Harrods Customer Experience: Brand Audit and Strategy Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of Harrods' customer experience, focusing on brand positioning, key customer demographics, and relevant customer attitudes. It explores Harrods' shift towards engaging millennials, moving from a heritage-focused approach to a more innovative customer experience. The report assesses the company's marketing and promotional activities, brand statements, and conducts a brand audit to evaluate its current performance, values, and strategic positioning. It also touches upon the company's mission, vision, and competitive pricing policies, highlighting its efforts to maintain a strong brand image and customer satisfaction in the luxury retail market. The analysis includes a review of web analytics and social data to understand customer decision-making and the impact of online presence on Harrods' brand perception.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Brand idea and positioning..........................................................................................................3
Key customers and their frequency.............................................................................................4
Relevant attitudes.........................................................................................................................5
Statements depict about the brand...............................................................................................5
Audit............................................................................................................................................6
Models and theories.....................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Customer experience is defined as the interaction between the brand and target customer
base. This report is based on the case study of Harrods Company in respect to its customer
experiences. Company is a retail sector based private organisation. It started its business
operations in the year 1849 by the founder Charles Henry Harrod. Headquarter of the company is
located in London, United Kingdom. Company deals in quality and luxury goods. In this report
different aspects related to customer experience will be projected. Henceforth, report will
emphasis about the brand and where it stands in market as per the current position of company.
On the basis of the product demand who is the key customers of company will also analyse in
this report. Factors that influence customer to buy company’s products will also assess in this
report. Furthermore, report will also emphasis on the approaches of company towards attracting
its target customer base. Brand audit will also conduct in this report. Model and theories will also
provide to identify about the customer experience.
MAIN BODY
Brand idea and positioning
Harrods is a luxury store situated in Knightsbridge, London, England and is mainly
regarded as a store for extremely rich and important people. The fact that the store was a warrant
holder for the royals in UK until 2000 always kept the store in limelight. The entire store is
spread throughout the expanse of 5 acres having 330 departmental stores. The motto of Harrods
i.e. Omnia Omnibus Ubique i.e. all things for all people is rather obscure because in the initial
years the store was very inaccessible to the common people (Why Harrods’ marketing boss
doesn’t believe in segmentation, 2019). It was regarded as one for the royals but after the end of
warrants, the local people have become more comfortable with shopping from Harrods and as
the chairman of Harrods, Mohamed Al- Fayed, himself claims, the sales have tripled since the
end of royal warrants. The store has been in operation since as long as 1824 when it was first
started and since then, it has grown continuously where it is the most famous store in UK.
Currently the store itself sits in the top in the luxury retail stores in the market and has been
able to gain favourable and rather a revered attitude from its customers but the fact that is has
always been in controversy regarding one topic or another raises too much criticism on the store
(Felix, 2017). The common man still hesitates and sometimes finds himself incapable of visiting
Harrods even if the prices at which products are sold in Harrods are accessible to them. The
3

stricter dressing codes for customers, the close scrutiny that they face etc. collectively makes
them apprehensive of visiting the store thus making them too modest and inaccessible to the
people.
Therefore, the luxurious stores of Harrods have been able to penetrate amongst the local
and common people but the pace is very slow and the attitude of the store towards its customers
is not the one that is commonly followed today i.e. customer being the king which irks most of
its potential customers drawing them away.
Key customers and their frequency
Until recently the store has believed in the use of Segmentation, targeting and positioning
techniques for their customers as well where they used to adopt a customer centric approach for a
fixed quota of the customers that usually involved middle age or above customers with an elite
background (Ho Lee and Jung, 2018). However the key customer of focus has gradually changed
for the company where they are increasingly strategizing and repositioning themselves to be
more accessible for the millennials today. The changes have been significantly portrayed by
Amanda Hill who is he recently appointed Chief Marketing and customer Officer i.e. CMO of
Harrods (Why Harrods’ marketing boss doesn’t believe in segmentation, 2019). The key area of
focus has shifted radically from just being a heritage store to an innovative and interesting store
offering unparalleled customer experience.
The store has developed different mechanisms to target different key customer i.e. for
instance if they want to target women within the age group of 20 to 40, they have developed a
game called stiletto wars where on getting top scores a gift card can be used on the purchase of
shoes (Why Harrods’ marketing boss doesn’t believe in segmentation, 2019). The store has now
redeveloped themselves appealing and catering to the taste and demands of the youth of today by
opening a separate men super brand floor, beauty hall, sports floor etc.
Rather than sticking to the older way of engaging in one to one communication only, the
key strategy now is to create a balance between the digital mediums and the physical treatment in
stores (Alkhawaldeh and et.al. 2017). Additionally the store has also made its marketing
campaigns more normalised and healthy rather than sticking themselves to the elite version only.
The store has shifted its key customer segment to the millennials and youth of today and
hence all the marketing and promotional activities that are being used have also shifted
(Kandampully, Zhang and Jaakkola, 2018). The store is aiming towards perseverance of their
4

