Reporter | Huang Shan
Edit | Lou Shuqin
British luxury retailer HARRODS has made a new move in the Chinese market. Interface Fashion learned that on November 3, Harrods Will open China's first tea room at the Shanghai Cha Mansion. It will also be Harrods' first physical project to open its services to the public.
According to Harrods, Chinese consumers will then be able to drink the classic British afternoon tea presented "in an innovative form". Since October 22, Chinese consumers can already make an appointment in the "Harold Tea Room" WeChat Mini Program.
The interface is fashionable as seen on the "Harold Tea Room" reservation page, and Harold Afternoon Tea will provide sandwich-based meals such as truffle donuts and lobster rolls, clear-mouth dishes such as honey bubbles, special pastries such as Harold Chocolate Signature Bears and freshly baked scone cakes, as well as a selection of teas and coffees. Currently, the Harold Afternoon Tea set is priced at $488 per person, while the double package is priced at $888.
It is worth noting that the Harold Afternoon Tea Menu at this tea room in Shanghai was designed by the chef of Harrods London Knightsbridge, and its tea menu contains a variety of teas selected by Harold from around the world, many of which are exclusively prepared by Harrods Tea Blenders and were originally sold only in Harrods UK stores.
Harold mentioned in the WeChat Mini Program that the tea room will provide Shanghai customers with "Harrods' signature high-level service", and the tea room staff will also explain the traditional British afternoon tea etiquette to customers during the meal. “
Harrods Department Store has made frequent moves in the Chinese market in the past two years. In October 2020, Harrods opened its first permanent private shopping guide service space in Shanghai, harrods mansion. Less than a year later, Harold opened a second Harold Mansion in Beijing this summer.
Harold Mansion is an invitation-based private clubhouse. Michael Ward, managing director of Harrods, revealed in a previous interview with Interface Fashion that Harrods copied British private services to China in order to provide ultra-high-net-worth customers with the same specifications as the British market in the local market.
Interface Fashion previously learned from informed sources that the high-end goods and services currently sold in the Harrods Mansion, in addition to fashion accessories and high-bead watches, there are also fitness equipment, furniture, helicopters, safes, artworks and so on. According to Michael Ward, Harold Mansion provides a full range of lifestyle "incubation" services, and the private shopping consultants in the mansion will match the most suitable combination of fashion items and beauty, hairdressing, beauty and other full sets of styling designs, and even home soft decoration suggestions according to the personalized needs of Chinese private customers.
In addition, Harrods has been hosting intimate industry forums during Shanghai Fashion Week for many years in a row, trying to gather private Chinese customers and industry insiders.
However, whether it is the Harrods Mansion or the forum events held by Harrods, these projects have previously been based on invitations, with the purpose of allowing Harold to establish deeper ties with its high-net-worth customers in the Chinese market. This is especially important in the wake of COVID-19.
As a result, Harrods TeaHouse, which accepts requests from the public for appointments, is different. In fact, Harrods' historical starting point was tea. Its founder, Charles Henry Harrods, a tea trader, opened a grocery store in London in 1834, the predecessor of Harrods. Today, Harrods stores in London offer more than 150 first teas, selected from markets around the world.
Opening a tea room in China, which has a rich tea culture and a long history of growing and drinking tea, and using emerging digital marketing methods such as WeChat Mini Program reservations, may help Harrods reach a wider range of local Chinese consumers at different levels.
While promoting British culture, Harold Tea Room can also allow more Chinese consumers to understand the Harrods brand. In the aforementioned interface fashion interview, Michael Ward once told interface fashion that in terms of serving high-quality British services, "I think no one can do it except Harold." ”
In fact, in the past few years, Tiffany, Gentle Monster, Ralph Lauren, GIADA and many other luxury brand companies or retailers have opened cafes, dessert houses and other catering services in China. The people's food is the unique consumption culture of the Chinese. When going to a café to party and chat, or eating at a restaurant, it is Chinese a common consumption habit today. This is one of the reasons why these luxury brands are expanding their catering business in China.
Looking at the global market, the entry of luxury brands into the catering industry is indeed a major trend, which is related to the competition of luxury companies for young consumers. Compared with tens of thousands of fashion and leather goods products, luxury brand restaurants with hundreds of yuan unit prices are more approachable. Carefully arranged spaces, creative food styling, coupled with the luxury brand effect to attract young consumers to the store, invisibly convey brand values and culture in restaurant services, helping brands to establish emotional connections with a wider range of mass consumers. As the world's largest luxury market, China is a market where these luxury companies must add footnotes when expanding their catering business.