Never knowingly downloaded

The announcement by John Lewis that it has extended its range of services to customers by launching its first own-branded broadband service marks yet another stage in the delivery of multi-service retailing by the multiples. 

Broadband has become a commodity purchase in its own right over the last two years, more in keeping with the supermarket shelf than anywhere else. But aside from selling us consumer electronics, what track record or expertise does John Lewis Partnership have in the sector that would make us, as consumers, favour them over another more specialised broadband provider? And does that matter anyway? 

The answer is, it’s all in the brand. The reputations of some of the pure broadband providers have become tarnished by perceptions of them being fly-by-night: offering higher downloads speeds than they actually deliver, farming consumers out to distant call centres or providing questionable levels of customer service.

John Lewis and other mulitples may be buying their broadband wholesale from one of the mainstream broadband providers, but consumers can be reassured that they, at least, are dealing with a reliable and trusted source. And they don’t come more trusted than John Lewis.

In the UK Customer Satisfaction Awards 2011, John Lewis was named Britain’s Most Trusted Organisation while also being voted Britain’s favourite retailer for the fourth consecutive year. But herein lies a potential pitfall. While the John Lewis brand encapsulates service in its retail promise, how will its service guarantee work when they are reliant on a third party to deliver the broadband infrastructure? If they are not completely in control over what they are delivering and something were to go awry, would this match consumers’ existing expectations of a John Lewis service? And if it did, would this undermine perceptions of the John Lewis brand across its portfolio? 

The company starts from a strong position, though. Already they have consumer trust and the belief among their target base that they are not going to be ripped off by a John Lewis proposition. All they need to do is carry across their “Never Knowingly Undersold” price promise, make sure the broadband speed is good and that the customer service up to scratch and they could be onto a winner. One suspects that if they didn’t think they could deliver that, they wouldn’t have taken the plunge in the first place.