The Drapers Interview: Peter Ruis

John Lewis is not renowned as a destination store for clothing, but fashion buying chief Peter Ruis is determined to put it on the map

John Lewis fashion buying director Peter Ruis is drawing inquisitive looks from shoppers on the floor of the London Oxford Street store.

As he poses confidently for the Drapers photographer, casual observers could be forgiven for thinking the Ruis shoot is simply part of the department store's latest fashion campaign. The proceedings are certainly adding a dose of excitement and, some might say, unexpected glamour to the midweek John Lewis shopping experience.

Think of the UK high street's fashion hotspots and John Lewis does not immediately spring to mind. While the department store chain has built a reputation for quality, price and service, this has mainly driven revenue in homewares, furniture and electricals.

Nevertheless, the business has revamped its fashion offer over the past few years, albeit in a typically low-key style. The aim has been to put the fashion department firmly on the map in shoppers' minds, an intention signalled by the introduction of Peter Ruis to the new role of buying director for fashion.

His appointment this summer saw the former menswear buying director take on buying responsibilities across the men's, women's and kids' clothing offer.

Ruis is keen to point out a few facts about John Lewis's fashion credentials. "We are not embarrassed about being a homewares and electricals store, but we have a higher number of transactions in clothing and fashion than in anything else," he says. "After electricals it's the fastest growing part of the business."

According to Ruis, fashion makes up about a third of John Lewis's turnover. Clothing sales have risen 5.7% in the past 12 months. Menswear sales are up 7.6%, with womenswear up 4.2%. Joining John Lewis several years ago, Ruis brought with him a wealth of retail and brand experience, having built a career working with Levi's, Ted Baker and Marks & Spencer.

A new menswear department storefit was introduced to the Southampton branch last year, featuring more prominent branding and more coherent menswear merchandising. The concept will be rolled out to 17 of the 26 stores by next month, and work is beginning on a similar strategy for womenswear.

One of the aims in the future will be to ensure the clothing offer remains contemporary and fresh, while picking brands that strike a chord with John Lewis shoppers. "Three years ago we decided to do a little less of the classic part of the business and increase the designer part," explains Ruis.

"We might not have brands such as YSL or Daniel Hechter for men's casualwear, but there are brands such as Replay, Diesel and Fullcircle now. We've introduced Hackett and Charlie Allen on tailoring and hope to do Timothy Everest as well.

"On womenswear we now have brands including Reiss, White Stuff, Whistles, Warehouse, Principles and Noa Noa. We've introduced Fat Face and Crew Clothing, which are exclusive to us outside their own stores."

Rival brand-led department store House of Fraser is in the process of revamping its fashion offer too, with new brands and a new website. However, Ruis dismisses suggestions that there is too much competition or crossover, and adds that the John Lewis customer base is more affluent than people might think for what is perceived to be a middle-market retailer.

According to research firm Verdict, the retailer has a higher proportion of ABC1 shoppers than any of its rival department stores, and Ruis believes there is more crossover with the likes of Selfridges and Harvey Nichols than House of Fraser or Debenhams in terms of disposable income. The resurgence of Marks & Spencer has not gone unnoticed by Ruis, who pragmatically believes the effect has been mainly positive, bringing more middle-market shoppers back to the high street.

The impact of supermarkets and value retailers in the fashion arena has been most keenly felt by John Lewis in kidswear. The business has avoided the mega-day Sales and discounting of some of its rivals, but can still associate itself with value for money in the eyes of shoppers thanks to its "never knowingly undersold" promise.

Ruis says: "We've always had a lot of premium product, but there's also more value-oriented merchandise and some entry price points have come down, especially on basics such as polos and T-shirts. But that's more of a reaction to what's happening in the market in general."

The inclusion of brands such as Replay, Diesel and Fullcircle suggests there are newer, more fashion-savvy customers now looking at John Lewis. However, Ruis says the plan is essentially to encourage "cross-shopping" with existing customers.

"Ted Baker will sell to slightly younger customers, in their 20s and upwards, which maybe we didn't have before," he says. "But we're trying to persuade customers who may be coming in to buy an iPod to look at the fashion too."

The development of John Lewis's fashion offer has not been overtly radical or innovative, but with no impatient private equity investors or shareholders making demands, it does not need to be. According to Ruis, John Lewis shoppers most identify with the business model of independent retailers – an observation that has helped to develop the department store's fashion offer.

