Harvey Nichols delivers fearlessly stylish shopping to the world with help from Pitney Bowes.

Overview

"‘Borderfree Retail offered so much; it was the best solution for us" Pamela Reynolds
Head of Online
Harvey Nichols

Harvey Nichols is a unique luxury retailer which offers designer fashion, beauty, food and wine both online and in-store across the UK. The retailer is described as having a playful attitude compared to its competitors, despite having been a British institution since Victorian times. Whilst the iconic flagship store in Knightsbridge, London, attracts thousands of well-heeled international shoppers as well as domestic customers each year, the retailer was looking to extend that relationship beyond shop opening hours and across borders.

Business Needs

‘The UK’s ultimate shopping destination’ enjoys an extremely loyal customer base, with international clientele heavily intertwined with the personal shopping experience in-store. The retailer wanted to make visits more frequent for international customers that only visit once a year on holiday while also boosting online sales by creating a seamless customer experience across both store and online.

To meet this demand, the retailer launched a new UK-based website in the spring of 2014, with the goal of launching the site globally. However, Harvey Nichols was not in the best position at the time to handle a large number of international sales, and after considering handling international shipping internally, quickly determined that support from an outside service was required.   

Solution

After considering competing solutions, Borderfree® Retail from Pitney Bowes was the obvious choice, offering Harvey Nichols much more than international shipping capabilities. It is an end-to-end solution designed to help retailers do business around the world without the headaches normally associated with cross-border commerce. Most importantly, it provides comprehensive support and Pitney Bowes’ deep understanding of the international market.

The retailer was able to launch the international site quickly, and is taking a phased approach to increasing international sales by building awareness. 

Benefits

"Pitney Bowes has really supported us in reaching the international market. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without them". Pamela Reynolds
Head of Online
Harvey Nichols

The Harvey Nichols website currently serves 122 countries and handles 70 currencies, with more on deck. When international customers visit the site, they are immediately welcomed with a friendly message which recognizes the country they are logging in from and alerts them that they can shop in their own currency and have goods delivered to their home country.

Harvey Nichols has numerous expansion plans for its Borderfree Retail solution and Pitney Bowes has been helping prepare for that push. ‘We have benefitted so much from our relationship with Pitney Bowes’, Pamela Reynolds says. The retailer has recently launched Delivered Duty Paid, offering total cost clarity to international customers, and will be adding automated pricing in the near future.

Today, Harvey Nichols is well positioned to serve customers at home and abroad with a unique customer experience both in-store and online. Now, the retailer is focused on increasing awareness of its international delivery capabilities, and the Borderfree Retail solution is helping to build and win new business. ‘Overall, our customers and internal stakeholders are very happy with the project delivery, ongoing support and the team at Pitney Bowes’, Pamela Reynolds concludes.