asia duty free & travel retailing magazine

YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO GENEROUS

”DRINKS ARE ON ME”

TFWA AP MAY 2012 • VOL 16, NO 2

TFWA AP 2012

TFWAtargets China p.16 Indian

Summer p.22 Wizardsof Oz p.30 Premium

Prospects p.90

4 ASIA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING TFWA AP MAY 2012

Letter from the Editor

he Chinese passenger has been playing a huge role in driving rising sales inAsia’s duty free market. With the Asian traveler in mind, this issue zeroes inon the skincare and cosmetics segment. The Asia-Pacific region has becomea strong revenue stream for beauty houses and investment has poured in, par-ticularly in the skincare subsector.

This combination of high-end demand and Chinese influence is one reason why DFSGroup has developed a new service called Beauty Concierge at its Galleria Four Sea-sons in Macau. The operator rolled out the service to Galleria locations in Waikiki, Hawaiilast November and has further openings in the works for Singapore and Hong Kong.Beauty Concierge includes skincare analysis, seasonal beauty tips, personalized consultations,make-up trend updates and beauty workshops provided by dedicated staff.

Beauty Concierge includes the services of a licensed aesthetician, who helps cus-tomers understand their skin needs and recommends products tailored to their indi-vidual requirements. This by-appointment service has worked well for DFS, especiallywhen it comes to skincare. A number of brands are taking advantage of the skinanalysis enabled by VISIA complexion analysis technology, which is proving popularwith customers as well.

In this issue we also put India under the microscope. It's been less than a decadesince the first purely private retailer set up shop in India’s duty free market, but thenation’s travel retail landscape is on the verge of revolutionary change, with new air-ports and terminals under development and more and more foreign firms showingan interest in the growing number of retail opportunities.

You could say that the 2010 opening of Terminal 3 at Delhi's Indira Gandhi Inter-national Airport was a watershed moment for India’s burgeoning duty free industry,considering that it gave the country’s capital city not only India’s most impressive air-port terminal, but also a world-class retail offer.

We round out this issue’s Asia Pacific coverage with two special in-depth reportson South Korea and Australia, but not before speaking with TFWA President Erik Juul-Mortensen. At press time, TFWA was about to make an important announcement—one that underscores the increasing importance of China to the duty free industry. TFWAwill host a conference in Beijing in March of 2013 as a means of providing retailersand suppliers an opportunity to fully engage with this important segment of theAsian market. Mortensen provides us as many details as possible at this early juncture.

We look forward to seeing you in Singapore and hope that you enjoy the TFWA AsiaPacific & GATE ONE2ONE edition of Asia Duty Free.

I look forward to seeing you in Singapore.

Kind regards,

Hibah [email protected]

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Growthand growingpains

Asia Free & Travel Retailing (ISSN 1360-9548) is

published annually by Global Marketing Company

Ltd., 26 Pearl Street, Mississauga, Ontario L5M 1X2

Canada. It is distributed in the following countries,

states, regions and territories on the Asian continent

and in the Pacific Rim: Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan,

Brunei, Cambodia, China, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam,

Hawaii, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macao,

Malaysia, Maldive Islands, Myanmar, Nepal, New

Caledonia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Philippines,

Saipan, Samoa, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka,

Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga, Vanuatu and Vietnam.

The views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily

reflect the views and opinions of the publisher or

editor. TFAP May 2012, Vol. 16, No. 2. All rights

reserved. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or in

part without written permission from the publisher. ©

2012 Asia Duty Free & Travel Retailing.

Asia Duty Free & Travel Retailing26 Pearl Street

Mississauga, Ontario L5M 1X2 Canada

Tel: 1 905 821 3344; Fax: 1 905 821 2777

www.dutyfreemagazine.ca

PUBLISHER

Aijaz [email protected]

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

EDITOR

Hibah [email protected]

ASIA ASSOCIATE EDITOR

P. [email protected]

CONCESSIONS, LIQUOR, & TOBACCO EDITOR

Ryan [email protected]

ART DIRECTOR

Patrick [email protected]

CONTRIBUTORS

Andrew BrooksJames Ross

Lorna Strickland-Cook

ADVERTISING SALES

ADVERTISING & MARKETING MANAGER

Kim [email protected]

CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER

Deepa [email protected]

PERFECT TASTE. ALWAYS

Industry & Retailer News

22CHANGI AIRPORT GROUP

Roar energyThe Lion City's hub operator, Changi Airport Group,is once again showing the travel-retail trade howit's done, with a drive for success that's keenerthan ever

TFAP EXHIBITORS

The spice of lifeA record number of exhibitors are showing off theirwares at this year’s TFWA AP exhibition. Asia DutyFree presents a guide to some of the industry’sleading brands

