Former M&S marketing boss Anna Braithwaite replaces Charlotte Lock as John Lewis chief customer officer.
Following a four-year stint as clothing and home marketing director at Marks & Spencer, Anna Braithwaite is joining John Lewis as chief customer officer, starting on 1 October.
She will be responsible for leading John Lewis’s brand and marketing across all channels, involving customer experience, loyalty and creative and content teams, reporting to managing director Peter Ruis.
Braithwaite replaces Charlotte Lock, who left the John Lewis Partnership for a new role as director of audiences at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The business has been without a chief customer officer since her departure in January.
This isn’t Braithwaite’s first experience John Lewis. She started her career at the retailer as a graduate, working her way up to the role of manager for brand marketing.
Her almost 12 years at John Lewis were followed by senior marketing positions at Jacques Vert, Hobbs London, Tesco and F&F clothing, before joining M&S as marketing director in 2021.
Ruis described himself as “thrilled” by Braithwaite’s return to the business.
“Her understanding of the John Lewis brand and her laser focus on the needs of customers makes her the ideal person to lead our customer and marketing strategy,” he added.
Reflecting on her new position, Braithwaite is looking forward to joining the retailer “at such a pivotal time”, describing John Lewis as being “synonymous with exceptional customer service, quality and value”.
The retailer brought back its ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ price promise last year after a two-year break, price matching against 25 retailers in a bid to boost value perceptions. Following the relaunch of the price pledge, John Lewis’s Christmas ad achieved its highest effectiveness score this decade with a 4.6 star rating on System1.
Ruis described the return of Never Knowingly Undersold as a “catalyst” for the retailer’s turnaround in the second half of 2024. The John Lewis Partnership tripled its annual profits in the 12 months to 25 January 2025, from £42m to £126m in profit before tax and exceptional items.
Since the start of 2025, the retailer has ramped up its presence in the homewares market, launching a home-focused publication after its home customers grew by 11% last year.
Over at M&S, food marketing director Sharry Cramond will transition to take over clothing and home marketing responsibilities, with the brand recruiting for a replacement to lead food marketing.
While the business is still recovering from a cyber attack resulting in a £300m profit hit, M&S has enjoyed success in recent years. The retailer was awarded Marketing Week’s Brand of the Year in 2024 and has worked to drive style perceptions as part of its ‘Reshaping for Growth’ strategy.
During her time at M&S, Braithwaite led the launch of an ITV partnership, a curated clothing store in Battersea and celebrity collaborations with the likes of Sienna Miller.
Last month, the retailer claimed quality and style perceptions have increased and M&S is now ranked “second for style” versus sixth in 2022. The company’s brand value also increased by 38% in 2024 versus the previous year, taking it to $2.47bn (£1.85bn), according to Kantar’s 2024 BrandZ ranking.
