Business breakfast briefing with Sir Charlie Mayfield
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending a breakfast briefing hosted by Westminster Business Council where the main topic was the impact of technology on retail. The guest speaker was John Lewis partnership chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield who also revealed some interesting facts about life at JLP. By Emma Gamble, director of Gamble & Yeates.
Mayfield started by laying out the past and the effect that technology has had in the development of retail.
Quoting one of his past mentors Sir Geoff Mulcahy, he said that “human beings have the tendency to over-estimate the impact of technology in the short-term and under-estimate the impact in the longer-term”.
When asked how John Lewis motivates and retains its staff, Mayfield highlighted the excitement the company feels at 9.30am on results day when its profit shares are announced. In the interest of understanding the work population, JLP started its online ‘Partner Surveys’ ten years ago and today has a 90% return rate which provides quality feedback. Tellingly, total staff turnover at JLP is half the retail industry average.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Mayfield reminded the audience of the leadership culture at JLP, where complacency is guarded against through the high level of accountability held by all partners. The drive to innovate, be the best and motivate the teams is re-enforced by the yearly vote taken to assess the confidence in the chairman by JLP’s top 70 managers – luckily this annual process has thus far not yet resulted in any sackings!
He also confirmed that two thirds of all sales at John Lewis ‘have involved the internet as part of the sales process’ and that the growth of click and collect from Waitrose stores has been ‘marvellous’. Highlighting the changing focus at Waitrose, he said that the fact that ‘we have a publication team with a whole media focus illustrates a shift from being just a retailer to being more and more of a retail brand’.
Whilst commenting on the resounding success of the MyWaitrose card’s offer of free coffees and pilot coffee cafes, Mayfield was quick to say that although they had helped to develop customer loyalty they had not been so successful to lead Waitrose to open standalone coffee shops!