heritage and history that they have developed but it is also changing the manner in which it is
perceived amongst the customers by adopting different methods.
Relevant attitudes
The store has failed to attract the teenagers and millennials to their stores for a long time
due to their high end image which it has always portrayed. However the store has been incapable
for a long time and now the changes have been made in the overall portrayal of its image (Silva
and et.al., 2020). The customer attitude of the millennials which are their key customers is
slowly changing and they are appreciative of the methods that the store is using.
Millennials are increasingly becoming aware of the brand in itself i.e. the products and
services that they are catering to, the different schemes that they are using etc. The regular
reinvention and innovation in their products is removing their image of a brand historian in the
eyes of the public and the perceived quality regarding their customer experience is being
modified collectively (Burt and et.al., 2018). In terms of product quality, the company has been
able to garner praise and positive attitude but regarding the attitude and customer experience, the
store has yet to reform themselves completely. There is a particular segment amongst the public
which is extremely loyal to the store and the perception that it holds in the mind of public but
now the key customer for the store has shifted towards millennials (Hwang and Seo, 2016). And,
in order to gain their brand loyalty, the store has to not just restrategize themselves, but also
present themselves in a different light which will be a comparatively much longer process.
Therefore, in the manner the attitude of the customer towards the luxurious brand of store
will shift and develop with time and meanwhile they are still able to retail their older targeted
customer population thus helping the store in keeping themselves in good position.
Statements depict about the brand
Harrods Company is among one of the major private sector retail organisation based in
United Kingdom. Company has been very active in its marketing and promotional activities so
that high level of brand value can be achieved. Different statements also company use to promote
the brand value that can be projected in the following manner.
Harrods: its the only destination that matters
Company has recently used this slogan to promote the brand. This slogan used by
company depict that the brand is associated with each and every individual tat potentially
connected with the retail market product segments. Company is trying to communicate in this
5

slogan that it will ensure the best shopping destination that will highly emphasis on best level of
customer experience in all stores of Harrods Company. Company has always been active to
promote high customer experience in all its business practices (Veljković and Kaličanin, 2016).
Company also provide facilities to customer to fetch the complaints over the website of company
so that it can be dealt by company. In this slogan company is portraying that the only company
that is matter is Harrods Company when it comes to retail market shopping.
What does London have plenty of
This statement of company depicts the fact that it offers wide range of products to all its
customers. This statement of company project about the diversity of company and its culture.
Company is trying to communicate that everything the customers need will be offered by
Harrods Company. It makes allot of difference in company’s branding through these kinds of
statements in the marketing activities of company.
There is only one Harrods
This slogan of company depict that there can only be one brand like Harrods. The brand
that respect its customers, authenticity, diversity in culture and many more. All these aspects are
a crucial part of business practices at Harrods Company. This statement is very strong and
portraying the values and beliefs company carries as a part of the business operations.
The above statements are some of the most popular statements given by Harrods
Company as a brand to convey the values and beliefs of company. All these slogans and
statements made by company put a positive impact over the company’s performance in target
market.
Audit
Brand audit is a systematic analysis of different aspects related to the brand such as how
the brand is performing at current time, what are the values and beliefs of brand, what is possibly
the strength and weakness of brand, strategic analysis of company and other such aspects. Stages
like creating framework, question the customers of company, reviewing web analytics, reviewing
social data, reviewing sales data, looking up competitors and taking actions and monitor results.
All these stages provide a systematic basis to conduct the brand audit.
Create framework: In this stage of brand audit factors like mission and vision of company are
evaluate. Harrods Company has a mission and vision for its business to achieve the best level of
customer satisfaction from the business operations. The target customers of the Harrods
6

Company is all kind of potential customers based on retail market like all economic and social
class peoples around the society (Baumgarth, 2018). Irrespective of any specific gender and
economic background company offers its products to all kind of customers based in retail
market. Company also use the competitive pricing policy which allows the organisation to serve
different retail products at te bets price possible.
Questioning customers: In this part of brand audit assessment related to different customer
touch points are made. Harrods Company has been able to reach out customer at every touch
point that has allowed company to attract the customers. As the Harrods Company is a private
organisation which also highlight the limitation in company’s resources. This has restricted the
company in expanding the business as well and also due to limitation in resources company
could not cover up the entire retail market. In a limitation it can be stated that company has
generated an effective sales and profitability. In recent time company has entertained the growth
rate of almost 6.8% that highlight about the effective strategies of company (Golob and et.al.,
2020).
Review web analytics: Reviewing web analytics is all about analysing how web make an
influence over the customer decision making in retail market. In recent time in retail market
almost 80% of customers based in United Kingdom and other developed nations make online
review before proceeding towards buying the products (de Paula and Chaves, 2017). In most of
the cases they look for the detail in respect to different ingredients associated with the product
they wish to buy and also the ratting products have been granted. In case of B2B trades the
online reviews are go up to 94%. Harrods Company has focused towards offering the best quality
products that consist up good ratting and healthy materials used in making of such products.
Review social data: Reviewing social data is all about analysing the customer information.
Harrods Company usage the tools like Brand watch to gather the customer information for
deeper understanding the demographics about the potential customers available for company. On
the basis of the product portfolio of company it can be stated that company has been capable to
serve all kinds of potential customers irrespective of their gender, economic background, social
background and other such demographic aspects.
Review sales data: Sales figures help company in reviewing the performance of company. Sales
of company project how the company has performed in target market and how much the
marketing and sales strategies of company being capable to meet the business objectives of
7

