Flagship Cruise Stores

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I’m sure Her Majesty the Queen is very much looking forward to spending a day with the beautiful people of the British travel industry when she officially names the P&O Cruise ship Britannia on Monday. With its Union Jack (Flag?) livery and regal name, Britannia will be a head-turner in every port of call; a mobile endorsement of Brand UK. The Queen might well find herself thinking, ‘What if One wanted One’s own cruise line? How many of these beauties would One’s wealth stretch to?’

The answer sadly for Her Madge, is none! The Sunday Times Rich List puts the Queen’s personal net worth at about £385 million – enough maybe to buy five decks, a few restaurants and possibly a pool or two, but still more than a hundred million short of the full kit and caboodle. And that’s for a Britannia… if she wanted say, an Allure of the Seas she’d be looking at three times that. All of which is a very long winded way of saying cruise ships cost a lot of money… a shed load of money!

Not so long ago, long before he went all independent and I went all premium, I remember sitting in a bar with Miles Morgan trying to work out what was the lowest possible cost of fully fitting out a reasonably presentable travel agency. Soon enough, the conversation turned into a bet and as with all bets with Miles, I lost! The store (which by the way is still trading with the same shop fit) was kitted out and finished with a budget that didn’t even make it into five figures.

And here’s the thing… the capital cost of building even the most extravagant, prime location, flagship travel outlet is no more than twenty times the cost of Miles’ wager winner. Or put another way, for the cost of one average new ship you could build five thousand of the sexiest travel stores on the planet. And how many sexy flagship stores do cruise lines have? That’s right, none.

Now I get that building five thousand would be a bit daft (and might ruffle the sensitive feathers of an agent or two), but why not build just one… or ten… or twenty? One in every high footfall premium retail location in the UK; twenty would more than cover it. Recreate the design; the unique essence of the brand. Let customers experience it, taste it, smell it. Bring the brand to the customer in a way that’s confident and bold and aspirational. Banish any talk of discount and never talk about price – ever.

If any of this sounds familiar it’s because you already know a brand that’s done it; a brand which just like a cruise line invests billions of pounds bringing new product to market; a brand that understands the power of retail even in a digital world; which recognises the value of theatre and is prepared to invest in it. It’s the most profitable business on the planet. It’s called Apple.


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