John Lewis making a savvy move into financial products

John Lewis recently announced that – in collaboration with Nutmeg – it would be rolling out a new line of investment products, with customers who have saved during the pandemic front of mind. Data from YouGov BrandIndex and YouGov Profiles suggests it may be a savvy move.

Across a number of metrics John Lewis has registered consistently higher scores among consumers who look for profitable ways to invest their money compared to the public at large. The brand’s overall Reputation score – that looks at whether consumers would be proud or embarrassed to work for a particular company – among likely investors is 44.9 while among the overall population it sits at 41.1 (21 August 2021).

There is a more pronounced gap when it comes to other metrics. Its recent Impression score – which measure whether Britons have an overall positive or negative perception of the brand - among those interested in investment sat at 46.4 on 21 August 2021 compared to 43.8 among the general public. Looking back across the course of the pandemic, John Lewis’ peak score was considerably higher among the investors (60.8 on 23 March 2021) than the population as a whole (53.6 on 24 June 2020).

So John Lewis is a brand that is especially well-regarded among investment-curious Britons, but this group is also more likely to be commercially interested in its products. Consideration scores, which measure whether Britons would choose the brand the next time they are in the market for a product are five points higher among those looking to make profitable investments than the general public (41.9 versus 36.5 among). John Lewis may also be onto a winner in terms of upselling products – while its Current Customer score among the population as a whole is 11.0 compared to 15.2 among Britons who are interested in investment.

John Lewis is a trusted and respected high street name, but a popular retailer is not necessarily the most obvious choice for a savings account. However, by targeting a group of customers that already have a strong affinity for its products, services and brand, it could well be making a smart investment in its own future.

This article originally appeared in City A.M.