SPECIAL REPORT: Skincare & Cosmetics

SKINCARE REPORT

A radiant glow Skincare’s vitality is far from fading in Asian travelretail

LA PRAIRIE

The science behind the brandSkincare company La Prairie’s forte is its ability toproduce spot-on scientific based product andadapt to the changing trends that women demandof their skincare routine well in advance. We look atthe science behind the brand

SKINCARE NEWS

Skincare shines in AsiaPacificBeauty specialists target Asia Pacific duty free withnew products and technologies

COSMETICS REPORT

The color fieldColor is brightening up the Asia region, butgradually

COSMETICS NEWS

New and renewedCosmetics brands build on market success withupdates, new launches for 2012

AMALA

Amala - a natural choiceThe organic skincare brand has taken the spa routeto expansion and brand awareness

BEAUTY CONTACT

Beauty Contact supports21st Century LeadersCelebrities donate art for new fragrance designs:royalties to support global development

IN BRIEFNarita to build new budget terminal ■ China TravelRetail event to change venue due to increased attendeeinterest ■ Eyelevel targets commercial airlines withCartmax inflight sales unit ■ GuestLogix launchesHong Kong springboard for Asia Pacific operations■ B&S group takes over Dufri International, renamesit Dufri Global Lifestyle ■ David Dayan, an unfailingsuccess

Q&A: ERIK JUUL-MORTENSEN

“The sheer weight of numbers”Asia Duty Free talks to Erik Juul-Mortensen aboutTFWA AP, the strength of China and other marketsand a new addition to the TFWA events calendar in2013

REGIONAL REPORT: INDIA

Indian summerIndia's first foreign-partnership travel retailers havehad an unbroken run of success since they enteredthe market, and as new opportunities arise, they'reset to move on to even bigger things

REGIONAL REPORT: AUSTRALIA

Wizards of OzDespite a series of setbacks, Australia's travel-retail sector has proved to be remarkably resilient,as operators conjure new ways of gearing up forgood times ahead

REGIONAL REPORT: SOUTH KOREA

It takes twoThe duty-free market in South Korea is the domainof just two retailers, locked in a rivalry whoseeffects are beginning to be felt far beyond thecountry's borders

DENARAU DUTY FREE

Pacific pearlDenarau Duty Free is flourishing in the liberalizedduty free market in Fiji—and the future looks sunny

DUTY FREE PHILIPPINES

Isle be backDuty Free Philippines has much to celebrate in its25th year, as it pushes forward with a mandate notonly to drive sales, but to serve Filipinos returningto the archipelago from work abroad and boosttourism

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Hong Kong's year of the dragonHong Kong International Airport is at the centre ofthe action in 2012, with the duty-free industry'sbiggest-ever tender and ambitious plans for growth

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TFWA AP MAY 2012 • VOL 16, NO 2

Contents

SUNGLASS NEWS

Loving the lightNew sunglasses collections emphasize individualstyle and retro-look designs

LUXOTTICA

Luxottica strengthens travelretail teamWith an enviable portfolio of deluxe brands in theLuxottica stable, it’s no wonder that the eyewearsupplier has appointed new travel retail personnel

FOLLI FOLLIE

Folli in controlDiversification has taken jewelry house Folli Follieto new heights

FESTINA

Festina - timing is everythingThe official timekeeper of the Tour de France isplanning a big push in travel retail

FRÉDÉRIQUE CONSTANT

Constant cravingIt's very much a case of watch this space when itcomes to Frédérique Constant

REMINISCENCE

Reminiscence looks aheadReminiscence pairs two of women’s favorite things:jewelry and fragrance. The pairing’s history is aninteresting one, as the brand’s retail story andcoming overhaul attest

DEVANLAY LACOSTE TRAVEL RETAIL

Lacoste takes aim atwomen’s marketIconic brand grows in Asia, commits Baptista’stalents to new market push

JEWELRY REPORT

Golden glowFor these trend-ready jewelers, gold accents areone key to success in the Asia market andelsewhere

AERO-COS INTERNATIONAL

Prize potentialAero-Cos looks ahead to the prospects forChocolates Turin in Asia duty free

BUTLERS CHOCOLATES

Chocolate powerNew products, franchise expansion keys tosuccess in Asia and elsewhere

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Contents

inniskillin.com

Part Frozen. All Luxury.

