Matchesfashion links with Hotel Café Royal to boost VIP shopping

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 1, 2017

As ultra luxury becomes a major factor in driving luxury sales higher, Matchesfashion has launched its VIP service in association with Hotel Café Royal on London’s Regent Street. This high-end personal shopper service is available to all guests staying in one of the hotel’s suites.

The feature, called Fashion Now, mixes an in-room wardrobe service with personal shopping and grew from the idea that guests who had lost their luggage or had seen it delayed needed get their hands on some replacements fast without a panic-driven trip to the shops.

Items chosen will be delivered within 90 minutes of the order being placed via the concierge in a service exclusive to the hotel and items can also be ordered in advance so they’re waiting in the guest’s room on their arrival.

Guests can request a phone consultation with a Matchesfashion stylist and a stylist will also the accompany the delivery of any products requested.

Those using the service have access to the Matchesfashion’s townhouse in Marylebone too. This is a luxe appointment-only venue for shoppers whose spend meets a certain threshold.

Matchesfashion has been expanding its personal shopper team in recent periods with staff available to high-spending clients on a 24/7 basis and also liaising with clients globally via WhatsApp and Skype, as well as travelling to meet them in person.

It comes as the stakes are raised at the very upper end of the luxury market. The luxury sector has seen a recovery this year and much of that has been down to the return high spending customers across global markets. This was a key factor in Burberry’s recently announced strategy shift that will see it focus more closely on the very top end of the market with a much more personal service.

Meanwhile, Net-A-Porter scored a major success over Black Friday Weekend by focusing not on discounts but on giving the highest-spenders more personalisation and exclusives. And that included its It Girl Wardrobe gift option, in which shoppers could buy a package to fly business class, stay in a five-star hotel, and have their wardrobe curated by special staff for a cost of £70,000. That gift is currently listed as ‘out of stock’ on the website.