The John Lewis Partnership has signed an agreement with Tesco to lease a 1 million sq. ft distribution centre at Fenny Lock in Milton Keynes.
The move will help the business meet growing customer demand for online orders. Since the start of the pandemic, online sales have grown from 40% to over 60% of John Lewis’s total sales.
The warehouse – leased for 11 years – will become the Partnership’s second-largest distribution centre. This is after its 2 million sq. ft campus just four miles away at Magna Park in Milton Keynes.
Commenting is Andrew Murphy, Partner and executive director of operations.
“This one-of-a-kind distribution centre represents a fantastic opportunity to power the continued growth of Johnlewis.com; ensuring that we can keep pace with customer demand – both for our products and for our wide range of fulfilment and delivery options.
“We will invest in the site’s automation capability to support future growth. And, over the next two years, we will recruit 500 new Partners to work at the distribution centre, which we plan to start operating during summer 2022.
“We will use the Fenny Lock site to fulfil customer orders for fashion, small home furnishing items and technology products. The proximity to our Magna Park campus will enable us to combine more customer orders; reducing both the number of packages we create by approximately one million per year and the number of lorries on the road, helping us to meet our target of being net-zero carbon by 2035.”
John Lewis currently uses 10 UK distribution sites to fulfil online and shop orders.
This year, the company is investing £50m in johnlewis.com and the fast-growing John Lewis app. It will also be creating more virtual services and events, with a further £100m+ to be committed to online growth throughout its five-year strategy.
Furthermore, the Partnership has signed a three-year lease agreement for a distribution centre at Bardon, Leicestershire. It will start using the distribution centre this month, in time for Black Friday. Clipper Logistics will operate the site on the Partnership’s behalf.
