John Lewis to delay VAT price hike

BUY anything from John Lewis and you know, thanks to the store’s price promise, the goods are Never Knowingly Undersold.

And that guarantee will be further upheld next year, after the department store announced it will delay passing on the higher rate of VAT to its customers.

VAT is set to revert back to 17.5 per cent on January 1, but not at John Lewis, which has a store in WGC town centre.

Andrew Slater, managing director of John Lewis Welwyn, said the Never Knowingly Undersold promise ensured its prices matched or beat those of high street competitors.

To ensure it is the last to revert to the higher rate of VAT, John Lewis will not be implementing any changes until every other retailer has done so.

Mr Slater said: “Customers have always trusted John Lewis for its honest and competitive pricing and when VAT was reduced we were the market leader in implementing the price changes.

“Now VAT is going back up, we want to make sure we are the last retailer to raise prices and honour our policy of Never Knowingly Undersold.”

John Lewis is the first retailer to confirm that it will delay passing on the higher rate of value added tax to its shoppers when it reverts to 17.5 per cent on January 1.

The Government slashed VAT to 15 per cent in December last year as part of measures to tackle the economic crisis and looming recession.