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Retailer Face To Face: John Lewis & Partners
Find Keep Give To tie-in with the recent, major rebranding of John Lewis to John Lewis & Partners, the department store has rolled out a groundbreaking new own brand gifting collection - Find Keep Give - featuring John Lewis & Partners branded fragrancing, jewellery, stationery, confectionery, barware and plants, which are available both in store and online. So what’s the rationale behind the new branded giftware? PG&H spoke to Sara Allbright, buyer for Gifts and Candle Shop, about what’s giving the new collection its edge and what’s new for 2019. The most surprising thing about John Lewis & Partners’ new Find Keep Give collection is that the products are so affordable. Everything looks very expensive - beautiful quality, beautiful designs and beautiful colours – and yet, pick up an attractively boxed scented candle and it’s a steal at £12, with a complementary reed diffuser yours for £18. There are small leather goods too, with a honeycomb design gold jewellery box retailing for £25, a box of four, boxed, heavyweight ivory and gold coasters priced at £8, and an interesting array of feelgood gift books that you can’t help leafing through. And if you fancy treating a friend or yourself, you can find plenty of jewellery, a lovely plant and even a Cocoa Gin & Tonic chocolate bar! “It’s been really exciting to develop a John Lewis branded gifting proposition for our customers which we wanted to have both convenience and covetability,” explains buyer Sara Allbright who was
Top: John Lewis & Partners’ new Find Keep Give department. Right: Some of the jewellery items. Below: Customers can also shop for gift stationery.
involved in the project from the very beginning, working side by side with adjacent, individual buying offices that included Cook & Dine. “To achieve this, we have been working alongside our John Lewis partners in both India and Hong Kong to ensure that we source unique, thoughtfully designed and desirable gifts that people will be proud to gift but may find hard to give away!” She says the four collections - Gifts to Covet, Gifts to Host, Gifts to Restore and Gifts to Pause - are designed to give the customer a mix of product types for different gifting occasions and needs. “It’s a one stop shop that mixes our strengths across home and fashion, with all 10 of our trial stores having a giftwrap and debossing service as part of a new fixture concept. Online we Progressive Gifts & Home Worldwide
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