company. In recent time company has entertained the sales turnover more than 2.1 billion pound
and also the growth rate of approximately 6.8% in sales of company (Ströbel and Germelmann,
2020). This also project that company could effectively meet up the customer’s expectation in
market.
Look at competitors: Harrods Company needs to compete with other retail brands like Asda,
Wall Mart, Marks and Spencer and many other big companies. Along with the big bard company
also requires to compete against the small business ventures and stores that engaged in retail
market sale. Competition in retail sector is aggressive due to effective product demand in market.
Taking actions and monitor results: This is an important part of the brand audit. On the basis
of the above analysis it can be projected that Harrods Company must give emphasis to
channelize online marketing campaigns to attract more customers. Digital marketing and social
media marketing will also drive company to engage with more potential customers in market.
The above points projected about the brand audit in respect to Harrods Company.
Models and theories
The Six Pillar employee experience model
This model comprises with different elements of organisation that allows the company to
uplift the employee experiences in organisation.
Experiences: Its important that employees part of the organisation must have the best experience
in organisation (Khosiev and et.al., 2019). Management of the Harrods Company always give
emphasis to improve the level of employee experiences at the organisation.
People: People are all about without the support of right people organisation can’t expand its
growth in market. Harrods Company channelizes different employee development programs like
trainings to enhance the potential of company.
Change: Change is a part of organisation. Over the period of time Harrods Company has made
many changes like introducing information technology and other technological developments
(Pamfilie and Croitoru, 2018). All such changes allow company to improve the growth in
market.
Innovation: Innovation is all about introducing new dimensions to perform different operations.
Over the period company has prioritised innovation so that new dimensions can be created in
business.
8

Leadership: Leadership play a crucial role for company to run a business. Leadership at Harrods
Company is very progressive in nature which allows company to achieve its overall objectives of
business.
Culture: Culture is also an important pillar part of the model. Culture drives the environment in
company.
CONCLUSION
This report has projected different aspects related to the brand management. Brand value
of company put a huge impact over every stage of the customer decision making journey.
Different stages like change, people, leadership and other pillar make the best employee
experience at organisation.
9

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alkhawaldeh, A and et.al. 2017. The Effect of Brand Awareness onBrand Loyalty: Mediating
Role of Brand Commitment. European Journal of Business and Management, 9(36).
Baumgarth, C., 2018. Brand management and the world of the arts: collaboration, co-operation,
co-creation, and inspiration. Journal of Product & Brand Management.
Burt, C., and et.al., 2018. Delivering on Delivery: Optimisation and the Future of Vehicle
Routing. In Operations Research Proceedings 2017 (pp. 747-752). Springer, Cham
de Paula, E. and Chaves, S., 2017. IDENTITY, POSITIONING, BRAND IMAGE AND
BRAND EQUITY COMPARISON: A VISION ABOUT QUALITY IN BRAND
MANAGEMENT. Independent Journal of Management & Production. 8(4). pp.1246-
1263.
Felix, R., 2017. Service quality and customer satisfaction in selected banks in Rwanda. Journal
of Business & Financial Affairs. 6(1). pp.1-11.
Golob, U. and et.al., 2020. Trending topics plus future challenges and opportunities in brand
management. Journal of Brand Management, pp.1-7.
Ho Lee, S. and Jung, K.S., 2018. Loyal customer behaviours: Identifying brand fans. Social
Behavior and Personality: an international journal, 46(8), pp.1285-1303.
Hwang, J. and Seo, S., 2016. A critical review of research on customer experience
management. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Kandampully, J., Zhang, T.C. and Jaakkola, E., 2018. Customer experience management in
hospitality. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Khosiev, B. N. and et.al., 2019. Development of a brand promotion strategy: management
accounting and comprehensive analysis. Indo American Journal of Pharmaceutical
Sciences. 6(5). pp.10060-10068.
Pamfilie, R. and Croitoru, A. G., 2018. Better brand management through design
thinking. Amfiteatru Economic. 20(12). pp.1029-1039.
Silva, J.H.O., and et.al., 2020, February. Customer experience literature analysis based on
bibliometry. In International Conference on Exploring Services Science. (pp. 3-20).
Springer, Cham
10

Ströbel, T. and Germelmann, C. C., 2020. Exploring new routes within brand research in sport
management: directions and methodological approaches. European Sport Management
Quarterly. 20(1). pp.1-9.
Veljković, S. and Kaličanin, Đ., 2016. Improving business performance through brand
management practice. Economic Annals. 61(208). pp.137-167.
Online
Why Harrods’ marketing boss doesn’t believe in segmentation. 2019. [ONLINE] Available
through :< https://www.marketingweek.com/harrods-marketing-customer-
segmentation/>
11

12