2023 OCTOBER ISSUE
LONDON LUXURY DEPARTMENT STORE
HARRODS
OPEN IN SHANGHAI A PRESTIGE CLUB
Written by Andrew Sia
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From the Desk of the Publisher
Harrods, an iconic department store in Knightsbridge has been around for more than 160 years where you can find exclusive collections, top-notch restaurants and its outstanding customer service. Its eight-floor of shopping space showcasing the finest luxury products.
The department store was acquired by House of Fraser in 1959 and in 1985 it was purchased by the Fayed brothers. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar through its sovereign fund.
It is said to have 330 departments offering a wide range of products and services, 23 restaurants serving everything from high tea to tapas, pub food and haute cuisine. Up to 300,000 customers visit the shop on peak days. It hires 5,000 staff from over fifty countries to provide services for the highest proportion of customers from non-English speaking countries.
Since the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed, son of Mohamed Al-Fayed in August 1997, it fall out with the royal family. It went further to unveil the memorial inside Harrods for the couple in 1998. Then a second memorial was unveiled in 2005.
Harrods has over one million square feet of retail space in over 330 departments as aforesaid. By comparison, Europe’s second-largest department store, the KaDeWe in Berlin has a retail space of 650,000 square feet.
The British luxury department store Harrod had been operating in China since 2020. This time their prestige private club—Residence—is part of their strategy focusing the richest-of-the-rich in China.
Residence, a new club will be opened at the end of this year on the second floor of Cha House—a Shanghai heritage building—where a Harrods tea room and bar would open to a 250-member club to begin with. The club will be based in Cha House, built in 1920. It is targeting for ultra-high-net-worth individuals with an annual fee start at RMB150,000 or $21,000. British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s first restaurant in China’s financial and retail capital will be set up inside the club.
Residence members would be able to collect rare bottles of Scotch whisky from the premier Scotch whisky company—Edrington Group. The members would have access to the store’s global concierge services.
Harrods, owned by Qatar’s wealth fund. The group’s turnover for January 2023 was £654 million from £485 million a year ago. It recorded £17.4 million in pre-tax profit to a £118 million loss the year before.
Chinese customers contributed 16% of Harrods’ sales last year. Chinese luxury shoppers were known for their spending overseas before the pandemic, This time they turned inward as domestic offerings have grown while prices are becoming more expensive overseas. Harrods saw this coming and began to build their base in China to cater for the trend.
Chinese consumers are among the world’s most influential. It is accounted for about a fifth of the $325.4 billion global luxury market. It is now shifting to shop in China and the top global luxury brands are expanding their domestic footprints.
LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton is shifting resources out of Hong Kong to focus on mainland China. Hermès International increased their number of stores in China. Online luxury retailer Mytheresa has set up its first Asian office in Shanghai to provide on-the-ground personal shopping services to the local customers.
We have seen the increasing economic uncertainty in China as the post-COVID rebound loses momentum and youth unemployment surges. China’s economy grew slower than expected in the second quarter of the year. and worrying signs of a slowdown in consumer spending and property market have all called for alert.
Michael Ward, Harrods managing director said that Harrods is serving the top 1% of the world’s wealth. Knowing that the wealth in China will grow and it just focus on developing this relationship with the very top- of-the-top clients.
By the way, there is already a tearoom and a bar in Cha House, both are opened to the public.
Courtesy from Youtube: Harrods Shanghai Residence | Aug 4, 2021 | 7:16
Dr. Mohamed El-Refai introduces how IBM collaborates with Harrods through IBM Garage ways of working to launch their first residence in Shanghai.