John Lewis has begun a trial investigating the pros and cons of bringing its parcel deliveries in-house.

However, the retailer confirmed that it will continue to use third party carriers for its parcel deliveries for the time being, despite trialling its own deliveries.

Although it is currently making small parcel deliveries using its fleet in an undisclosed area in south west London, it has no plans to take its entire parcel delivery requirements in-house at this time.

"Our parcel deliveries are completed using three main national carriers. There is absolutely no change to this," a John Lewis Partnership spokeswoman told Motortransport.co.uk.

The retailer, which holds O-licences for 1,105 trucks and 1,471 trailers for its own-account operation, currently uses Hermes among other undisclosed carriers for its parcel deliveries.

"The trial is limited and we will review it next year," the spokeswoman added.

John Lewis began work on its £97m DC in Milton Keynes in August, which it hopes will be fully operational in 2015.

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