Luxury retailer Harvey Nichols has revealed its revamped store in Hong Kong’s Pacific Place with a new concept by Studio Four IV.
Their two-storey Pacific Place store is now on a single floor as part of the redesign. Although the floor space has been reduced, the new concept sees Harvey Nichols greatly expanding its offerings and provides customers access to new experiences and services.
Studio Four IV has created a truly omnichannel shopping experience for the retailer, with a concept that allows Harvey Nichols to showcase its full inventory of curated collections.
In this tech-savvy market where customers are open to experimentation and new ways of shopping, the new design inextricably links interactive hi-tech with more traditional physical shopping experiences.
The experience starts before customers even enter the store. Along with the interior, the exterior also has an entirely new look. The expansive storefront features an elaborate design of slivers of stone, tessellated with lit glass rods gently pulsing across the length of the store — a hint at the tech that visitors will experience inside.
Interactive touchscreens in the windows allow customers to swipe through multiple options such as scanning QR codes to download product details inspired by the products displayed. While beyond the display, the large windows provide them with further enticement as they look onto the activity in the store.
Inside, the concept explores the premise that the store is ‘bigger than its four walls’. While the physical footprint of the new store now stands at 42,000 sq.ft., whether shopping for beauty, watches, clothes, shoes or accessories, customers can enjoy the full Harvey Nichols experience through this tech-enabled store.
This idea is brought to life in the redesign and addition of technology. The new concept allows customers to shop the store’s merchandise, browsing the shelves and rails, instinctively continuing to explore Harvey Nichols via the touchscreens that are interspersed throughout their journey, scanning and saving any items of interest. And when not being used, the screens will showcase catwalk shows, editorial films and curated collections of complementary garment and accessories that supplement the in-store edit.
Like browsing online, the new concept gives customers the freedom to meander around the store. Sightlines have been opened up, improving visibility across the store. Animated framed screens provide signposting, while pathways and lighting gently guide customers, helping them navigate the space with ease. Alongside, intricate design details like the beautiful metal inlay in the stone flooring, the weave in the bespoke rugs and the design of the lighting framework overhead, emulate computer circuit-boards, providing a further nod to the tech-infused store concept.
While online focuses on stocking major international brands, the physical space is more focused on showcasing newness and emerging labels, giving customers the opportunity to see, touch and feel the product, building appreciation for a new designer – something they are more likely to do through the physical rather than a virtual experience, whilst the greater trust already earned more established brands, means that customers are happy to shop these online.
Following Studio Four IV’s concept for the international womenswear floor at the retailer’s London flagship, the store’s designers have created a collection of bespoke fixtures for Harvey Nichols, which gives the retailer ownership of the space and provides a brand canvas upon which each fashion label is presented. Sign-posted in the retailer’s house style, the fixtures also allow the store to flex and react quickly to accommodate the freshest new names.
The same approach has been adopted for the menswear area of the store, but with the store’s reduction in space, Pacific Place features a smaller edit of menswear. A digital waterfall feature highlights the entrance for menswear, which is presented in ‘e-tunnel’, which as the name suggests, is a more intense digital experience, where greater emphasis is placed on customers browsing collections via the touchscreens.
Providing the same level of flexibility in showcasing a changing collection of brands as the fashion areas, the beauty department follows suit. This is a first for the Asian department stores, as in place of the signature branded concessions usually seen, the beauty hall has adopted a more singular house design, with each brand sitting within distinctive Harvey Nichols gold frame. Both here and in the watch department, each brand space features a screen for content-rich, brand storytelling, and with plenty of space for demonstrations and tutorials, the beauty hall concept creates an atmosphere that encourages learning and playful experimentation.
In the centre of the store the ready to wear department wraps round an interactive lounge where customers can browse Harvey Nichols website in a more relaxed environment. Building relationships with customers in the luxury market is key and while the store offers customers the option to browse alone or engage with the live chat to connect with a stylist, Harvey Nichols dedicated team of stylists are available for consultations, to help each customer with product recommendations to create a look book based on their personal style, needs and preferences. Customers can then order products to collect in-store or have them delivered to their home or office.
Customers choosing to try on products stocked in the store, or opting for click and collect can also take advantage of Harvey Nichols expert stylists and enjoy the generous fitting rooms, which feature lighting that can be adjusted to suit the outfit, occasion and customer. The concept also accommodates more discrete spaces, where stylists can look after VIP clients with greater privacy and a spacious and luxurious personal shopping suite, equipped with a vanity room, which provides guests with a real sense of comfort and indulgence.
Harvey Nichols Pacific Place provides customers with a seamless shopping experience in an immersive environment, where customers access to everything the retailer has to offer. While helping Harvey Nichols older customer base migrate to a more digital shopping experience, it provides an exciting fashion and beauty playground for a younger, digital-savvy audience.
Harvey Nichols store can be found at Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong.
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