Selfridges Post-Covid Reopening Strategies

While online sales have doubled since its stores closed in March and food orders from its lavish London food hall have also soared, the loss of its flagships – so famous that its London branch even spawned a TV show – has put a significant dent in sales.

Kicking off its reopening plan, consumers will be able to book in-store appointments an hour before it opens to everyone else (10-11am) and an hour after standard closing (7-8pm) for personal fashion and beauty shopping appointments. Video-enabled personal shopping, previously only available to select customers, is now open to all, bookable online from June 15. NHS and social care workers are able to use fast-tracked entrances.

It’s also augmenting its online services with virtual gift advice and beauty tutorials, also done by remote consultations, and by increasing the number of beauty tutorials on its Instagram feed. Mindful of consumers’ anxiety about returning to physical shops, make-up assistants in-store will demonstrate products solely on themselves.

Some changing rooms will be open, with staff steam-cleaning items that have been tried on, and quarantining those that can’t be steamed for at least three days. Beauty services including its hairdressers, cafés and cinema (currently the only one in a department store worldwide) will all remain temporarily closed.

In line with social-distancing rules, numbers of consumers in stores will be limited, allowing one consumer per 20 sqm, to ensure it can enforce recommended measures. Door staff will moderate access.

The department store's famous windows are dedicated to the theme ‘thank you’. Giant thank-you cards, to which staff have contributed, will refer to key workers, family members, friends and neighbours.

For more on the reopening of stores, see Resetting Physical Retail and Post-Covid Pop-Up Perspectives.