Investing for customers and on track for full year profit growth

• Partnership sales¹ grew to £6.2bn, an increase of 4% year-on-year
• Customer satisfaction at its highest recorded level. Both Waitrose and John Lewis outperformed their respective markets in the period
• Cash generated from operations² was £177m, a £30m increase year-on-year
• Investment increased to £191m in the half, with significant uplift planned in the second half
• Loss before tax and exceptionals³ of £34m, stepped back from last year due to non-like-for-like taxation costs and a planned step up in investment costs

The John Lewis Partnership has begun its biggest ever seasonal recruitment campaign, as it invests in its award winning customer service to meet anticipated demand during the ‘golden quarter’.

Some 13,700 seasonal roles are now being recruited for, including 3,000 across 35 John Lewis branches, 8,500 within Waitrose 315 shops and nearly 2,200 across the retailer’s distribution centres and supply chain network.

This significant recruitment for seasonal roles is a direct result of the Partnership’s wider investment in strengthening its customer service and experience – including the opening of its first new Waitrose stores in six years, and an £800m in John Lewis including the transformation of its beauty halls.

The efforts are already paying off: John Lewis was recently named Retailer of the Year by Which? – with judges recognising its “great value for money and first-class customer service”. Similarly, in the 2025 Customer Service Institute it became the highest-rated retailer in the UK.

Meanwhile, Waitrose recently scooped The Grocer Awards for both Service and Availability, after winning 20 of the ‘store of the week’ awards across the year.

John Lewis is commencing the national rollout of its immersive, multi-sensory Beauty Halls, backed by a multi-million-pound investment designed to transform its stores into beauty discovery destinations.

This initiative begins with the reopening of the John Lewis Liverpool Beauty Hall. The Liverpool store is the first of six Beauty Halls scheduled for transformation this year and will serve as the blueprint for the national expansion, which includes a new partnership with Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty.

This significant investment is part of a broader £800m commitment to the John Lewis brand. It coincides with a period of substantial growth in John Lewis’s beauty category, which has seen sales increase by over 40% in the last five years, attracting new customers both in-store and online, and driving customer frequency.

The new concept moves beyond the traditional counter-based model, creating expansive, sensory spaces where customers can discover new brands, learn from trusted experts, and experience products through treatments and consultations. This focus on service and social shopping journeys is designed to create a truly integrated experience, where the sensory world of the stores and the convenience of digital channels complement one another.

The reimagined Liverpool Beauty Hall has been expanded by almost 40% to 16,000 sq ft. It now houses 132 premium brands, features 23 new or expanded counters, and introduces exclusive brands to the city for the first time, including Trinny London, Byredo, and Maison Francis Kurkdjian.

John Lewis are excited to share their new brand campaign, celebrating 100 years since our ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ promise was first introduced in 1925.

This multi-media campaign, created with Saatchi & Saatchi, features a stunning 100-second film directed by Kim Gehrig, set to a custom track covered by Mike Skinner. It’s a vibrant ode to Britain, capturing the past, present, and future John Lewis has inspired and served.

The film showcases 100 actors and 100 iconic John Lewis products, drawing from our extensive archives to highlight the cultural moments we’ve shaped. From classic moments to modern trends, “Tableau” beautifully illustrates how John Lewis remains as relevant today as ever.

John Lewis’ ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ promise is a cornerstone of our brand, ensuring our customers always receive the value and quality they trust us for. This campaign is a true celebration of that enduring commitment. Then. Now. Always.

Ever wished you knew the interview questions before an interview? Well, at the John Lewis Partnership, your wish is our command!

In 2024, we decided to do something a little different: we published our interview questions for everyone to see. No more guessing games, just fairness and transparency – for ALL. So, why did we do it?

Our decision to open up about our interview questions was not just a strategic move but one with our core values and a desire to create the best possible candidate experience for everyone at heart. Here’s why we published them:

1. Level the Playing Field: We want everyone to have a fair shot, regardless of their background or how much interview experience they have. By publishing the questions, we help demystify the process and reduce anxiety, making it easier for all candidates to prepare effectively.
2. Get to know the real you: When you know the questions, you can focus on truly demonstrating your skills, experience, and how well you’d fit in with our culture, rather than trying to guess what we’re looking for.
3. Staying true to our values: Transparency, fairness, and respect are huge for us as an employee-owned business. Publishing our questions perfectly aligns with who we are.
4. Attract the right people: Being upfront about what we ask means you can figure out if our challenges and culture are a good fit for you. This helps us find people who genuinely connect with the Partnership.
5. Smarter hiring for everyone: Believe it or not, this actually makes our recruitment process more efficient. If you realise early on that we’re not the right fit for you, it saves your time.

