John Lewis has partnered with Deliveroo and Uber Eats to make a range of 10,000 products available for delivery in as little as 30 minutes.
The rapid delivery service will be available to customers within the catchment area of eight stores in London and the home counties – including Oxford Street, Sloane Square, Welwyn Garden City, Bluewater, and Kingston.
The move “strengthens John Lewis’s omnichannel footprint”, the retailer said while “seamlessly integrating speed and convenience to its physical and digital retail approach”.
It comes as part of a multi-year, £800m transformation programme which the company says is “bringing the very best of its shops and digital channels together”.
JLP’s Waitrose is no stranger to the aggregator apps, having partnered with Deliveroo since 2021 and Uber Eats since 2023.
The new rapid delivery offering complements John Lewis’s established standard delivery and nationwide click & collect network, it said, “giving customers an ultra-fast delivery option for last-minute needs, urgent tech replacements, or emergency gifts”.
Data from a trial of the service in Leeds and Stratford last year indicated “a strong lunchtime peak”, with 12pm to 2pm emerging as the highest-volume period for sales.
The most popular item bought via the rapid delivery pilot to date is the Sony PlayStation 5 Controller, with gifting items and gifting packaging featuring highly, as well as personal fans.
The retailer is also updating its website and mobile app, with features to “improve and simplify” the experience, along with an updated look.
Alongside an upgraded site search the site now offers customers “relevant inspiration and ideas based on their browsing history”.
The business is “embracing AI-powered discovery” as traffic from digital assistants continues to grow year-on-year.
It is “ensuring product ranges are easily discoverable” by AI agents and developing a new AI-powered product finder set to launch in time for Christmas.
“Bringing the best of John Lewis into our customers’ daily lives is at the heart of our transformation,” said Dom McBrien, chief digital and omnichannel officer at John Lewis.
“Whether shoppers are seeking expert advice from Partners in our stores, picking up an order via click & collect, or ordering via our Deliveroo or Uber Eats for delivery in 30 minutes, we are meeting them wherever they are with trusted quality and exceptional service,” McBrien added. “By expanding our rapid delivery option alongside major website upgrades, we are giving customers ultimate convenience and flexibility without ever compromising on the service they expect from John Lewis.”
The upgrades and rapid service launch come 25 years since johnlewis.com came online. The website in 2001 offered 5,000 stocked products, and handled around 1,000 daily orders and 800,000 daily page impressions. Its first sale was a beech salt and pepper mill for £22.85. Today the website offers more than 300,000 products, handles an average of 55,000 daily orders, and generates an average of 1.6 million daily page impressions.
The partnership is a significant one for Deliveroo and Uber Eats, which have been pushing hard into non-food retail in recent years.
“We are thrilled to bring such a well-respected British retailer onto our platform as we continue to build a new destination for shopping,” said Jeff Wemyss, general manager for Deliveroo in the UK and Ireland.
“Whether it is last-minute homeware for a dinner party, a gift for a friend or simply a spontaneous treat, our partnership with John Lewis gives you a department store in your pocket,” he added.
Merve Basci, general manager for Uber Eats in the UK, said non-food retail on the platform was “skyrocketing” as customers turn to rapid delivery “for everything from emergency tech to gifts or treats, and we love bringing the modern magic of John Lewis straight to customers’ doors”.
The stores offering the rapid service are: Peter Jones, Oxford Street, Welwyn, Bluewater, White City, Canary Wharf, Stratford and Kingston.
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