ABSTRACT
Introduction and core concepts This chapter considers the independent fashion retailer Selfridges & Co. and how it developed a new branding strategy for a changing consumer market. Selfridges & Co. are a high quality fashion retailer catering for the upper end of the market. Together with Harrods department store, which is also based in the fashionable part of London, these two stores may be considered icons of British retailing. The following sections track the progress of Selfridges from its beginnings in 1909 to the start of the expansion programme in 1999. Today, the product range the store focuses on consists mainly of fashion branded goods. As these brands are available in their competitor stores, Selfridges had to create a point of difference in order to secure a profitable market position. We explain how Selfridges created that difference to compete in the market using three main areas of their strategy: buying strategy, customer service and creative services. A fourth and additional factor, store image, emerges as a vital part of the company’s strategy in its attempt to realign the Selfridges brand.
