John Lewis products to be sold online

LONDON (Reuters) - Retailer John Lewis Partnership on Sunday said it plans to start selling non-food products from its John Lewis department stores through its Waitrose supermarket's website.

The move will expand Waitrose's range of non-food items online, allowing it to compete more closely with rivals Tesco (TSCO.L), Sainsbury (SBRY.L), Morrison (MRW.L) and Asda, the company said.

"Working in collaboration with John Lewis and having their products as part of our range will... give us a real opportunity to rival our four main competitors," Waitrose managing director Mark Price said in a statement.

Waitrose will from Tuesday sell John Lewis and Waitrose-branded kitchen and homeware products through its website as part of an effort to foster closer collaboration between the two businesses, the company said.

On Thursday, John Lewis' store at the Bluewater shopping complex in Kent, south-east England, will open a Waitrose-branded food hall, increasing the collaboration between the two businesses, it added.

(Reporting by Myles Neligan; Editing by Hans Peters)