John Lewis partners with Australian department store Myer as part of international drive

John Lewis is expanding its international footprint by opening shop-in-shops in Australian department store Myer and increasing the countries served by johnlewis.com from 33 to 40.

The first shop-in-shop will open in Myer's newly refurbished Warringah store in the outskirts of Sydney before Christmas. This will be followed by additional openings in Melbourne, Perth, Bondi, Chadstone, and Myer's flagship store in Sydney in February 2017.

The departments will range from 600 sq ft and 850 sq ft in size and will house “the best of John Lewis's own brand home and lifestyle products” across bed, bath, and living. Once open, John Lewis will have 30 shop-in-shops worldwide.

Myer deputy CEO and chief merchandise and customer officer Don Bracken said it was “excited to exclusively offer Myer customers the first opportunity in Australia to shop the John Lewis brand in a tailor-made lifestyle concept.” “John Lewis is a trusted brand and their homewares collections have built up a very large and loyal following within the UK and internationally,” Bracken added.

In addition the British department store will now ship to Hong Kong, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Switzerland, The Philippines and Malaysia from its website, which has experienced a 50% increase in international sales in the past 12 months.

The most popular items for international customers are homewares, and in particular bed linen, but British fashion brands are also popular overseas including Joules, Jigsaw and Phase 8.

“We're delighted to be expanding our international presence and bringing John Lewis to new countries around the world, both through physical collaborations and by expanding our online international delivery destinations,” said John Lewis head of international development Katie Jordan.

John Lewis has 46 shops in the UK, 12 of which at John Lewis at Home stores. Myer has 60 stores across Australia.