"People love shopping at an independent retailer," he says. "You know the retailer loves the collections and the owner has a passion. We can offer that kind of experience, but with more product. Like an independent retailer, ours is an edited offer of these brands. Our customers want us to buy into collections and edit them well. I might say 'I like Levi's for the denim, but I don't necessarily want to buy into the rest of the range'. Sometimes it isn't right to sell a total lifestyle."

A large part of this attitude is reflected in the structure of the business, which is owned by its 68,000 or so employees in a partnership model. "That's our point of difference," says Ruis. "We want to be different. All the staff are John Lewis employees, or 'partners', rather than brand staff. They spend time with the brands and are trained through the brands' roadshows.

There are no concessions. Our staff will sell something because it looks good, not because they get commission from it."

One of Ruis' other aims is to develop the own-label side of the business. The retailer has had phenomenal success with its own brand electricals, which were introduced a couple of years ago. On clothing, the own-brand portfolio has been streamlined to two womenswear sub-brands, JL and John Lewis, while the menswear consists of JL, John Lewis and Guise, although the Guise casualwear brand will soon be renamed JL, according to Ruis.

"There's so much equity in the John Lewis name, and there's such a loyalty to the brand," he explains. "Our own-label business represents about 27% of our total fashion sales, and I'd like to see it grow to about 35% over the next three years."

Shoppers may not find the John Lewis brand as attractive in fashion as they do on electricals, but Ruis is confident of its potential. "We had a bigger business in menswear, so it has developed more quickly and now makes up about 30% of menswear sales," he explains. "Own brand comprises 17% of womenswear sales, but has seen double-digit growth over the past six months. Own-label footwear has the biggest potential."

He adds that womenswear accessories are performing well, and a new jewellery area, featuring new backdrops, fittings and colour schemes, is to be trialled in November in its stores in Cambridge and Cheadle in Cheshire.

Culturally and operationally, John Lewis has moved on in the past five years. A team of more than 100 merchandisers has been recruited, where just two years ago all such responsibilities were handled largely by the buying team.

Three years ago, all John Lewis buyers were home-grown. Now staff have been recruited from the likes of Coast and Burton, with Ruis's varied CV a prime example of the recruitment modus operandi.

John Lewis is beginning to shout about its new-found fashion confidence. It has launched an in-store promotion outlining 10 key looks and products for autumn. Images showing the trends have been placed next to relevant items and on the back-wall displays. The retailer has plans to run a similar campaign next spring.

"We wanted to do something that talked about fashion without being preachy," explains Ruis. "We wanted to say 'here are 10 fashionable looks for John Lewis customers'. The days when there was one big look are gone. The breadth of our offer means that you can buy into the look at something like the level of MaxMara, or go for our own brand."

So far the department store group has not been particularly proactive in its use of media or advertising for its fashion offer. However, Ruis hints that this could soon change; he has recently taken on an ad agency to work on a print campaign, with future plans possibly embracing TV ads.

John Lewis may lack the in-store theatre of Selfridges, the luxury equity of Harvey Nichols, and the marketing and merchandising innovation that lay behind the Designers at Debenhams tie-ups, but the retailer's 'easy does it' attitude is making impressions where it counts.

It is consistently bucking the high street trading trends – earlier this month, the business reported a 51% surge in profits to £146 million for the first half of the year. Sales at John Lewis stores were up 6.1% to £1.14 billion, with total sales up 6.7% to £3.2bn.

John Lewis and Ruis are well set to develop fashion's contribution to the business even further. At least 10 more stores are planned over the next five years, including its first Irish store. Sales at home shopping arm John Lewis Direct rose 42% to an estimated £130m in the first half of the year, and a significantly enlarged fashion offer has just been launched online, featuring new brands and audio commentaries, including fashion advice from the design team.

"With online we will have to see where the sweet spots are and develop it as we go," says Ruis. "But as far as the fashion business is concerned, all the hardest bits have been done. We're just improving the A to Z from merchandising to design.

"We are only a 26-store business and our market share on clothing is increasing, so when we inch towards 45 stores it means almost 50% of extra trading space in places where we don't yet have a presence. Which means there is no reason why we can't have a bigger share of the fashion market."