Harrods starts to podcast, drives luxury discussion

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 6, 2019

Harrods has entered the world of podcasts with a debut that looks at the meaning of luxury as it uses all the editorial formats it can to boost its marketing and to be seen as the go-to destination for luxury shoppers.

Its new series, which comprises six episodes, is hosted by high-profile journalist and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup who will speak to guests from creative industries (including beauty veteran Terri De Gunzberg, plus designers Roksanda Ilincic, Stephen Webster and Amanda Wakeley) to try to get to the bottom of the “true meaning of modern luxury”.

The first episode features the guests inside Harrods in Knightsbridge, London, talking about an object that’s personal to them and that they see as summing up luxury.

Harrods chief marketing and customer officer, Amanda Hill, said: “Luxury has never simply been about collecting objects; it is completely personal, experiential and unique. Harrods’ story, as one of the great luxury emporiums of the world, is already well known, and we believe we are uniquely placed to explore what luxury truly means in 2019. We invite some of the most creative people working today, people that inspire us, as well as the listener, to do the same.”

The company has been increasing its overall editorial offering in recent periods and last year named journalist and novelist Tiffanie Darke as its editor-in-chief. Another one of her initiatives has been on Instagram this Fashion Month showing she and her Harrods colleagues in a How To Wear Harrods series in the different fashion cities.

The podcast launch comes at the same time as the retailer is widening its social media offer and looking to dive deeper into video content.

Harrods is a London-based business with a global profile and reaching out to its worldwide customers using digital formats makes good sense, especially as it prepares to see an escalation in international sales under its new deal with Farfetch.

The humble podcast is a survivor from the early years of this century when it was seen as the Next Big Thing, before being overtaken by alternative, ‘sexier’ editorial formats. But it has continued to win new fans steadily and Apple confirmed earlier this year that there are over 550,000 active podcasts available in 100 languages. 

Global figures for podcast users aren’t available but it has been estimated that 44% of the US population listens to one at least monthly. And those listeners are much more likely to have a university education and to be in higher income brackets, another factor that underlines the commercial sense of Harrods’ entry into the format.