John Lewis adds post-lockdown wellbeing workshops for most committed customers

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 4, 2020

One clear sign of the changing approaches that retailers are taking post-pandemic was seen on Thursday when John Lewis Partnership announced that it's linking up with health and life insurer Vitality to launch a series of free virtual workshops focused on health and wellbeing.

The new initiative is aimed only at consumers signed up to its myJohn Lewis and myWaitrose loyalty programmes and is a strong example of a retailer reaching out to engage with its most committed customers, while also offering the kind of no-strings-attached feelgood benefit that could be key in the ‘new normal’.

The company said the programme “has been created to help address some of the undesirable ‘side-effects’ of lockdown, including poor posture from lengthy spells of home working, disturbed sleep or unhealthy eating habits”.

Members are invited to book a range of free live virtual classes including help on nutrition, boosting healthy sleep patterns, family fitness, cardio sessions, and posture. 

The classes are happening every Wednesday during June and the company has its own experts sharing tips, as well as big names like Lord Sebastian Coe, Olympic swimmer Lizzie Simmonds, and Olympic Modern Pentathlete Samantha Murray.

Peter Cross, Partner & Director of Customer Experience at Waitrose and John Lewis, said: “Lockdown will have taken its toll on us all in different ways, whether it’s long hours working on an unsuitable chair in our bedrooms, unhealthy snacking, disturbed sleep or lack of proper exercise, as well as the impact on our mental health. We're really excited to be doing our bit to help and have created a broad range of content with some of the nation's superstars as well as our own in-house experts to look at wellbeing from a variety of angles — we hope that there's something here for everyone, however small.”

The workshops come after the retailer announced a partnership between its supermarket chain and Vitality earlier this year, but the inclusion of John Lewis is a major development. 

A range of other virtual services have been launched by both Waitrose and John Lewis in recent weeks, including nursery, home and styling advice services.