talking shop THE OFFICE Kuoni's northern face adds fizz in Manchester


Kuoni Manchester 64 - 66 King Street Manchester M2 4ND Tel:0161 817 6550 Email: manchester.sales@kuoni.co.uk


Luxury travel brand Kuoni has been flying in the face of the recession in 2010, opening up retail stores all over the country, including at Kent supermall Bluewater and its latest opening in Nottingham. Considered the joint flagship store (along


with the branch in High Street Kensington), the Manchester store opened just under two years ago and is located on the chic shopping strip of King Street. Laura Gelder talks to branch manager


Victoria Fenton about the challenges of selling luxury on the high street.


How do you go the extra mile for your customers? For us it’s all about the clients. We’ll stay late and we’ll pull out all the stops to make people feel special. The other Sunday we had a wedding party of 12 couples – the bride and the groom and their guests – come in before the shop opened. We served bucks fizz and Danish pastries for breakfast and each couple had an agent assigned to them to help them decide where to go for their own holidays after their friends' wedding! We offer a concierge service and if clients want something that’s not in the brochure we’ll do our best to arrange it, whether it’s a private boat trip or a birthday surprise.


Explain the customer experience in your store When a customer walks through the door they are immediately made to feel at home. We have an area where they can grab a coffee or tea – on the weekend we may even have champagne flowing! There are fresh flowers and a cosy fireplace with


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comfortable sofas. We have the usual selection of brochures for browsing, 18 of our own as well as a selection of others like Kirker and CV Travel offering escorted or private tours. We also have a 42-inch plasma television on which we can show customers a map of where they are going. It allows them to click on different areas and bring up hotels and attractions, giving them a good idea of what’s on offer and where they might want to stay.


What’s the ethos of your store? We pride ourselves on being different to other travel agencies; we sell the whole experience, not just the holiday itself. What I mean by that is that comfort and luxury starts when they enter the store. We listen, we question, and we’re not afraid to direct customers elsewhere if we feel like they are looking for something we can’t offer.


Do your staff have specialist areas? There are 10 people in our team and everyone has an area that they are most confident selling, but we don’t necessarily assign one agent to each customer – two to three may be called in to share their experiences. One of our team recently returned from a trip to the Maldives, so of course we will always get her involved if a customer is looking at the destination, because she has fresh experience of it.


How would you describe your clients? Our clients are discerning and particular. Some are independent and some want their hands held through every aspect of their holiday. Many of our clients are well- travelled and they are looking for a particular element to their holiday, be it luxury spas, fine dining or exclusive and exotic locations.


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What’s your biggest challenge to business? Making people aware we are here is probably the thing that we continually have to work on most. I like to be very proactive in getting the word out to local businesses and visitors to the city. If local retailers have events we will often donate goody bags. A large retailer recently had a big event in association with the launch of Sex and the City 2 and we had a stand where people could sign up to win a free holiday in New York. In late October we’re planning to hold an invitation-only weddings and honeymoons


Kuoni's other


retail outlets... You can find Kuoni stores in Kensington, Knightsbridge and Bishopsgate in London, as well as Bristol, Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, Milton Keynes, Solihull, Cheltenham and Nottingham.


event with personal shoppers from a local exclusive retail chain and hand massages from a local spa. We also invite our regulars to our brochure launch events.


How does your store maintain its ethical and eco-stance? As a company Kuoni is involved with many ethical and charitable causes. Our store works with a local Cheshire-based charity called The Children’s Adventure Trust, which makes it possible for disabled children to have a holiday. Like most companies, we make sure we recycle.


How is business? There’s been a notable increase in walk-ins and we’re pleased with our sales. Holidays are a big decision for most people and we don’t try to convert them. Instead, we try to make their browsing experience as pleasant as possible so that they will want to come back and make a booking. It’s about making dreams come true and adding value with knowledge. It seems to be working!


www.sellinglonghaul.com • September 2010 63


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