Let’s talk about partnership branding! At every brand workshop we run, we ask participants about brands they dislike (sorry Ryanair) and brands they love. At workshops in the UK, the most frequent ‘love’ brand is John Lewis. We hear about great staff, great service and its ‘partnership’ business model. Our participants also recite John Lewis’s ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ price promise. All good you’d think?
However all’s not well in UK high street retail and John Lewis is not immune. Just this week, the business announced its lowest staff bonus since 1953. Times are tough. But of course John Lewis won’t take this lying down. New branding came in last autumn, with the ‘Partners’ element of the business front and centre. A major part of the strategy is further focus on ‘exceptional’ service, delivered through the JL ‘Partners’ (ie their great staff). But there’s one element of the service delivery that regular users may have noticed, that potentially runs counter to this.
Concession areas and partnership branding are a key element of department store retailing and of course John Lewis has them. So with a strategy and brand experience based firmly on delivering exemplary service, it’s essential that concessions do this too. Based on two personal examples, this may be a threat to John Lewis’s approach.
- Trying to return an unused product to the Netspresso partner brand store in John Lewis, the response was this was impossible as the goods were ‘perishable’. We tried to talk to JL’s management, but were told this was impossible. Finally, we were threatened with security staff being summoned..!
- Buying make-up, we struggled to make ourselves heard over the pounding music from the newly adjacent MAC make up counter. The lady serving explained she had no control over the volume, that’s just what was agreed
In conclusion; there’s nothing anything intrinsically wrong in brand partnerships. But there are pitfalls around balancing relative brand values, behaviours and image. Lose even a modest amount of control and you put your own brand in a vulnerable position. Unsatisfied customers won’t unpick the nuances of which brand in the partnership delivered the poor experience – both brand partners will be tarred with the same brush!