CONFECTIONERY NEWS

New places, new namesHershey’s deepens presence in Greece; KraftFoods beefs up multiple brands in its portfolio

PERNOD RICARD ASIA DUTY FREE

Premium prospectsThe growing luxury market in Asia means there’smore growth ahead for Pernod Ricard in the region

DIAGEO GTME

Two of a kindJust in time for TFWA AP in Singapore, Diageoreleases two new expression in the iconic JohnnieWalker range of blended Scotch whiskies

BEER REPORT

Eastern brewAsia’s love affair with beer goes back millennia:today’s duty free players are ringing changes on anold favorite

GULF BEVERAGES

New HorizonsGulf Beverages now has over a year under its beltdistributing spirits in India and has a number ofupcoming listings and promotions as a result of itseffort

ASIAN-INSPIRED COCKTAILS

A taste of AsiaCocktail lovers will find that drinks in Asia are justas exotic as the region itself

THE EDRINGTON GROUP

Cognac conquersThe cognac category is a perfect fit for a strong,growing and prestige-oriented market like Asiaduty free

ASIAN-INSPIRED COCKTAILS

Keeping pace with growthThe Edrington Group establishes new Asia TravelRetail division with Regional Director Ryan Hill atthe helm to drive growth in the region

BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO

Breadth and depth British American Tobacco’s market reach andproduct depth bring continued growth on its Asianhome turf

NEW & NOTABLEBottega Diamond ■ Aloha Mix ■ Desigual TravelWallet

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The best of all worlds

Aldeasa and World Duty Free together, global strength in depth

EUROPE - AMERICAS - ASIA - MIDDLE EAST - AFRICA


In Brief

Following on his success with Lacoste, David Dayan, Interna-tional Director of LATR, is once more riding a wave of travel retailsuccess with Parker and Guess Jewellery. “The writing instrument field remains an important category in

term of impulse purchases,” Dayan says. “Despite the attractionof new technologies, the pen is still the gift of choice. Our strengthin 2011 was the launch of Ingenuity, which is a new way of writ-ing, an engineering feat or a ‘stroke of genius’ you could call it,which has had huge success with consumers. That’s why this yearwe’ll be setting up a lot of animations to highlight Ingenuity in air-port locations in Jakarta, New York, Miami, London, Moscow,Gdansk, Asuncion and so on.”The main goal in 2012 is to devote the year to developmental

work and innovation, Dayan says: upgrading existing locations, devel-oping real estate dedicated to the brand—like the shop-in-shop—and building presence in Asia and Europe. The second goal for 2012 is to focus on inflight. Based on the

success of Ingenuity, an Ingenuity box set has been created exclu-

sively for inflight, and airlines have been given theopportunity to list three products from the Parkerrange, with different price points to match passengerdemand. “We’ve been approached by many airlines, and KLM has

become the first in the world to present Ingenuity on board,”Dayan says. “Since the listing began, Parker is number onein accessories sales, based on results provided by KLM.”A year ago Dayan also accepted the challenge of getting Guess

Jewellery into worldwide travel retail distribution. And again, thechoice has proven to be the right one: 50 points of sale are opentoday, including Paris, Miami, New York, Warsaw, Moscow, Shar-jah and Montevideo. First sales results have been excellent, Dayansays, and LATR is focused on building even better numbersthrough the year.To help maintain the market momentum, LATR will be show-

casing Guess Jewellery’s Spring/Summer 2012 collections at theTFAP Asia Pacific show in Singapore, Dayan says.

Ink, the global leader in connecting companieswith travelers, and GIS Events, an event’s orga-nizer in the Chinese travel industry, announcedthat due to increased demand for exhibitionspace, The China Travel Retail Event will nowbe taking place at the Marriott City Centre inShanghai on July 23 to 25 2012. The two dayChina Travel Retail event (CTR) has now beenexpanded to host 20 sponsors, over 200 del-egates and a world class line up of speakers. “We have been completely overwhelmed

with the demand for attendance and exhibi-tion space since announcing the original

dates,” said Nick Tan, Managing Director ofGIS. “As such, we are delighted that we havehad to move the event to a fantastic newvenue at the Marriott City Centre. This con-ference is the first of its kind in China and weare really excited about the demand for atten-dance that has shaped our event.”This inaugural CTR conference will bring

together decision makers from airports, air-lines, seaports, cruise/ferry companies andtravel retail brands seeking to understandand market to the rapidly growing Chinesetravel retail market. CTR will showcase best

practices both domestically inside China at Chi-nese airports and airlines, at sea, as well ashow companies are successfully selling toChinese consumers travelling overseas. Jeffrey O’Rourke, Chief Executive of Ink

commented: “With Asia Pacific set to overtakeEurope as the largest travel retail market in 2012and Chinese consumers making up the largestpart of the Asian market, we believe that the ChinaTravel Retail event is a must attend event for travelretailers and concessionaires, health and beauty,gifts, confectionery, eyewear, fashion & acces-sories, tobacco and wine and spirits brandsalike. We believe that with the delegates alreadysigned up as well as the world class speakerswe have on board, CTR will become a highly suc-cessful event for many years to come.”