What Does This Mean for You?

Of course, when we made the decision, it was you, the candidate we had in mind. Having the questions readily available means:

• Less Stress, More Confidence: Seriously, knowing what’s coming can drastically reduce those pre-interview jitters. You’ll walk in feeling more prepared and confident.
• Supercharge Your Prep: This isn’t about memorising answers. It’s about giving you the chance to think deeply about your experiences and craft thoughtful, well-articulated responses that truly showcase your skills and potential.
• A Truly Fair Chance: Everyone gets the same opportunity to shine. You don’t need insider tips or extensive networking to be prepared.
• Understand What We Value: The questions themselves offer clues about our core competencies and values. This insight helps you decide if the John Lewis Partnership is the right cultural fit for you.
• Boost Your Performance: Better preparation naturally leads to a better interview performance, increasing your chances of success.

The Interview Questions

Now that you know why we do it, let’s talk about how you can use this transparency to your advantage. Our published interview questions are categorised by the level of role you’re applying for. Click on each of the below titles to view the questions for that particular category:

• Leading Self – for our roles that do not involve managing others (e.g. no People Management responsibilities like our shop floor roles).
• Leading Partners – for our roles that lead people (e.g. Managers of people).
• Leading Leaders – for our roles that lead leaders of the Partnership (e.g. People Managers of those with their own teams to manage).
• Leading the Partnership – for our roles that have responsibility for leadership at organisational level (e.g. Senior Leaders, Heads of, Directors).

On Saturday 26th April, we marked 75-years since John Spedan Lewis, the Partnership’s Founder, signed the Second Trust Settlement, which transferred ownership of the business to Partners, cementing the co-ownership model we know today.

The Settlement came into effect on 26 April 1950, 21 years after the First Trust Settlement, which saw Spedan transfer shares in John Lewis, Peter Jones and Odney to trustees. Any profits were to pass straight to the trustees for distribution among the employees, rather than to himself, and established the John Lewis Partnership. The Second Trust Settlement saw him transfer all his remaining shares and hand ultimate control to a new company, John Lewis Partnership Trust Limited, whose trustees include the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and the three Trustees of the Constitution.

“The Second Trust Settlement marks the moment that, at 21 years of age, and after facing into years of wartime difficulties, the Partnership experiment was entering maturity,” explains Imogen Livesley, Partnership Archivist. “The Settlement stands as an extraordinary gift to Partners and serves as Spedan’s swansong in his career-long endeavour to create Partnership for All.”

Today, Spedan’s vision is expressed by the phrase ‘We All Own It’, which defines the Partner Difference and what makes being a Partner in our co-owned business special.

Speaking to the Gazette (our weekly internal publication), Johnny Aisher, Trustee, alongside Trustees Baiju Naik and Matthew Street, added: “It is a wonderful testament to Spedan’s vision that his experiment has lasted so long and is increasingly inspiring other businesses to adopt similar co-ownership models. It’s also brilliant that, as with our Elected Directors, any Partner can stand to be a Trustee and share the privilege of protecting what we have so fortunately inherited for those hundreds of thousands of Partners who will come after us.”

The Partnership’s Second Trust Settlement: Five Facts

• The Second Trust Settlement was seven years in the making.

• It was signed in the boardroom at 35 Cavendish Square, London.

• Enid Lockett, who was instrumental in its creation, was an early female lawyer, and the first female barrister to be instructed in a murder case in the UK.

• Enid addressed Central Council, saying: “The Partnership now in essence and in fact belongs to all employed in it, and in return for this gift the Chairman has received not one penny. Its future success depends on all who work in it and thereby own it” (reported in the Gazette on 24 June 1950).

• It was calculated that the 12,000 Deferred Ordinary Shares that Spedan signed over were worth over £100,000, which is roughly around £3 million today.