John Lewis Partnership is the U.K.’s largest employee-owned business and a household name on the retail scene. They are an innovative, purposeful organization that puts outstanding customer service at the heart of everything they do, from one of their many high street stores, online presence or through their mobile app. In return, they enjoy a loyal and committed customer base and a first-class reputation. With the increased move to online shopping, security and a seamless checkout experience has never been more important in the merchant’s 100 years of serving its customers. John Lewis has partnered with ACI Worldwide over the last 17 years to help them deliver on this mission.
“The ACI payments optimization team supports our appetite to constantly improve acceptance rates, without exposing the partnership to additional risk or fraud.”
Katy Coull Partner and Payment Fraud Manager, John Lewis Partnership
“With the ACI Fraud Management solution, we can confidently accept our genuine customers whether they have been shopping with us for years or are visiting our online store for the very first time.”
Katy Coull Partner and Payment Fraud Manager, John Lewis Partnership
The Challenge
As the world of retail continues to transform, technology has changed the way John Lewis customers shop and interact with the household brand. To remain competitive and maintain brand strength, it was critical for John Lewis to continue to innovate and adopt technologies that align with the ever-evolving customer demands, new demographics, and shopping behaviors. This means that the online channel is strategically important. In a world of change, one thing remains constant — offering outstanding service to their customers continues to be at the heart of everything they do. These new opportunities have presented new challenges.
Backend stability was, and continues to be, a critical consideration for the retailer. During recent years, eCommerce transaction surges for many retailers have been unpredictable, particularly during the pandemic. John Lewis needed full confidence that their platform could deliver and that performance would never be impacted. This was important both from a risk and safety perspective, as well as for the customer experience.
The Solution
To enable growth and scalability, John Lewis selected the ACI Fraud Management solution to equip its business with a robust fraud orchestration technology that dynamically detects, decides and delivers faster and smarter fraud prevention strategies. Machine learning and digital ID verification and authentication were important capabilities to the retailer.
A key differentiator recognized by the retailer is the knowledge and continuous assistance of the ACI payments optimization specialist team. In addition to global consortium data, the team with sector-specific expertise supported John Lewis in anticipating and responding quickly to online threats by fine-tuning fraud strategies.
To unlock new revenue potential and longstanding successes, it was essential for John Lewis to select a vendor that shared the same values:
Cost-effectiveness — to protect the business from escalating costs, especially in the current economic climate
First-class service — to continue to deliver ‘outstanding customer service’
Strategic partnership — to enable continuous close collaboration and transparency
Innovation — to stay ahead in a continually changing landscape
The Results
John Lewis and ACI worked together to dramatically reduce the number of orders denied and challenged, increasing acceptance rates while continuing to provide robust protection against fraudulent activity.
In addition to their impressive KPIs, the retailer has never had a concern over platform stability or loss of performance — even during periods of unprecedented transaction volumes. During such times, they were able to work collaboratively with ACI to put together a strategy that allowed them to protect their manual review team and the resources they had, while still protecting the customer experience.
Close, strategic collaboration was and continues to be a key hallmark of success between the retailer and ACI. The partnership between the retailers’ internal fraud team and the payments optimization specialists at ACI is extremely important. John Lewis views the ACI payment experts as an extension of their own team, working together with their internal experts to maximize the capabilities of the platform and build an optimal strategy.
Looking ahead, innovation that helps John Lewis continue to deliver a seamless and secure customer journey remains at the forefront of the organization. The retailer’s appetite for ambitious, industry-leading KPIs and innovation will continue, as will their high expectations of their partners.
