It has signed a 25-year lease on the 638,000 sq feet warehouse at Magna Park. The centre is needed to handle the increase in its shops and online business.
John Lewis already has two distribution centres at Magna Park, the second of which is due to become fully operational next year.
The new third centre will handle large furniture and electricals and home furnishings, while Magna Park one and two will be responsible for handling smaller products.
Staff at four of John Lewis’s existing sites yesterday received the proposal to relocate to either the new centre or to another of the retailer’s operations in Milton Keynes.
Operations director Dino Rocos said: “As customers shopping habits evolve so too does our operational business model. The new DC will enable us to better respond, react and fulfil omnichannel shopping experiences be it via phone, tablet, desktop or visiting a shop.
‘For the supply chain this means improving availability. Our new Milton Keynes DC will complement our two Magna Park sites and provide us with the space to continue to build on the improvements we have made in providing better service to our shops and customers.”
The third distribution centre is part of the omnichannel retailer’s plans for improvements in productivity, availability and customer service as well as supporting its expansion plans.
