This is not an M&S turnaround…yet

In the collective mind of the press, the John Lewis Partnership and Marks & Spencer are in a constant battle for the hearts and wallets of the well-to-do classes.

In reality, they don’t always compete. Waitrose’s main rival is other big supermarkets, not M&S, for instance.

And there are millions of Britons who are blissfully unaware of this tussle for their pounds, since they happily go to both.

Tomorrow, we get the latest round in the JLP v M&S fight, with JLP’s half-year results.

After a tough few years, it is fair to say there’s been a shift in sentiment towards JLP, from both media and customers.

The Telegraph the other day praised boss Jason Tarry as a “quick learner” who is “winning hearts and minds”.

A link up with Topshop to target Gen Z was also well received.

The good news here for JLP and the high street in general is that investing in stores and customer service seems to work.

Someone should tell the banks.

Insiders agree there is much more to do. The risk must be that after being talked up, there’s a wobble somewhere, and it gets talked back down again.

The media’s interest in the two companies means it tends to exaggerate both good news and bad.

When things are bad, everything is seen through the prism of criticism.

And when things are on the up, there isn’t enough analysis of how far below peak form they are. We just love a turnaround story. 

M&S had any number of false dawns when modest improvements were hailed as a renaissance, while chaos continued in the background.

City retail watchers say that is where JLP is just now – it’s better, but it hasn’t quite had the massive step change that allowed M&S to sail through its recent cyber-attack.

A few years ago, that would have been seen as M&S screwing up. Instead, the narrative was that it had handled a tricky situation well.

One analyst says: “In Formula One terms, JLP – a once great team – may have unlapped themselves, but they are still tugging along at the back.”

That seems a bit harsh. I expect the commentary tomorrow to be more along the lines of giving credit where it is due and for the company to say it’s doing better than the overall market.

One hindrance for JLP is that it spends less on marketing than M&S and others. Since it has no shareholders, it needs to preserve cash. Indeed, it has £1 billion of it.

Maybe it should spend at least some of that on a big newspaper ad campaign.

That might dispel any lingering press doubts about the direction of travel.

Please send candidates for press release of the day to:

Simon.english@roxhillmedia.com