Never Knowingly Undersold. The thing is, I don’t see how it can be. It’s like a bit of a disclaimer: “Well, we didn’t knowingly dump all that depleted uranium on a nursery in Baghdad but as it transpired that’s what happened. If you weren’t already aware, it’s the John Lewis slogan and it’s fairly aggressively pushed, as if it’s of vital importance to the brand’s strength.
If you undersell yourself you don’t value yourself sufficiently – or promote yourself in line with your talent or ability. A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan, political, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the public or a more defined target group. For a start, exactly how many people know what this means? All rights reserved.Our website uses cookies to improve your user experience. This is a slogan that I’ve puzzled over for some time. For a start, exactly how many people know what this means? Sorry.”Never Knowingly Undersold. The slightly awkward-sounding slogan ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ differs from many on our list for being a promise made to customers rather than an exhortation for how they should behave. Is John Lewis suggesting that it doesn’t (knowingly) undervalue itself? “We have always matched prices on a like-for-like basis including comparable terms and conditions,” maintains Suddock. Like they don’t try to make you buy things too much?“Never Knowingly…” is a bit of an ambiguous slogan too, isn’t it? “‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ today is our promise to customers on quality, price and on service,” says David Suddock, the store’s current head of buying support.This pricing policy was formulated by John Spedan Lewis, the founder of the John Lewis Partnership, and had its origins with his father (also John Lewis) who introduced it at the very first shop, which opened on London’s Oxford Street in 1864.Whilst the idea of beating all other shops on price has been an internal mantra within the company since its inception, it was first publicly expressed in the Peter Jones shop on Sloane Square in London in 1925 (before rolling out to the other shops in 1926) as a promise of the best value to customers: “If you can buy more cheaply elsewhere anything you have just bought from us, we will refund the difference.”By the 1950s, the phrase ‘We are never knowingly undersold’ started to appear on gift tokens and on other external communications including carrier bags and in shop windows, and in the 1980s, ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ was used on vehicle liveries and till receipts. These lengthy, mawkish ads have become the store’s stock-in-trade – whatever else you might think of them, they’re certainly not undersold. Like they don’t try to make … The key word is ‘undersold’. “In September 2010 we deepened our price-match promise to our customers by extending it to including online competitors who also have a high street presence.”Despite the hard work (and considerable cost) entailed in policing its price promise, John Lewis is sticking to its famous phrase, with the slogan appearing on its popular Christmas TV ads and featuring prominently throughout its branches and on its website. I looked it up and, according to John Lewis, it means that John lewis will refund the difference if you see a lower price elsewhere for something you buy in the store. A soft sell? A letter from the company’s chief information officer in 1982 articulated the continuing role of the phrase: “Although it acts as a reminder to our customers of our pricing policy, its main purpose is as a discipline upon our central buyers to ensure that in arriving at their selling prices, the best possible value is offered to our customers.”Of course, it’s far easier for customers today to compare the chain’s prices and so making good on John Lewis’s famous promise is ever-more complex. Of course, this being John Lewis, we’re legally obliged to blub whenever they come on our TVs and associated devices.Perhaps the slogan works better in relation to these ads actually. A bag from John Lewis stores from the 1970s displaying the value promise, ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ The slightly awkward-sounding slogan ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ differs from many on our list for being a promise made to customers rather than an exhortation for how they should behave. The thing is, I don’t see how it can be. “‘Never Knowingly Undersold…