Fortnum and Mason (Competitor)

Fortnum and Mason began in 1707 when royal footman William Fortnum set up shop in St James with his Landlord, Hugh Mason. Since then, the Fortnum & Mason has been an intrinsic part of the nation’s history and has a fascinating story to tell. This is a department store situated in Central London. The brand has become recognized internationally for it’s high quality goods as an iconic British symbol famed for its loose-leaf tea and it’s world-renowned luxury picnic hampers.

It is a unique and beautiful store. It has five restaurants, from an award-winning wine bar to the wonderful ice cream parlour. All of which helps to allow the brand to be so successful recognized for many different reasons, all of which are highly positive and allow customers to keep visiting the store.

Within the website, they offer occasional gifts, hampers, tea and coffee, food hall selection, wines and spirits, confectionery, home ware, beauty, accessories and gifts, magazine publishes and events. All of which may vary from £50 to over £200. This supports and reinforces the idea of how this is a luxury brand that had worked it’s way up in the line over time.

With covering all forms of products within the list above, this can compare to what Selfridges can already offer the consumer. This is the reason as to why this is classed as a direct consumer. This offers gifts for both sex, again which is what Selfridges offer so this links in very well. However, with this being so, this is not necessarily a good thing as consumers could choose to shop here depending on the reason and due to the loyalty shown to the brand. This is something I would then have to try and work on and over come if possible to do so to allow more consumers both new and existing to shop within Selfridges. On the other hand, this could be overcome due to the brand offering hampers and floral gifts but not actually linking this in with home ware and decorational pieces. This is literally just bouquet of flowers and floral designs. This has nothing to link to my Selfridges idea. However, I still need to try and allow this to become as innovative and pleasing as possible to allow the heads of the consumers to be turned and make them feel the need to want to visit the floristry section.

The style that they have obtained through time is classic, slightly vintage and the colour gold is portrayed a lot through their sense of style which suggests that this is a well off brand. The use of subdued blue tone allows this to become more relaxed and laid back. The style is definitely unique and one off which is what will make the consumer buy into the brand if they think that this is special. It has a really simplistic approach and the product area is the main focus, there is not beating around the bust this gets straight to the point and allows this to be portrayed. The brand has presented itself with authority and power which allows the brand to become so well established and high up.

The brand cater for every form of confectionery which is what my aim is for Selfridges. By adding the hints of the floral pieces I believe that this can allows the brands to expand into a whole new field which will excite the consumers and draw in new, fresh attention around a topic that will be new to the brand.