Why John Lewis Is Looking Toward Crowdsourcing

John Lewis Partnership announced earlier this week that in order to drive supplier innovation, the company could opt for crowdsourcing as a solution.

John Lewis Procurement Director Paul Bestford told Supply Management that problems and issues could be posted on a crowdsourcing platform and a prize offered for the best solution. Additionally, there are certain areas of spend that make a direct difference to customers, and his organization believes that crowdsourcing could be a good way to solve issues in those areas.

“Where crowdsourcing works really well is you can identify a very specific problem, issue or opportunity and you post that problem on a sourcing platform and offer a prize to the person who comes up with the best solution,” he said. “That for us is a very attractive vehicle for identifying innovation quickly.”

Bestford added that there is huge potential for John Lewis to get the best value for money from the suppliers it works with. According to Bestford, his goal is to double the rate of savings return over the next five years. He understands its substantial, but next year’s goal a 20 per cent increase on this year.

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