UK. Leading cruise retailer Harding+ has unveiled an immersive retail experience aboard Queen Anne, the latest ship in the Cunard fleet. The Moodie Davitt Report attended the ship’s launch on 1 May while it was moored at the Mayflower Cruise Terminal in Southampton.
The 3,000-passenger capacity ship is Cunard’s largest to date, featuring curated brands, experiences and customer insight-led detailing.
At the heart of the cruise retail experience lies ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’, a space featuring multi-sensory displays and high-end brands.
It highlights Cunard’s heritage and its longstanding connection with the British royal family by bringing together pieces from Garrard, Chanel, Theo Fabergé, Launer and By Alona among others.
Some items are available to buy while others are for admiration – many have never been available at sea before.
Harding+ Chief Operating Officer Mark Birnie told The Moodie Davitt Report: “There’s such a rich heritage in Cunard as a brand – it’s a great story to tell, which a lot of other cruise partners don’t have. Using that as a method to weave products and stories together is very unique.”
Queen Anne guests can also visit a dedicated shopping host on board, a position created to fulfil the demand for personalised service.
Harding+ Chief Commercial Officer Peter Newbould commented: “We are hugely excited to see Queen Anne setting sail. The ship is truly beautiful – a spectacular addition to the Cunard fleet – and we have worked closely with the Cunard team to create a truly premium retail experience.
“We have used our combined guest and customer insight to deliver a unique retail proposition, with a number of first-at-sea or exclusive partnerships with Garrard, Chapel Down, By Alona, Launer, Raishma and Atkinsons to attract guests to the retail area and new reasons to shop.
“Chief among these is the ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’, a one-of-a-kind gallery unlike anything on any other ship. The palatial surroundings, hands-on customer service and world-class brand roster really exemplify the Cunard experience.
“We are grateful to Cunard, our brand partners and, of course, all of our office and shipboard team for helping us to make this a reality. We cannot wait for the ship to sail and for customers to experience it.”
The cruise retail canvas
The wider retail space includes an ‘Experience Lounge’ where guests can take part in tasting sessions and brand workshops. The room will be modified based on the cruise destination and season, delivering against Harding+ insights on passenger’s growing desire for experiential retail.
Newbould told The Moodie Davitt Report: “The design of the retail space in Queen Anne is different to other cruise ships where you basically have shops with three walls and an entrance.
“With Queen Anne, we’ve worked with Cunard on a vision that enables you to pass between different retail spaces seamlessly. In terms of its future adaptability, I think it’s a lovely canvas to work with.”
Garrard has a dedicated boutique onboard featuring an assortment of fine jewellery. Bremont is showcasing its British watch collections within both the watch store and the ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’.
Harding+ has also unveiled a dedicated Reloved brand space for preloved luxury goods, which includes leather accessories and luxury vintage jewellery by Susan Caplan.
Newbould added: “If I look at the jewellery environment, it’s so much more spread out and the products have air to breathe in. In a traditional jewellery environment, you have a cabinet with hundreds of products tightly crammed in.”
Jewellery aboard Queen Anne is presented in clear bell jars set atop round gondolas or within glass wall displays. Newbould explained that this spacious store layout helps spotlight brand and product stories, immersing consumers in the cruise retail experience.
“It’s so much easier when you give yourself that canvas to work with, rather than lots of stories crammed into one space. A presentation like that can be modified during the cruise, never mind from one cruise to another or one season to another.”
A personalisation counter allows travellers to add a bespoke Queen Anne ribbon to their purchases or get one printed on site with a custom message.
Bringing brand stories to life
The Cunard merchandise store includes the Queen Anne collection and a new Cunard heritage range of gifts and mementos drawing inspiration from the company archives.
Interactive screens have been incorporated throughout the retail experience, allowing guests to try on products such as sunglasses and learn more about ship merchandise.
“We have worked hard with Cunard to make sure that we’re not just bringing content to screens in retail environments,” added Newbould.
“Advertising is good but in an environment like this, you need to provide people with content that they will enjoy and remember. It needs to be entertaining and interactive.”
Digital screens across the ship also help drive footfall within the retail spaces while the cruise planner highlights daily events and brand workshops.
Birnie said: “With something like the Tom Ford interactive bar, you’re talking to guests within a public area of the ship.
“Once you’ve got the people there, you also attract attention from passersby. It allows people to interact with the retail spaces without crossing any threshold.”
He explained that Cunard draws an international mix of guests, with a high proportion of American, British and Australian travellers.
“You have got to have the right product curation for the passenger mix as well as the different age segment (55 to 65-year-old). Roughly 65-68% guests are Cunard repeaters – they’re familiar with the brand and want to come back.”
Talking about the unique selling proposition for cruise retail, Birnie highlighted the crucial role played by the sales staff: “Our sales team develops relationships with these guests through organic conversations that allow the guest to talk about their cruise experience.
“Then sales tend to come on the back of that relationship building. That is where we have to leverage our onboard teams to bring the brand stories to life.”
Looking towards the future
According to Birnie, in the last five to ten years there has been a clear segmentation across different cruise brands. He said: “If you see it from the Harding+ perspective, we are working with 17 cruise brands and they all have distinct requirements.
“This is going to become more and more important as time goes on. How you develop the product and service proposition to match the cruise line’s overall proposition is key.
“I think one of the key aspects is design – making retail a part of the Cunard cruise experience and not something separate. The design onboard Queen Anne still features branding, but it has been done in a much more refined way.”
Harding+ is also witnessing a new cruise audience: high proportion of newcomers that have not experienced cruise before. Birnie noted that their spending habits are very different compared to someone who has cruised multiple times before.
He concluded: “We must continually evolve and change the product and proposition as the guest market moves and changes – and it’s moving quite fast. We’re seeing a huge drive in some of our cruise brands around the family market.” ✈
Scroll to see more photographs from the day
