UK. Harding has announced key five-year retail contracts with P&O Cruises and luxury cruise line Cunard to 2027.
The new contracts, which will see Harding operate over 6,000sq m of retail space across eight ships, extend the 20-year working relationship Harding has with the cruiseline’s parent company, Carnival UK.
The P&O Cruises agreement includes the three existing ships Harding operates on and two new flagships: Iona launching in May 2020 and Gala 2 launching in 2022.
Harding will operate retail on Queen Mary 2, which will have a refit in November 2020, Queen Victoria and the yet-to-be-named ‘Project Halifax’ due to launch in 2022 for Cunard.
Harding said it will introduce a store design and brand choice for the cruise lines influenced by a recent survey of 20,500 people.
The retailer said it will offer an impressive mix of product categories from fine jewellery and watches to own-label fashion fused with experiential activities, carefully curated for the ship and destination.
Supporting retail activations will come from a range of internationally-renowned brands, Harding said, including Dyson, Apple, Jo Malone and Tom Ford.
Onboard Iona, an impressive list of first-at-seas will also launch, including Liberty of London, The White Company and Georg Jensen, with Mulberry also launching a first-at-sea standalone store.
Harding Managing Director James Prescott told The Moodie Davitt Report (full exclusive interview below) that the new contracts were a “huge coup” for the retailer.
He added: “We have worked closely with the senior teams based in Carnival House, Southampton, in a total Trinity approach to deliver the most commercial arrangement and the best products with the right experiences for the customer and destination. We are delighted that the Carnival Corporation has put its trust in Harding here in the UK.”
Carnival UK Vice President for Onboard Revenue Robert Palmer added: “We are delighted to have signed this industry-leading contract with Harding.
“Working with one of the leading players in cruise retail to build a strong commercial and branded retail partnership as we enter an unprecedented period of new fleet launches for both our P&O Cruises and Cunard brands is an inspiring milestone.
“Harding has shown that its agility to predict and mirror changes in land-based retail at a branded and experiential level for our guests at sea, undoubtedly gives our guests the best and most inspiring holiday retail experience. We are looking forward to continuing to work with the Harding team in the coming months and years.’’
A “huge coup”: Harding Managing Director James Prescott on the deal With 17% of the cruise market, Harding has secured contracts with over 22 cruise line partners across the globe, including more than 62 cruise ships, with 250 forward-thinking shops. This figure is set to rise to 20% by 2024. These contracts are a significant share of the market, and is a huge coup for us, also including three groundbreaking flagships in Iona, Gala 2 and ‘Halifax.’ As a testament to our 20-year long relationship working with Carnival UK, the significance of this during such an exciting time in cruise retail is not to be underestimated. A close partnership with an incredibly dynamic leadership team in both P&O Cruises and Cunard, with onboard Retail led by Robert Palmer, affords us an amazing platform for innovation, continuous improvement and guest satisfaction. We are incredibly excited by this opportunity. How will Harding look to engage the other two sides of the Trinity to make a success of the onboard retail with P&O Cruises and Cunard? The trust that’s instilled in us is a big responsibility, and one that we’re keen to impress on within each and every shop, and through each and every retail experience we create. While we’re experts at curating immersive brand solutions, the bottom line is that we need to tempt customers to spend their hard-earned money, so working collaboratively with retail brands and cruise line partners is key – it’s all in the communication. We have over 40 new brands signed as part of the contract and look forward to working with many more that are both right and relevant for the respective cruise brand guests. Our Oceantainment programme is gathering momentum and will feature very prominently for Iona. For Cunard, we are building on the recent success of our partnerships with Godiva and Dalmore where the brands, ourselves and Cunard worked extremely closely to deliver groundbreaking and award-winning Trinity partnerships. For P&O Cruises, experiential Trinity partnerships with Chase and Swarovski are also set to be enhanced. What role will retailtainment play in the new retail offers developed for P&O and Cunard? Harding has its own specially curated approach to retailtainment in our unique to cruise experiential marketing proposition: Oceantainment. Carnival UK is one of the biggest global players in the cruise industry, continually setting the standard when it comes to creating incredible cruise experiences for its guests. Now more than ever, cruise retail plays an intrinsic part of this experience, with guests demanding the same immersive retail experiences that they’re seeing cutting-edge ‘traditional’ retailers deliver. Within the contract, retailtainment takes centre stage and we can’t wait to unveil what we’ve got. This forms the cornerstone as to what Harding delivers, driven by technological innovation. How important will Harding’s experience as a turnkey retailer be for providing immersive brand solutions? Over the years, we’ve worked tirelessly to reach new levels on immersive brand solutions, working collaboratively with cruise brands on current and flagship design and experiences via their design agencies. This contract is no exception, as we have worked for the past three years with design agencies and architects on both the Iona and ‘Halifax’ store designs. Behind the design are some of the cruise customer insights that Harding holds. In 2017, we started an ongoing project that has so far surveyed 20,500 people. This has furnished – and continues to furnish – Harding with enlightening findings on purchasing journeys and decisions, including insight on customer-preferred brands, also revealing just how important it is to create exhilarating shopping experiences, fusing lifestyle with experiential activations. As a turnkey retailer, having this understanding is key. While we have 62 cruise ships under our ‘retail’ command, each one has its own destination and guest, every approach needs to be curated. How does Harding hope to take its longstanding partnership with Carnival UK to the next level with this agreement? Through Robert Palmer’s leadership, we have a fantastic working relationship with Carnival UK, one that now spans 20 years. The next decade is a hugely important one which we’re immensely excited about. Along with customer expectations, retail has changed dramatically in the last five years, and over the next seven years, the momentum will increase at a significant pace, with ever more immersive and experiential drama needed to tempt dollars and pounds. |
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