Flagship fashion - Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants

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FASHION FORWARD Photography by Marcus Oleniuk Joseph Wan leads one of Britain’s most respected names in luxury retailing. He tells Jo Bowman how Harvey Nichols is reaching out to the world’s wealthy and fashion-savvy, but staying out of mainland China – for now May 2012 27
??????????? Success ingredient ith its opulent flagship store in London’s Knightsbridge, Harvey Nichols is on par with Harrods as a byword for luxury European shopping. Indeed, Harrods is only a short walk away, along with Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, Armani, Tod’s, Gianfranco Ferré, Prada and a long list of other top names. Shopping for luxury in this part of the world is a serious business. Joseph Wan, impeccably dressed in an Ermenegildo Zegna suit and wearing one of his collection of Tom Ford ties, insists he’s no fashionista. But Harvey Nichols’ group chief executive does know what makes the appeal of an upmarket retailer endure, while hemlines, colours and collar styles come and go. When the Hong Kong-born Wan joined Harvey Nichols 20 years ago, it was a single, loss-making store with a rich, century-old heritage but a day-to-day business that had become lost in the diverse operations of its previous owner, the Burton Group (now the Arcadia Group run by the retail magnate Sir Philip Green). Snapped up by a Hong Kong conglomerate, Dickson Concepts, and with Wan at the 28 May 2012 helm, the brand has grown into a profitable and thriving international network with seven stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and another six around the world. In Hong Kong, a new store opened in Pacific Place in late 2011, in addition to an existing store in the Landmark. The international footprint will change shape again this September when a new store is due to open in The Avenues, the largest shopping centre in Kuwait. The resurrection and strategic expansion of Harvey Nichols, Wan says, has come through the application of many of the skills – and attention to detail – that he honed as a CPA. “The key to the turnaround and con- tinuing development of Harvey Nichols was one word: focus,” he says. Wan immediately moved the company’s office out of the Knightsbridge store, liberating 1,850 square metres (20,000 square feet) of retailing space at a stroke. “Previously, the company was part of a big high-street retail group and was too small within the group to merit enough attention; it was noncore so it was ignored. There was no strategy whatsoever.” Products, merchandising, the store environment, business processes and incentive schemes for staff all were given an overhaul. Even today, Wan remains close to the day-to-day goings-on on the shop floor. On the day that A Plus catches up with him, he’s
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