Some have opted to sell online in parallel to their bricks and mortar presence but that has tended to undermine sales; if they offer lower prices people never visit the shop but if they don't customers go elsewhere.

John Lewis's hope is that it can mix the two worlds up, offering high levels of customer service - still a major worry for some when buying certain items from faceless online vendors - with sometimes slightly higher prices.

Orthodoxy says they will fail but there is plenty of evidence that many consumers will pay more if they feel they are insuring themselves against a retailer's indifference should the product not perform as expected.