Case study · John Lewis & Partners
Selling knives online, safely and legally
How I led the end-to-end design of a £6m-a-year proposition that lets John Lewis customers buy and return bladed items on web and app, including AI-based age estimation.
Role
Lead product designer, end to end
Platforms
Web and app
Team
15 teams, incl. 6 designers, 2 researchers, 2 copywriters
Value
£6m a year
[Placeholder: add a hero image of the journey, e.g. the age verification step on mobile]
The challenge
Knives and other bladed items can only be sold to adults. John Lewis needed a way to sell and return them online that met the law, without adding unnecessary friction for the vast majority of customers who were simply buying a kitchen knife.
The proposition was worth around £6m a year, and I reported on it to senior stakeholders including the Head of Category for Home.
My role
I led the end-to-end design across web and app. The work touched 15 teams, so a big part of my role was keeping the journey joined up: giving critique and design direction to 6 product designers, 2 researchers and 2 copywriters.
Approach
[Placeholder: the 2–3 key design decisions, e.g. where age verification sits in the journey, how AI age estimation is explained to customers, and how returns work.]
Close to launch, critical last-minute requirements emerged. I worked through them with the teams so bladed items could still launch on time for Black Friday.
Outcome
96%
of customers completed age verification
£1.4m
in immediate sales after an on-time Black Friday launch
1%
of returns led to a customer call
What I learned
[Placeholder: one or two reflections, e.g. what you’d do differently, or what this taught you about leading design across many teams.]