David Dayan, an unfailing success

David Dayan,

International

Director of LATR

LATR has opened 50

points of sale for Guess

Jewellery to date

China Travel Retail event to change venue due to increased attendee interest

In Brief

UK-based eyelevel,which supplies luxuryproducts to VIP airlinesand private jet opera-tors, has launched a newairline retail unit called

Cartmax. The product is designed to maximize thepotential for inflight sales on commercial airlines. Cartmax was developed by eyelevel’s Manag-ing Director Matthew Delamere. The unit is pro-vided as a flat-packed, fold-out, recycledcardboard unit that sits within the deep traycompartment of an airline trolley. It has beendesigned to provide an attractive point ofsale proposition utilizing colorful brandingoptions on its exterior panels, supporting thesales efforts of flight attendants.“People buy with their eyes, and retail

in general has always provided strongpoints of sales for their goods,” Delameresays. “You’d never see a supermarket dis-play products without graphics to attractattention, and Cartmax simply takes this

proposition and puts it on aircraft.”Cartmax can be used as an advertising medium,

enabling the airline to sell “space” to outside spon-sors for periods of time. It can be used to promoteoffers on board such as menus of new coffee ranges.Airlines can change images to boost sales of holi-day-oriented items. And passengers using ear-phones for inflight entertainment can more easily dis-tinguish between food and inflight sales service.eyelevel says the simplicity of Cartmax means

airlines don’t have to adapt existing trolleys touse it, and because it fits inside the trolley cartsand is made of cardboard, it doesn’t require extrastorage space or add noticeable weight.A number of airlines are considering trials, and

Delamere is hoping on board tests will get under-way in May. “Airlines are always looking at meansof developing ancillary revenue and it seems thatCartmax could offer great potential for increasedrevenues, which is why we’re reviewing trials,”says Raymond Kiersey, General Manager of InflightSales at UK airline Flybe, which is reviewing theunit’s potential.

GuestLogix launches Hong Kong springboard for Asia Pacific operations


The B&S group has announced that its Global Lifestyle com-pany will take over the electronics business of Dufri Interna-tional as of April 16, operating the business under the new com-mercial name “Dufri Global Lifestyle.”B&S says that all of Dufri International’s customers and sup-

pliers will be notified via a personal letter and phone call. Allthe current Dufri International account managers will join thenew entity. “Dufri Global Lifestyle will be able to support customers in

travel retail with its known wide assortment of electronicsand dedicated advice in assortment, training, and sales andmarketing support,” B&S Group said in making the announce-ment. “All this will be possible in the new strong financialenvironment within the B&S group. The Dufri team wants tothank all relations for their trust and support in the last monthsand looks forward to working together in the coming years.”

GuestLogix, a leading global provider of onboard retail and paymenttechnology solutions to airlines and the passenger travel industry,has announced that it is setting up operations in Hong Kong to ser-vice Asia Pacific airlines. “Asia Pacific is the largest region in the world for passengers,

accounting for almost 34% of passenger traffic worldwide,” Guest-Logix says. “However, as the region is poised for more growth andtraffic in the coming years, for airlines to survive and thrive there needsto be a renewed focus on offerings that offset rising fuel and othercosts that are both sustainable and attractive to passengers.”On May 7 GuestLogix Asia Pacific will celebrate the opening of

its new location. Hong Kong was selected because it’s a major AsiaPacific airline hub, with around 40 million passengers arriving or pass-ing through every year. “Hong Kong is the ideal home for GuestLogix,and the company will be able to provide improved service solutionsspecially tailored to the needs for the region’s airlines and thedemands of its passengers,” GuestLogix says. GuestLogix was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Toronto,

Canada, with offices in Dallas, London and Singapore.

Eyelevel targetscommercial airlines withCartmax inflight sales unit

B&S group takes overDufri International, renamesit Dufri Global Lifestyle

Narita International Airport Corp, the oper-ator of Tokyo's busiest international air-port, is planning to build a new budget ter-minal to cater for Japan’s burgeoning low-cost airline sector.The airport operator says it will turn an

existing building into the budget terminal,and plans to open the facility by March2015. The new terminal will have no aero-bridges, relatively simple interior equipment

in order to keep costs down, and a retail offeraimed at the budget-conscious traveler.The airport's announcement comes as

at least three new low-cost airlines plan totake to Japanese skies. The first will beJetstar Japan, a joint venture between Qan-tas and Japan Airlines that received its AirOperator’s Certificate in early April, andwhich plans to launch commercial servicesat Narita from 3 July.

