John Lewis ready to cross the English Channel

By

Olivier Guyot

Published
Apr 7, 2015

John Lewis will soon have its first location in continental Europe. According to a report on Sunday by the Mail, the British department store chain, which celebrated its 150th anniversary last year, is finalizing negotiations with a player in European retail to open its own shop-in-shop.

For now, European customers rely on its online store, with France and Germany as its biggest customers, followed by Spain and Italy. An arrival in a French department store would prove quite appealing following the awkward exit of its CEO, Andy Street, last October. 

The English department store is beginning to cautiously venture out from the UK. Already present in South Korea for the past three years at Shinsegae, it has just signed an agreement with the brand Robinsons in Singapore. It also expects to open 11 shop-in-shops in the Philippines this summer. 

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For now, while the department store generates a turnover of more than 4 billion pounds ($5.9 bn), its international revenue is less than 20 million.