John Lewis launches YouTube chatshow to lift its AI search visibility
Tomas Kauer 
John Lewis is launching an online chatshow and a social media studio to make the department store chain and its products more visible to chatbots and more prominent in AI search results.
The Gift List “vodcast”, hosted by the television presenter Angela Scanlon (pictured), will air on YouTube, with clips distributed through other social media channels. The format follows the success of Dish, the podcast run by sister chain Waitrose.
Guests will discuss the good and bad presents they have given and received. The broadcaster Louis Theroux will appear on the first show. Six episodes are planned in the run-up to Christmas, with more to follow if the series takes off.
Shift in how customers find products
Peter Ruis, the outgoing managing director of John Lewis, said that a year ago 0.3 per cent of its customers were searching for products through AI large language models such as ChatGPT. That figure has since risen to 2.5 per cent, he said, with usage growing exponentially across all age groups.
Shoppers are increasingly influenced by tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini to find and recommend products, as well as by content on Instagram and TikTok. The large language models tend to prioritise third-party advice and live content when compiling their answers, which is pushing retailers to rethink how they get discovered online and to change their marketing plans.
For John Lewis, the ability to respond quickly to trends with clips of influencers or experts filmed for social media has become as important as its Christmas television advert or its “never knowingly undersold” price pledge. Examples include the opening of the British Museum’s Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, which is expected to spur interest in cross stitch, and the launch of the Harry Potter television series before Christmas.
Budget and business rates
Ruis, who leaves John Lewis on 6 September after almost three years as managing director, said the chain had to move with the times as it faced an economy that was “a bit swirly”.
He said the chancellor’s budget in October would come at a “critical period” for retailers, and that he wanted to see more help on business rates, an issue on which high street firms have been pressing for a cut in their bills.
Ruis said strong trading in the first week of September, together with recent changes including modernised cafes and sports departments, the social media push and a “toy boom”, made him optimistic about the run-up to Christmas.
John Lewis was due to publish its half-year figures in the week beginning 7 September. Ruis said it had been a “summer of winners and losers” but indicated there was now “decent momentum” as shoppers still had money to spend. The partnership reinstated its staff bonus earlier in 2026 after sales and underlying profits rose over its last financial year.
The chain recorded its highest ever sales of garden furniture, fans and air conditioning over the summer, but Ruis said it was not yet clear whether the “Burnham bounce” over the summer would last. “People are not going to splurge when you have got inflation swirling,” he said.
Departure
Ruis announced his departure in August, saying he intended to “pursue new projects”. He gave no further indication of his plans on 3 September but said there was “no misalignment” on strategy with the partnership’s relatively new chair, Jason Tarry.
“We are getting things done at pace,” Ruis said. He added that there was “never a good time” to leave but that it was “far better to leave a winning team at the top of its game and all that excitement with events next year to unveil, rather than finishing bottom of the league and running out of the door”.
Ruis said his departure did not mean he had lost confidence in the future of John Lewis. He said it was not a traditional department store reliant on fashion and beauty in the mould of Harvey Nichols, which was bought out of administration in August by Frasers Group, the retailer founded by Mike Ashley.
John Lewis sells a third of all prams and pushchairs bought in the UK, along with garden furniture and the latest technology, Ruis said, adding: “This is not stuff Harvey Nichols can sell.”