Japan Airlines' main rival, All NipponAirways (ANA), is also planning to start a newlow-cost carrier based at Narita. And inAugust, AirAsia Japan is expected to startservices from Narita. ANA’s new budget airline is the second

it has started in just six months, followingthe recent launch of carrier Peach at Osaka’sKansai International Airport.Narita International Airport handled 28.1

million passengers in 2011.

Narita to build new budget terminal


Asia Duty Free: Are there any recent devel-opments with regard to TFWA AP that weshould know about?Erik Juul-Mortensen, President, TFWA:TFWA has set the scene for a very busy weekin May at TFWA Asia Pacific & GATEONE2ONE. The most exciting news is thatthe trade floor is not only fully booked, it hasspilled over into a new Mezzanine level forthe first time ever. We are delighted with thecaliber of exhibitors who have confirmedtheir participation and we are anticipatinga very satisfactory number of visitors basedon the pre-registrations at this stage.

The Conference and Workshops day will,we hope, be as inspiring and thought-pro-voking as ever. The theme “Power & Poten-tial in Asia Pacific” may not be ground-break-ing but we anticipate that the content willbe. Following my opening address Furla CEOEraldo Poletto will delve into the hot topic ofAsia’s luxury brand-hungry consumers; Chan-dran Nair, CEO of the Global Institute ForTomorrow, will study the broader picture ofbusiness in Asia; and Jonathan Chippindale,CEO of Holition, will look at the role of dig-ital marketing.

The workshops will address four topicalsubjects: “China Revisited” and “EmergingAsia” will look at development potential inChina and other countries such as Indonesia,Vietnam and the Philippines. “TechnologyTalk” will open up the social media and smart-phone technology and see how it can applyto duty free and travel retail, and “Airline &Inflight Asia” will look at different airlinebusiness models operated by flag carriers andLCCs and how they handle inflight retail.

We always plan enjoyable social occa-sions around the event to get people talkingand this year we are taking the Singapore

Swing Party to Garden Asia, a new andrather exotic location. The week will kick offwith the Welcoming Cocktail at Raffles andthe Chill-Out party on Tuesday will be setat the Mandarin Oriental poolside whichoffers superb views of the city.

ADF: Can you give us an update on con-firmed exhibitors and sponsors, and howthis compares to last year?EJM: TFWA is delighted with the record

number of exhibitors this year—currently236 exhibitors occupying almost 7,000 squaremeters of stand space compared with 212companies on 6,330 square meters last year,which was itself a record at the time.

The level of sponsorship reflects the indus-try’s confidence in this event as a high pro-file platform to promote major stakeholdersin the Asia Pacific region. Our Diamondsponsor this year is Qatar Duty Free, thePlatinum sponsor is Changi Airport Singa-pore, Heinemann and Aer Rianta Interna-tional are sponsoring the workshop sessions,Ferrero is covering the coffee break, Perfetti

he most recent exhibitor andregistration statistics fromTFWA for its annual confer-ence and trade show in Sin-gapore indicate what most in

the industry already know—that travelretail is flourishing in Asia. President ofTFWA Erik Juul-Mortensen talks toAsiaDuty Free about the latest developmentsin the region and with TFWA.

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“Given the complexity andopportunity in the Chinesemarket TFWA has takenthe decision to stage aChina Conference in Beijing in March 2013.”Erik Juul-Mortensen, President, TFWA

“The sheer weight of numbers”Asia Duty Free talks to Erik Juul-Mortensen about TFWA AP, the strength of China andother markets and a new addition to the TFWA events calendar in 2013 BY HIBAH NOOR

Q&A: Erik Juul-Mortensen


Van Melle the conference portfolio andTommy Hilfiger the hostesses’ outfits.

ADF: From your point of view, what are themain developments in Asia impacting thetravel retail industry?EJM: We have heard much about the growthprojections for this region with inboundand outbound tourism increasing at a rapidrate, particularly with respect to China,Korea, Vietnam and India. This growth hashuge implications for transport—especiallyairport infrastructure, duty free and travelretail—and brand development in the region,so that is a tremendous opportunity. How-ever, this is a complex market and withdozens of new airports and terminals spring-ing up in the region, the question has to bewhether retailers, operators and suppliers,many with a traditional Western outlook, canadapt to the new market and the new gen-eration of consumers, and adapt fast. We havea whole new generation of consumers enter-ing our stores—are we reaching out to themand engaging with them?

