What: Gerry Mallon joins John Lewis Money as the retailer expands its role in insurance, credit, and customer financing.

Why it is important: This move shows how retailers are using financial services to deepen loyalty, generate incremental spend, and diversify customer engagement beyond core retail transactions. 

John Lewis Money has appointed Gerry Mallon, the former Tesco Bank chief executive, as an independent director. Mallon brings extensive experience in retail banking, including leadership roles at Tesco Bank and Ulster Bank, and will support John Lewis Money as it builds its position in financial services.
The division provides products including insurance, credit cards, point-of-sale credit, and foreign currency services to John Lewis and Waitrose customers. It has recently become an FCA-regulated insurance and credit broker, giving it greater control over the design and delivery of its customer proposition. According to John Lewis Money director Amir Goshtai, Mallon’s expertise will help the business develop services that create convenience, value, and confidence for customers. The appointment reflects John Lewis Partnership’s wider effort to strengthen customer relationships beyond traditional retail. By expanding regulated financial services, the group can increase loyalty, support incremental spend, and diversify its customer engagement model across both John Lewis and Waitrose.

IADS Notes: John Lewis Money’s appointment of Gerry Mallon fits into a broader transformation agenda linking financial services, loyalty, customer trust, and retail growth. According to Drapers in September 2025 , John Lewis was investing in technology, financial services, and customer engagement despite pressure from higher regulatory costs, suggesting that adjacent services were becoming part of its strategy to improve profitability and retention. In March 2026, a John Lewis Partnership press release framed this direction within a wider push for operational improvement, digital capability, and customer-focused modernisation. Drapers reported in May 2026 that John Lewis was expanding its MyJL loyalty programme through rewards, services, and exclusive experiences, reinforcing its effort to deepen relationships with shoppers. Against this backdrop, Retail Week’s July 2026 report on Mallon’s appointment shows how John Lewis Money’s growth as an FCA-regulated insurance and credit broker extends the same logic into financial services, using trust, convenience, and customer data to support incremental spend across John Lewis and Waitrose.

Former Tesco Bank boss joins John Lewis Money

What: John Lewis Partnership has appointed Kevel to power an on-site retail media platform across John Lewis and Waitrose, using first-party data, self-service tools, and ROPO measurement.

Why it is important: John Lewis’s ROPO measurement closes a key retail media gap by linking online advertising to in-store purchases, helping brands better assess full-funnel impact.

John Lewis Partnership has appointed Kevel to power its on-site retail media network across John Lewis and Waitrose, strengthening its ability to offer targeted, measurable advertising to brand partners. The new AI-powered, API-first platform uses the Partnership’s first-party data to deliver advanced audience targeting, native ads, and sponsored listings across both websites. Self-service tools will allow brands to launch custom campaigns more quickly, while phased rollout plans include display placements followed by sponsored product ads later this year. A key innovation is the introduction of ROPO measurement, which links online ad exposure to in-store purchases using data such as loyalty card activity. This helps brands understand whether digital retail media drives offline sales, closing a long-standing measurement gap. Combined with Epsilon’s off-site advertising and in-store digital screens, the Kevel partnership positions John Lewis and Waitrose to build a more integrated, full-funnel retail media proposition across online, offline, and external channels.

IADS Notes: Retail Week in July 2025 reports that John Lewis Partnership expanded its retail media capabilities through Epsilon, using first-party data from both John Lewis and Waitrose to extend advertising beyond owned websites into streaming services and external consumer sites. Retail Week in November 2025 details the launch of a premium in-store retail media proposition, including high-impact screens connected to the retailer’s store transformation strategy. MBS in July 2025 explains how retail media is evolving from an e-commerce add-on into a strategic revenue stream, driven by first-party data, measurable ROI, and the ability to connect advertising to purchase decisions. Retail Detail in June 2025 shows how Delhaize combines loyalty data and standardized KPIs to deliver measurable brand lift and sales growth, providing a benchmark for closed-loop retail media measurement. Internet Retailing in June 2026 argues that retail media must move beyond activation and formats to become embedded in wider media planning, with stronger measurement, transparency, and accountability. Breuninger’s September 2025 launch of new retail media formats and a self-service platform provides a comparable department store example of self-service tools, audience ads, and first-party data targeting through a customer data platform. John Lewis Partnership’s March 2026 full-year results provide the wider transformation context, including investment in digital capabilities, customer experience, operational excellence, and long-term retail modernization. These sources show that the Kevel partnership extends John Lewis’s retail media strategy toward owned on-site infrastructure, advanced targeting, self-service activation, and closed-loop measurement across online and in-store journeys.

John Lewis strengthens  its retail media offer

What: El Palacio de Hierro transforms its Guadalajara store with a 980 million peso renovation, more than 1,400 brands, and a culturally rooted “Community Stores” concept.

Why it is important: The project shows how regional flagships can combine luxury expansion, local identity, and experiential design to strengthen destination appeal and customer engagement.

El Palacio de Hierro has completed a major transformation of its Guadalajara store, investing 980 million pesos to modernize more than 33,000 square meters in Zapopan, Jalisco. The renovated flagship now features over 1,400 brands, including major luxury houses and several first-time arrivals in Jalisco, strengthening the store’s role as a regional luxury hub. The project follows the group’s “Community Stores” model, incorporating architectural and design references inspired by Guadalajara, Tequila, Tonalá, Chapala, Guachimontones, agave, mariachi, and local artistic identity. It also includes works by Jalisco artists, reinforcing the store’s connection to regional culture. Beyond retail, the renovation has maintained more than 1,100 direct jobs and generated 1,500 indirect jobs during remodelling. The project reflects El Palacio de Hierro’s broader strategy of combining flagship modernisation, luxury partnerships, omnichannel strength, and experiential design to create culturally rooted destinations that attract customers and reinforce long-term relevance.

IADS Notes: El Palacio de Hierro’s 980 million peso transformation of its Guadalajara store reinforces the retailer’s strategy of using flagship modernisation, luxury brand expansion, and local cultural identity to strengthen regional relevance. The project, which introduces more than 1,400 brands and brings several luxury houses to Jalisco for the first time, builds on the group’s broader 4D strategy of digitalisation, differentiation, diversification, and design, aimed at creating the “department store of the future” (Fashion Network, May 2026). Its strong 2025 performance, supported by a 22% increase in digital sales and continued luxury portfolio expansion, shows how omnichannel capabilities and exclusive brand partnerships have strengthened the retailer’s competitive position (Modaes, March 2026). Q1 2026 revenue growth further confirmed the resilience of its diversified model across commercial, credit, and real estate divisions (Fashion Network, May 2026). The Guadalajara renovation also echoes the legacy of flagship investment under Juan Carlos Escribano, which established El Palacio de Hierro as a key gateway for international luxury brands in Mexico (Modaes, January 2026). By combining regional architecture, local artists, employment impact, and premium assortments, the store extends the company’s experiential retail playbook, already visible in immersive brand collaborations such as the Dolce & Gabbana café in Perisur (Fashion Network, July 2025).

El Palacio de Hierro transforms its Guadalajara store with more than 1,400 brands