Retailer John Lewis Partnership has entered into a five-year agreement with Alphabet Inc’s Google Cloud, facilitating the utilization of cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.
The employee-owned collaboration, responsible for overseeing John Lewis department stores and the Waitrose supermarket chain, announced on Wednesday that the newly established deal, building upon a decade-long affiliation with Google Cloud, is valued at £100 million.
Expanding upon the existing partnership, a greater portion of the organization’s technology infrastructure will transition to Google Cloud.
Through this extended collaboration, the partnership anticipates benefiting from the cloud provider’s AI and ML tools, thereby enhancing workforce efficiency, affording more time to focus on customer interactions, and capitalizing on data insights to enhance the curation of products and services.
In pursuit of cost efficiencies, an increasing number of retailers are embracing automation, data analytics, and technologies like ML algorithms to deliver highly personalized shopping experiences for consumers.
Google Cloud had previously secured a similar agreement with European home improvement retailer Kingfisher in November of the preceding year.
Zak Mian, Chief Transformation and Technology Officer of the John Lewis Partnership, offered an illustrative example involving customers using an image scanning feature in their John Lewis App to share a room they intend to furnish with the company’s home design stylists.
“This not only saves customers a significant amount of time and hassle, but even before their appointment, we can derive inspiration from their unique preferences and provide tailored recommendations that complement their existing products,” he elucidated.
The partnership, having reported a loss of £234 million during the 2022-23 fiscal year, currently finds itself midway through a five-year recovery strategy. It has also indicated a potential interest in seeking external investment.