ADF: What are some of the challenges theregion faces?EJM: Among the issues facing our industryare the current challenges to our traditionalduty free product groups of liquor and

tobacco. We are tackling, for example, anindustry code of conduct for the sale of alco-hol which demonstrates to the doubters thatour business is well managed, controlledand conducted in a responsible manner. Weare also working with the authorities in manycountries to agree to display and sellingprocesses for tobacco goods which will sat-isfy the authorities.

The emergence of so-called low cost car-riers which behave differently to flag carri-ers; the language and cultural barriers encoun-tered by the “new” travelers as well as mak-ing them feel comfortable and inclined toshop; and different consumer motivation

Standards for the quality of the 2012 show were set high due

to last year’s event, but to date the number of registrants and

exhibitors indicates that TFWA AP is set for a record turnout


and behavior which requires a fresh approachto product selections, layout and merchan-dising. The opportunities offered by thesheer weight of numbers are evident—we justhave to learn how to exploit the potential.

ADF: All suppliers and retailers love theChinese consumer. Are there any othernationalities that are following in theirfootsteps when it comes to buying habits?EJM: The Chinese traveling consumer isindeed a welcome phenomenon in the travelretail market—he/she travels widely, spendsa large amount on their travels, has apredilection for luxury goods and aspira-tional brands, researches the market and isgenerally savvy about range and price. TheIndian market is also developing fast, asare the Taiwanese and Korean markets but

with less volume and a less marked prefer-ence for high value goods.

ADF: Have you seen or heard of any inno-vative retailer/supplier activity that deservespraise?EJM: I am constantly surprised and delightedby the innovative techniques used bybrandowners and retailers to attract theattention of the consumer or indeed theconnoisseur, from the prestigious Masterof Spirits events staged by DFS at Singa-pore Changi, to motorcycle promotions atZurich, to exclusive fragrance, spirits, con-fectionery and accessories launches in air-ports large and small all over the world.

The most impressive are the ones wherethe brands and retailers are clearly workinghand in hand like Nuance Watson pre-launch-ing a perfume in Hong Kong, Delhi Duty Freeshowcasing a whisky, Aelia working with acognac company to mount an outstandingpromotional display at Paris CDG, confec-tionery companies using games and activi-ties to engage the customer, and countless

cocktail and tasting bars to delight the wearytraveler. These examples of cooperation arethe essence of effective retail.

ADF: Overall, how is this region pro-gressing? What should we expect in thenext 2-3 years? EJM: There is speculation that the “Chinesebubble” may burst and that the growth in pas-senger numbers may stabilize. If this shouldbe the case and the growth rate slows to morecommon single digit levels we are still facedwith steadily increasing passenger numbersand a major boost to demand in travel retail.

Given the complexity and opportunity inthe Chinese market TFWA has taken thedecision to stage a China Conference in Bei-jing in March 2013 to give all stakeholdersa chance to learn about the market, to dis-cuss trading behaviors, to assess the poten-tial, to meet others who have made the leap,and to develop networks of contacts in theregion. We are confident that this will be asuccessful and valuable addition to the indus-try calendar for 2013. c

Currently 236 exhibitors occupying almost 7,000

square meters of stand space have confirmed for

TFWA AP 2012, compared with 212 companies

on 6,330 square meters last year


Regional Report: India


India's first foreign-partnership travelretailers have had an unbroken run ofsuccess since they entered the market,and as new opportunities arise, they'reset to move on to even bigger things

Indiansummer

DDFS offers a world-class duty-free selection at Delhi's T3

DDFS says Indian travelers are highly brand-

conscious, and has shaped its retail offer accordingly

t's less than 10 years since the first purely private retailer setup in Indian duty free, but now the country's travel-retail mar-ket stands on the edge of a revolution as new airports and ter-minals are built and an increasing number of foreign firms eyepotentially rich pickings.

The opening of Terminal 3 at Delhi's Indira Gandhi InternationalAirport in 2010 arguably marked the turning point in the Indianindustry, giving India's capital the country's most impressive air-port terminal, and a retail offer to match.

But it wasn't all smooth sailing at the outset for the newest kidon the block, Delhi Duty Free Services (DDFS) - a joint venturebetween airport operator Delhi International Airport Ltd, IndianDuty Free Services and Aer Rianta International, set up specificallyto operate at the new terminal.

"Logistically it was a big nightmare," says DDFS Chief ExecutiveSteve O'Connor. "We were outperforming the budget, even in theearly days. Nobody knew when the business was going to plateauat a level where it was consistent, and our biggest problem was try-ing to get our business fully stocked. But in the past year, we've gotinto a position where we have consistent stock all the time, and that'sreflecting in our sales."

O'Connor says DDFS's sales have increased "substantially" overthe past year, with growth in double-digit percentages and a largenumber of regular customers.

