A Comparison between Harrods and Harvey Nichols through my visit to them

 I visited Harrods and Harvey Nichols; both of them are located in Knightsbridge, London, as an assignment of the Luxury Brand Management course at Bayswater College London. Following the objectives they set, I would like to write down my thoughts.

Harvey Nichols

Inside Harvey Nichols

 To start, I walked into Harvey Nichols. This department store looked more modern styled than Harrods, like displaying digital signages. What I found there is that every floor is open, which makes customers not feel oppressed and easily visit stores from one to another. Also, it has a characteristic in the lineup of brands, curated, cutting-edge and contemporary brands like Khaite and Odd Muse, which appeals to customers who seek modern and fashionable items. For customer personas, I saw some customers wore more trendy fashion like that which matches the concept of the department store, and they seemed to enjoy window shopping considering the atmosphere in there, comfortable and easy to look around. In addition, the staff were friendly; a doorkeeper smiled at me when he opened a door for me, and shop staff talked to me when I was looking around the stores. That made me feel it was comfortable to go shopping, even though it was just window shopping. If I have to say, when I visited its site and clicked the shop map to check what shops they had; it had no description of what stores were in the Contemporary Designers section. That is unhelpful for future customers who want to visit that store because there is no information about their brands on the Internet: you have to check a specific brand on your own. It can be their tactic that they want customers to visit the store and find out what’s happening in there like a surprise; however, it’s not a friendly UI.

One of the digital sinages at HN

Harrods

Egyptian-themed decour 

 Secondly, I visited Harrods, which is only 5minutes away by walk from Harvey Nichols. Established in 1824 at Southwark, they’ve provided not only luxury products but also luxury lifestyles to generations. Inside the store is a covered opulent interior; one section is themed in Ancient Egypt, which I personally feel is a tad too elaborate nowadays. On the ground floor, luxury brand shops such as Chanel, Hermès and so on stand in the open space which, like Harvey Nichols, is easy to reach a store. 

At Hermès on the first floor

 On the first floor, each boutique is secluded, and the atmosphere there is calmer than on the ground floor, which makes the staff provide more personalised service and spare more time with a client. The customers wear more traditional clothes compared to Harvey Nichols, which is considerable given the difference in the main target. However, due to its popularity and despite the size, Harrods was more crowded than Harvey Nichols, so I think the very important customers prefer receiving the service on the first floor or higher floors, avoiding any disturbance. The line-up of the brands is traditional and well-established: Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada and so on, which appeal to people who seek high-end products.  Although it provided the elegant atmosphere, I was surprised when I passed by a store in the Beauty Hall. I was talked to by the staff “Xie Xie”,　which could be considered a rude, discriminatory manner. You should speak English first unless they say they prefer another language if you could speak.

 Visiting both places, I found each department store had different marketings to reach to current and future customers. Harvey Nichols provides new and trendy luxury lifestyles while Harrods offering a vast and traditional luxury shopping experience.