British department store chain John Lewis is turning to YouTube to help its products appear in AI shopping recommendations.
The retailer has opened a permanent studio inside its flagship London store after reporting a sharp increase in searches from AI agents. Those searches now account for 2.5%, up from 0.3% a year earlier, according to Reuters. “It’s exponential, and it’s all age groups,” managing director Peter Ruis said.
Called The Box Studio, the space will produce product reviews, demonstrations and advice from shop staff, alongside videos featuring outside creators. Having the studio inside the Oxford Street store means the team can film around a new product or emerging trend within hours, John Lewis says. Digital assistants and social platforms are now its fastest-growing sources of product discovery.
Its first major production is Gift List, an interview series about giving and receiving presents, hosted by broadcaster Angela Scanlon. Documentary maker Louis Theroux appears in the opening episode. Six episodes are planned, distributed through YouTube, the retailer’s website and podcast platforms, with shorter clips for social feeds.
For John Lewis, the investment brings content production into work it had already started on AI shopping. In March, it expanded its relationship with commerce software provider commercetools to help surface products in ChatGPT and Google Gemini. It also outlined plans to let customers buy through those apps as the relevant technology becomes available in the UK.
The studio appears intended to support that effort by putting more demonstrations, advice and product conversations online, where shoppers and AI services may encounter them. Its usefulness for search marketers will depend on whether John Lewis can connect that output to recommendations and purchases, rather than just video views.
The launch announcements contain no results showing that the videos improve AI visibility. And although the reported share of AI searches has grown more than eightfold, the reporting does not explain how it was measured. It is a search figure, not AI’s share of sales.
Photo credit: John Lewis’ new Box Studio at its Oxford Street flagship store. Credit: John Lewis Partnership
Start the conversation by posting the first comment