the new store, where customers go for style advice and beauty treatments, as well as to buy products.