John Lewis planning to lure hundreds of engineers as it plots big retail push online
Retail giant the John Lewis Partnership is zooming in further on its online operations as it is planning to recruit for more than 150 roles in engineering and delivery driving.
John Lewis, which also owns Waitrose supermarket, said its recruitment drive will help grow its online stores, which together have more than 55m visits a month.
Online sales have rocketed in the wake of the home delivery boom prompted by pandemic closures.
They now make up almost 70 per cent of John Lewis’s total sales, while Waitrose has seen its online share quadruple from 5 per cent in 2020 to nearly 20 per cent this year.
Sandra Christie, head of engineering at the group, explained the recruitment drive this morning: “We have a team driving the digital growth of our two iconic brands, Waitrose and John Lewis.
“It’s our partners who make the difference and we’re really excited to be making this significant investment in growing our engineering talent.”
It comes after John Lewis last month said it was bringing back its 3 per cent staff bonus after scrapping payouts last year for the first time since 1953.
But plans to grow the business’s online team follows recent sweeping job cuts across its high street stores.
Job cuts
Last July, the group said it planned to axe a further 1,000 jobs after closing 16 department stores, amounting to nearly 4,000 total job cuts in just over a year.
The overhaul enabled John Lewis to slash costs by £170m, while it reported a strong pre-tax profit rise to £181m in the year to January 29.
The retailer said last week it paid off a £150m bank loan before it was due to avoid unnecessary interest charges and to prepare for a possible UK recession.
The head office vacancies announced today include software, cloud platform, and data engineers to help innovate the business and grow its shopping apps.
John Lewis posted over 70 driver openings across the UK as the demand for home deliveries of groceries and homeware remains high.
John Lewis said its employees can receive benefits including flexible working, store discounts and equal parental leave.