Following our visit to Festival City, we made our way to Harvey Nichols, located in the Mall of Emirates. We were given a guided tour of the store by Michelle Issa, Store Manager, and Ahmed Zitouni, Deputy Store Manager. Originating in London, Harvey Nichols has expanded over the years to a global up-market brand, known for its premium offerings and unparalleled customer service, Harvey Nichols Dubai certainly lived up to this standard. This particular store is the largest Harvey Nichols store outside of the UK, and the brand has partnered with the Al Tayer Group, as is required by UAE law. The customer base is 60 percent locals and 40 percent tourists, with a high demand for luxury brands amongst both customer bases. As we toured through the store Michelle showed us some of the newly renovated areas and we were told that Harvey Nichols was increasingly moving to 'shop-in-shop' concepts where brands have their own distinct area, with individualised fixturing and décor. Interestingly, Harvey Nichols spoke of their tailored product range, marketing communications, and even loyalty scheme that needed to be adapted from practice in the UK.
Although a lifestyle luxury retailer, the move to Dubai brought with it new meaning to the word 'luxury', which the market has redefined to be more about personalised indulgence in the best life has to offer. This was also noted in the clear opulence of the merchandise on offer; Michelle admitted that some of the 'very colourful' designs would simply not work in the UK and vice versa! Customer service is also key for this retailer and we learnt of the very unique services it offers; such as personalised shopping, private retreat areas and a concierge service. Michelle also explained how Harvey Nichols has a 3 tiered reward system, and as the customer moves up through the tiers, they receive higher discounts, with the top tier by invitation only. Employee reward and recognition are also very important to the retailer, and we learnt that Harvey Nichols has an extensive career progression program. From the role of sales assistant staff can be nominated by their colleagues to become brand ambassadors and are able to attend specialist events such as buyers shows. They also have an 'On the Bench' program that allows staff who has shown initiative to have a trial in a different area or in an elevated role to see if it's the right fit for them. After a period of time, if all parties agree they then move into that role permanently. After our store tour we were lucky enough to enjoy some local tea and biscuits with Michelle and Ahmed at the top floor Harvey Nichols restaurant, Almaz by Momo.
Cosmetics hall - Harvey Nichols - where the group is listening to Michelle Issa, Deputy Store Manager, talking about the various concession businesses
Michelle tells the group about Harvey's new 'store-within-a-store' concept that they are graduially rolling out for many high end brands
The extravagence of Dubai - diamond encrusted phones!
