Harvey Nichols reopens upgraded, ultra-digital Hong Kong store

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 26, 2019

Dickson Concepts has reopened one of its two Harvey Nichols department stores in Hong Kong with the store in Pacific Place shopping centre in Admiralty opening after a three-month HK$250 million (£25m/€29m) makeover.

The renewed store soft-launched a couple of weeks ago and opens officially this week. It’s particularly interesting because the store size has been cut in half (to 42,000 sq ft) but the overall product assortment has been expanded three-fold by focusing squarely on omnichannel.

With costs for the store set to be lower than its bigger predecessor, it’s being closely watched by the industry at large, as well as by Harvey Nichols’ management.

The store will be a major hub for click & collect orders, which the company expects to increase from its current level, and the company has said that it will also be a major discovery experience for brands that consumers might not have seen before.

The location will also offer personal stylists, digital lookbooks, virtual try-on, live chat, and touchscreens on external windows. It’s all designed to help older customers migrate to a more digital shopping experience while luring in the younger digital natives who are increasingly important to the luxury retail sector.

The timing of the closure couldn’t have been better for the company with numerous local and international companies having reported lower sales as a result of the Hong Kong protests. But with those protests continuing, it will be interesting to see how it performs in the next few weeks and months as tourist arrivals stay low.