Drumroll, please! We’ve just unveiled Asia’s most influential list at Inside Retail Asia, a collection of the region’s changemakers, rulebreakers and innovators. Each week, we will shine a light on the brilliant leaders who made the top 10. Here, we chat with Dickson Concepts executive director Pearson Poon, who came seventh on the list. As executive director of Hong Kong-listed Dickson Concepts, Pearson Poon has led the digital evolution of the Harvey Nichols business, with a groundbreak
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eaking innovation in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) revealed in April as the latest chapter.
After working with Goldman Sachs, Poon joined the retail business in 2016 as Group GM, spending 18 months in the Harvey Nichols flagship in London and fellow Dickson division S.T. Dupont in Paris.
Poon led the negotiation of a strategic partnership between Harvey Nichols and Farfetch, giving the retailer access to the luxury e-commerce retailer’s digital expertise alongside its e-commerce and logistics platform, and opening the company to more than 1.5 million active Farfetch customers.
In the digital space, Poon secured a way for customers of Harvey Nichols UK to shop live via instant messaging, photo sharing, and video streaming. He launched Harvey Nichols’ e-commerce business in Asia, which drove triple-digit growth in online fashion sales in both 2018 and 2019.
Poon also led the development of Harvey Nichols’ new retail format that opened in 2019 at Pacific Place. With a footprint 50 per cent smaller than the old format, the store still delivered a broader range by seamlessly merging online and offline inventory, allowing local customers to shop the global Harvey Nichols edit within one space. Pooling the human resources of stores in London and Hong Kong allows Harvey Nichols in-store stylists to serve customers via digital channels day and night.
At the new Hong Kong NFT ‘Vault’ in Pacific Place, collectors can access a curated selection of NFTs – most of them exclusive to the store – including from brands like CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, CloneX x Takashi Murakami, and Doodles. The NFTs can be paid for with cryptocurrency or credit cards.
Poon’s relative youth and digital-first approach are turning the traditional luxury department-store model on its head as he demonstrates significant influence and leadership in the global retail industry.
