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John Lewis Partnership aims to cut 30% from spending on consultants鈥� fees across its portfolio over the next two years, including its rapidly growing pipeline of Waitrose stores.

The 拢8.73bn turnover group鈥檚 head of construction, engineering and environment, Tony Jacob, said it is planning the move in response to an increasingly tough retail sector, with a key part of its strategy being to cut the number of firms used.

鈥淲e are aiming to cut 30% from spending on consultant鈥� fees by 2014 and, before they raise their eyes to the ceiling, it鈥檚 about improving efficiency rather than reducing fees on a like-for-like basis,鈥� he said.

The group鈥檚 target is part of a three-pronged plan to 鈥渟trip out unnecessary costs鈥� that includes not over specifying projects and tightening up procurement.

But Jacob said the 拢600m spent on store development and construction over the last four years could be replicated between now and 2016. The work will include schemes to support mobile and online retail, including call centres and distribution depots. Traditional stores will also be built across the UK, with a focus on filling in gaps in the North, Scotland and Wales

Jacob said a 鈥渉ealthy churn鈥� in John Lewis鈥� supply chain meant that work is available to firms new to the group.

Read the full interview with Tony Jacob:

John Lewis Partnership has a reputation as being one of the retail sectors鈥� friendlier clients but Jacob said that, in the current climate, it needed to toughen up.

He said: 鈥淔irst and foremost we are a business. We had a record year in 2011. That will not be repeated this year and I have had to disappoint a lot of supply chain members as a
result by telling them the work just isn鈥檛 there. We do have to make savings.鈥�

Paul Zuccherelli, director of retail at consultant Davis Langdon, said he wasn鈥檛 surprised by the move. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a reflection of what鈥檚 going on in the market at the moment. Everyone is having to cut their cloth,鈥� he said.

Alan Park of Bristol-based CDM consultant Alan Park Associates, which has worked with John Lewis since 2005, said: 鈥淩ationalising their panel of consultants across John Lewis and Waitrose and giving a higher level of work in return for lower fees just strikes me as plain commercial sense.鈥�

Despite making spending cuts and using fewer suppliers, John Lewis Partnership, and Waitrose in particular, are leading the retail pack. Waitrose is the fastest growing supermarket in the UK after a record 8.7% rise in sales in 2011 and an increase in property investment from 拢48m to 拢150m.