John Lewis pins its hopes on a bumper Black Friday as it brings back its ‘never knowingly undersold’ pledge

John Lewis is pinning its hopes on a bumper Black Friday after it brought back its ‘never knowingly undersold’ pledge.

The department store owner said online searches for its Black Friday deals were up 73 per cent compared to last year thanks to its reintroduction of the historic strapline.

This follows a ‘significant surge’ in searches since the decision in September, the firm said.

E-commerce director Steve Masterton said: ‘The early signs showing interest in Black Friday are really strong and puts John Lewis as a really key player in that market.’

He expects around 12 online orders per second this weekend – up from four per second on Monday.

After cutting 100,000 prices, there has been a ‘big halo’ effect on the company, he said.

The ‘never knowingly undersold’ pledge was scrapped in August 2022, despite dating back to 1925.

Black Friday is an American shopping discount day but has been imported into the UK, with sales starting at the end of November.

Operations director Naomi Simcock added: ‘Our ambition is to establish John Lewis as the retailer of choice for Black Friday purchases.

‘We’re optimistic that our combination of outstanding range and seamless customer experience, supported by our modernised “never knowingly undersold” price promise, will help us to achieve this.’

Best-sellers include the £39 patterned wool jumper featured in its Christmas advert and its range

of towels. Technology is also expected to do well. Chief executive Nish Kankiwala has said ‘the buzz is back’ at the group, which also owns Waitrose.

There have been sorely awaited signs of progress in the retailer’s turnaround mission.

But this week consumer group Which? accused John Lewis of ‘misleading’ shoppers by exaggerating its Black Friday savings – for example by advertising discounts with a comparable higher price from months ago.

Across the entire sector, spending in shops and online is set to be 3 per cent higher than last year’s Black Friday, according to data firm Rendle Insights and Intelligence.

But sales slumped 0.7 per cent last month due to speculation over the Budget worrying consumers, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed last week.

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