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S E P A R A T E S T H E M E N F R O M T H E B O Y S

VISIT US AT BOOTH J4

But several years before DDFS made its impressive debut inDelhi, the Indian arm of Switzerland-headquartered The NuanceGroup was already setting up duty-free stores at Bengaluru Inter-national Airport, further south.

The Nuance Group (India), a joint venture between Nuance andlocal retailer Shopper's Stop, opened its outlets at Bengaluru, whichserves India's IT capital, Bangalore, in 2008, and it has been quietlyrefining its business since then. And all the signs are that its effortshave paid off.

"Sales are growing at 30% over last year, on passenger trafficthat's growing at a rate of 12-14%," says Nuance (India) CountryHead Anirban Chowdhury.

Behind this, Chowdhury says, are several factors. "Liquor and foodare growing," he says. "That's driven by increasing leisure traffic to South-east Asia. When we opened, in 2008, most of our revenue was com-ing from travelers on European flights, but now we see a clear shift towardsSoutheast Asian flights, and there are more and more group tours."

"A growing middle class is also one of the factors," Chowdhury says."Five years back, most honeymooning couples would travel within India.

But now, with the IT industry [in Bangalore] booming, people aretraveling across the world and aspiration levels are rising - there's hugetraffic on that front. And there's huge corporate leisure travel, withcompanies taking their staff [abroad] usually in groups of 20-40. Thosetravelers spend a lot of money both in departures and in arrivals.

"And in Indian airports, the specialty category is almost non-exis-tent, so that's one area [of strength] - especially with destination mer-chandise. I think we're the only airport that's been able to put upa concept exclusive for our destination category, which is doing verywell for us."

Chowdhury says the specialty category contributes almost 20%of all Nuance (India)'s business at Bengaluru, and includes prod-ucts such as packaged curry paste, Indian sweets, souvenirs, localfashion and tea.

It's a category in which O'Connor also sees great potential. "Wehave an agreement with [Delhi International Airport Ltd] for des-tination merchandise," he says. "It's only tea at the moment, but we'relooking to expand into more destination product lines because wesee good potential in that if it's done properly.


Nuance offers a full complement of upscale brands at Bengaluru airport

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Perfectionhas a darker side.

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Nuance's destination offer includes a wide

range of local fashion and accessoriesNuance has spent several years honing its business at Bengaluru, and now it's ready to expand

"Tea is really big business for us here ... and obviously India's syn-onymous with tea. We see huge potential there for the category, eventhough it's kind of underdeveloped at the moment ... We need tocome up with something different from just stocking it on theshelves in packets. I want a concept with containers of loose tea whereyou can get the aroma, where people can sample it and have tea tast-ings and bring a bit of theatre into the category. Tea will be an ele-ment of people's gifting, and we know we can generate a lot morerevenue out of it."

Scotch whisky is another key category for both DDFS and Nuance(India).

"We have 144 varieties," says O'Connor. "It's a fantastic range, par-ticularly in departures, because people have time to explore."

DDFS has launched a number of whisky promotions, includingtastings, and is planning on sending sales staff to Scotland in the yearahead to learn more about the product as it coaxes its customers intotrading up and adds niche brands to its offer.

Chowdhury says Nuance (India) is also "very focused on whisky"and is setting up a single-malt zone at Bengaluru.

"In most airports," he says, "refinements [in the range of singlemalts] are categorized only by place of origin and taste balance, butin our version we've gone a step further, aligning each taste palatewith a color for better visual attraction. It's a very interesting andexciting category that we're growing very fast, and we plan to expandour range."

Ranges aren't the only things that are expanding, either. Delhi'sairport operator is working on creating new retail space in the piersat T3, says O'Connor.

"We're looking at installing mobile [retail] units to operate at thegates and talking to Delhi Airport about other opportunities, too,"he says. "We have two pier shops, but by the time people go past them,they're certainly not going to come back to them. We’re looking atopening another shop at the end of our retail area with the four cat-egories [liquor & tobacco, confectionery, food and perfumes & cos-metics] to support all of that."

Bengaluru is also building out new space in its Terminal 1, whichChowdhury says should be completed by 2013. And he's bullish about

the likelihood that Nuance (India) will win the concession to oper-ate the new retail areas.

"We have a five-plus-two-year contract, but it was not anticipatedthat the traffic would grow so fast and that there would be anexpansion, so we've been engaging with the airport," he says. "Thereare very few local players in the market, and they kind of operatemore from outside India, with only their retail operations here. Butwe have our back office here in India, so I think in any tender, that'llstand us in good stead."

And, having bedded their respective businesses down, bothretailers are keen on taking the next step into other Indian airports.

