Conversation with… Mark Blundell, chief retail officer at Harrods
Mark Blundell, chief retail officer at Harrods, has spent over seven years at one of the world’s most iconic retail destinations. Here, he talks leadership, the future of physical retail, and why product, service and experience remain the cornerstones of great retailing.
You spent over seven years at Harrods before recently becoming chief retail officer. What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the business?
Subscribe to TRBThe biggest shift has been our laser focus on our best clients. Seven years ago, we were looking across our entire customer base. Now, the focus is very much on making sure everyone gets a fantastic experience, but fundamentally it’s about how we nurture and work with our very top clients.
Some customers will say certain parts of the store have become unaffordable, and that’s because we tend to work with top brands that our best clients want access to. In recent years, we’ve had wars, regional conflicts, and COVID, and what we’ve realised is that our highest spending clients, while not insulated from these things, tend to survive them quite well. As a business that plays in that space, we’ve become much more focused on that client group.
You became the first leader in John Lewis Partnership’s history to manage stores across both Waitrose and John Lewis. How did that shape your approach?
Honestly, I didn’t know that until I joined thinking that’s just what you did; that the ability to build a career under one organisation with plenty of variety was the whole point of joining the Partnership.
Food and department store retailing are different to an extent, but the common thread running through both is a focus on the client, on quality, provenance and the customer experience. The pace is different between the two environments, but the people I led were similar in that they were super passionate, highly capable and purpose led. I was able to leverage my leadership seamlessly across both. I never set out to be a food retailer or a department store retailer. I was just, hopefully, a leader of people.
You ran the John Lewis Liverpool store with a team of 900 people. What did that teach you about leading large retail teams?
Liverpool taught me that you’ve got to get in amongst it and be on the shop floor. When you’ve got a bricks and mortar retailer, you must understand from the ground up how the client operates, how they behave in that particular geography, and how colleagues work. That’s absolutely critical.
We now have fantastic insights, data and AI, which are all vital for driving retail businesses. But none of them can compensate for a bit of experience and observation: watching how customers and colleagues behave, understanding their motives and intentions.
The Liverpool team demanded a shop floor leader, someone who led from the front in amongst them. That’s stayed with me. It still blows my mind that so few people in our sector truly understand that the core of retail is the shop floor. For me, that’s the fun bit. None of my good ideas come from working from home. They come on a Saturday afternoon or a Sunday evening standing with the team.
My favourite recent example: I was in Harrods a couple of weekends ago asking a colleague why we weren’t selling more of our biscuit tins. They’re beautifully packaged, great quality. He said simply: we’ve only put the grammage on the tin and we haven’t told the customer how many biscuits are inside. He showed me a competitor’s tin that listed exactly what biscuits were inside and how many. They sell loads of them. No insights tool or AI would have told me that. Only a sales associate who hears the same question from five customers every day and these frontline insights are critical to the success of our business and how continue to evolve to meet the needs of our customers
Harrods is one of the most iconic retail destinations in the world. How do you balance maintaining that heritage while keeping the experience fresh?
We never rest on our heritage. As we continue to lead in retail we must design and build authenticity and maintaining that balance has shaped our continued success.
We travel the world and look at all our competitors in this space, and the commonality between those at the forefront and those falling behind is investment in their stores. It’s interesting because we are a house of brands. Where we invest, our brands meet us there and bring their A game. Where other department stores haven’t invested, brands either pull out or, if they must be there, bring their C game. Our history of excellence in service and experiential retail remains today, but we make sure we’re constantly driving forward. Otherwise, it turns into a museum and that’s not the environment we want to create.
What do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities for retail right now?
The biggest challenge for bricks and mortar retailers right now is remaining globally competitive while navigating a complex policy and economic landscape, especially with consideration to business rates, and for us particularly, the removal of luxury tax-free shopping. The sector is resilient, and there’s a real opportunity for government policy to continue evolving in ways that support growth and unlock wider economic benefits. When I speak to other retail leaders, no-one is looking for a free ride. When retail thrives, the positive impact is felt far beyond businesses and considering the number of people this industry employs right across the country, there’s a clear trickle-down effect across the wider economy.
London remains one of the world’s most exciting retail destinations, with a unique ability to attract international visitors. Maintaining that appeal is key, particularly as we compete with cities like Paris and Milan.
On the opportunity side, for any retailer with a bricks and mortar presence, I think creating an interesting, immersive and genuinely fun environment is a powerful antidote to a world of 24/7 technology and AI. If you can put your phone down for an hour and wander around a fantastic environment where you’re being inspired, where you can touch, feel, try, experience and then meet great people, that becomes a social connection. Physical retail can be the tech antidote.
Not because we’re anti-tech, but for those moments when customers simply want to put their phone down, physical retail can be the solution. And that’s not just an opportunity for Harrods. It’s an opportunity for the whole sector.
What advice would you give to anyone thinking about developing a career in retail?
Three things. First, it’s an industry that rewards hard work, tenacity and commitment. That’s the A game you’ve got to bring.
Second, it’s a people business. You’ve got to be someone who gets their energy from others, from colleagues and customers. If that’s what fires you up, it’s a really great career.
And third – don’t overthink it. There are many far brighter people than me in this industry, but people can lose sight of the fundamentals.
From my very first Saturday job at 15, it was drilled into me: product, service, experience. That’s what I preach to my team today. You don’t need to be the smartest person in the room to succeed, but in this business, you do need to work hard, love people, and stick to the basics.
