UK. Leading cruise retailer Harding+ has revealed details of its retail offer onboard P&O Cruises’ new ship, Arvia, which set sail in late December. The retail shops are part of ‘The Avenue’, an open space model for fine jewellery & watches, beauty, fashion, technology and souvenirs alongside other duty free categories.
Across 900sq ft of space Harding+ is showcasing more than 200 brands, including 34 that are new to P&O Cruises, and 18 that are cruise retail firsts at sea.
In addition to the new names at sea, such as Scotch & Soda, Floral Street beauty and Tidal Rum, there is an increased focus on more than 25 eco-friendly and sustainable premium brands, selected to match the shopping demands of the P&O Cruises’ guest. A selection of pre-loved and owned luxury handbags and accessories onboard from brands such as Gucci, Chanel and Louis Vuitton are also available, as the cruiseline and retailer champion the circular economy.
The Harding+ space, delivered under its ‘making every cruise better’ mantra, features a range of brand pop-ups and guest experiences, including a ‘Floral Street Scent School’ at the beauty bar, and a pop-up experiential bar in the Marketplace from leading beauty tech brand Foreo.
Other highlights include the fine watch offer that for the first time onboard features Tudor, Breitling and Rado in the mix. A stand-alone Swarovski boutique is the first of the brand’s ‘Wonderlab’ themed outlets to launch at sea. It has been designed to reflect both the brand’s octagon packaging identity in shape and its new pink branded colourway.
Another first sees the launch of the ‘Chocolate Factory’, an exclusive concept designed for P&O Cruises by the Harding+ in-house design team. This aims to create “a vibrant confectionery wonderland to appeal to both gifting and self-treat shopping motivations,” said the retailer.
Harding+ CEO James Prescott said: “Wellness, technology, sustainable products and luxury items will all play a key part in our partnership with P&O Cruises on Excel class ships. [This is] borne from deep dive and ongoing understanding from our proprietary data of what it is that cruise guests want to buy. This is fusing the right insights that we bring with P&O Cruises’ vision for Arvia to create a unique experience, making sure the cruise guest retail mindset is extremely well catered for.”
“Our in-house design team has worked with the P&O Cruises architects and design teams and demonstrate that cruise retail models, design builds, ranges and experiences now match or exceed the best of High Street retail globally. Understanding the unique dwell time and guest attitude that doesn’t exist elsewhere, in mainstream or other travel retail channels, allows us to push boundaries and change expectations for guests every time they join a cruise. One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to cracking the right approach for each ship, and with Arvia, the Avenue approach will be a stand out onboard retail destination.”
“We are really proud of the work our design, merchandising and buying teams have delivered for this project, and know that will be brilliantly supported by the backbone of our logistics teams and the 45 strong Harding+ team lucky enough to be on board Arvia to experience the new launch. This team will include a Luxury Trading Manager, watch and fine jewellery specialists plus individual brand specialists, and each member of the team has been trained to high category-specific standards delivered by our brand partners such as Tag Heuer and Foreo.”
The retail line up onboard Arvia includes many other leading brands, including Pandora, Mulberry, Barbour, RayBan, Hugo Boss, Apple, Chanel and Cotswolds Distillery. ✈
