Harrod's Casino: luxury retail expansion into online gambling

Harrod's Casino

Harrod's is one of the most recognized and respected retailers globally, having a global span of services that includes its world-famous Knightsbridge Store in London, which is named for the London Underground Knightsbridge Station it is located near. Today Harrod's Group is comprised of Harrod's Bank, Harrod's Estates, a real estate company that manages listings throughout metro London and throughout England. In 2000 Harrod's launched their online gambling initiative, Harrod's Casino, aimed at the upper-income clients Harrod's has throughout the Middle East and Asia. In addition Harrod's operates two aviation services, Harrods Aviation and Air Harrods.

The Harrod's culture stresses intensive customer research to increase the number of services that align with its higher income clientele both within Europe, and those that shop online throughout the Middle East, Asia and the United States. The highest revenue growth for Harrod's online shopping is coming from upscale clientele throughout Asia including China, Japan, South Korea, Europe, and the countries of the Middle East and expanding services for these specific customer segments are critical to Harrod's global growth in brand strength and revenue.

Harrod's Casinos' History

IN 1985 Mohamed Abdel Moneim Fayed and his brothers purchased Harrods for £615M from a London-based investment group House of Fraser. Mohamed immediately began research programs to discover what the best Harrod's customers from Asia, Europe, and much of the Middle East. Research showed that the best online shoppers also were actively participating in online gambling as a hobby, and would often organize their trips to London for shopping, gambling at the city's casinos, and theatre performances. Research further showed that of all online shopping sites these higher-income and net worth individuals shopped on, Harrod's Online was the most trusted and was visited the most.

Harrod's research also showed that trust in the website and the company sponsoring it was the most success criteria in setting up an online casino. This was a major competitive advantage for Harrod's in creating their online casino. Second, research showed that frequent players using online casino websites expected quick and efficient cash-outs within 24 hours (Telecom Worldwide, 2003). Favorable odds, responsive and personalized customer service, ease, speed and quality of play were all also the top criteria for designing an online website. Rounding out these criteria was the availability of bonuses rounded out the top criteria of what potential visitors to the Harrod's Online casino were looking for.

These market dynamics and the fact that Harrod's Online websites were designed to track visitor's activity and deliver extensive marketing analytics made the introduction of an online casino a profitable decision. In 2000 Harrod's began completing research to see the extent of cross-shopping possible with an online casino linked to its online stores. The company discovered that there was the potential of a 30% increase in upselling items when they were able generate significant loyalty on the part of their casino patrons. As a result, Harrods Casino online is the only online casino linked directly to a department store, where winnings can be used for purchasing merchandise, and the customer loyalty scores from casino visitors apply directly to their shopping experience. In November 2000 Harrod's launched their online casino (London Times, 2000) and completed a major software project to fulfill the long-term objective of integrating retailing and gambling operations (Precision Marketing, 2003).

What Makes Harrod's Casino Unique

This online casino is very unique in its ability to complete transactions and payouts within 24 hours in over 35 different currencies and its integration across both retailing, online shopping and the online casino. This integration of marketing efforts and strategies and the resulting benefits to Harrod's customers further distances Harrod's online initiatives from many other competitors. It is highly unique to find a company that can integrate retailing and gambling and promote customer loyalties on both strategies, yet Harrod's has been able to successfully accomplish this. Further, the ability of Harrod's to keep the retailing customers continually loyal even if they have never gambled online is remarkable. What is happening today is that the most loyal customers in remote regions that the online casino was specifically built for are increasing their online spending overall. The integration efforts as defined by many articles (CasinoMeister, 2003) all point to the broader roadmap of the Harrod's Online strategy being even more integrated and more aligned to the specific audiences globally that have turned the online casino into one of the most successful globally.

References (CasinoMeister, 2003) - Harrod's Gets A Makeover. CasinoMeister Magazine and website. Accessed from the Internet on November 22, 2006 at http://www.casinomeister.com/news/april2003.html#HARRODS (London Times, 2000) - Harrod's Eyes Online Casino. Financial Times London (UK). November 21, 2000. Pg.31. (Precision Marketing, 2003) - Harrod's in double initiative to promote online casino and shopping Precision Marketing Magazine. April 24, 2003. (Telecom Worldwide, 2003) - UK Telecom Worldwide Newsletter. December 8, 2003. Page 1. Coventry, England.