Chowdhury says: "There are a number of other opportunitiesthat'll be available in the next three to six months. A lot of govern-ment-run airports in places like Chennai and Kolkata are beingupgraded, and airports that have opened recently in smaller cities haveset good precedents - they've done a good job, with more space forretail and F&B.

"We're looking at Chennai and Kolkata," he says. "Commer-cially they are very, very viable, and with our presence in the mar-ket - with our back-office operations here - it's much more cost-efficient for us to service additional airports."

Cochin Airport, in the southern state of Kerala, is another oppor-tunity, with a new terminal in the pipeline, but Mumbai Chhatra-pati Shivaji Airport's Terminal 2, due to open next year, is the prizethat both retailers - and many more besides - have their eye on.

"Mumbai will be big and we're following it closely," says Chowd-hury. "And I wouldn't be wrong in saying that every [duty-free retailer]in the world will be looking at Mumbai, especially after the successin Delhi. Everybody's looking at Mumbai, and so are we."

"Aer Rianta will be chasing that business for sure," says O'Con-nor. "It's the next biggest airport after Delhi, so you'd be mad notto go for it. It's more complicated because of Customs and laborunions down there, but it's a massive business."

As India's airport development continues apace, count on thesetwo foreign-partnered retailers to be joined by an impressive fieldof big names from abroad in the race for retail in this fast-grow-ing market. c



loods. An ash cloud. A strong currency. Strikesat national flag carrier Qantas. The ground-ing of Tiger Airways Australia. An intensify-ing campaign to control tobacco labeling.

Australian airports and travel retailershave faced what Cairns Airport General Manager ofCommercial Robert Evans describes as a "perfect storm"over the past 12 months.

But with a strong determination to get throughthese challenges, retailers and airports alike have playedto their strengths, pressed ahead with getting the bestout of their businesses and are set for a period ofrenewed expansion.

In Melbourne, airport operator Australia Pacific Air-ports Melbourne has been busy opening an array of retail outlets inthe airport's recently expanded international terminal, bringing ina taste of the city's celebrated food culture.

"Our focus is absolutely on food and beverage in our interna-tional departures area," says Deborah Price, Melbourne Airport'sManager of Retail Strategy. "Of note are two of Australia's most cel-ebrated chefs - Shannon Bennet, of Cafe Vue, and Frank Camorra,of Bar Pulpo by Movida, who have opened outlets at the airport."

The airport has also been expanding its range of brands and prod-ucts, adding a number of "firsts" among Australian airports, includ-

ing brands JR Watch Co, Swatch and Forever New, and bookstoreWH Smith.

"Cafe Vue Express also opened landside in T2," says Price, "andour focus for retail in general over the next 6-12 months is to sta-bilize our current retailers."

Nearly 1,700km up the east coast, Brisbane Airport has been bur-nishing its image, working with advertising agency Clemenger BBDOto develop a new retail branded look and feel due for launch in April.

Leeann Ellison, Brisbane Airport Corp's Marketing Manager ofTerminal Retail and Commercial, says: "It'll promote the breadth and

F

Regional Report: Australia

Wizards ofOzDespite a series of setbacks,

Australia's travel-retail sector has proved to be remarkably resilient, as operators conjure new ways of gearing up for good times ahead BY P. CONVERY

Melbourne's T2

offers travelers a light

and airy ambience

Cafe Vue offers diners

at Melbourne Airport

a taste of the city's

renowned cuisine

Melbourne Airport marks Lunar New Year for its

growing Chinese passenger segment

JR Watch Co is one of the recent openings at Melbourne Airport

invites you to discover the new KINDER FRIENDS and KINDER MIX assortments designed exclusively for travel retail. Bursting with Kinder goodness, the KINDER FRIENDS 250g pouch contains bite-size Kinder Bueno, Kinder Chocolate, Kinder Country and Schoko-Bons. The new KINDER MIX 420g offers a wonderful selection of Kinder Maxi, Kinder Schoko Bons and Kinder Bueno bars in a unique packaging that will delight all the Kinder fans!

Flying high with and

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range of categories available at the international terminal, such as dutyfree, specialty retail, currency [exchange] and food & beverage."

The airport operator currently has no plans to launch new ten-ders, but has recently carried out a major market research exerciseaimed at improving the airport's retail environment, which Ellisonsays will greatly assist in the development of a new retail master plan.

Even further north, in Cairns, the gateway for Australia's GreatBarrier Reef, Cairns Airport has just closed a tender for F&B in theairport's international terminal. The airport recently welcomedAustralia-headquartered retailer J/R Duty Free as its sole duty-freeconcessionaire after previous incumbent The Nuance Group Aus-tralia decided not to bid to renew its contract.

The airport's domestic terminal was given an A$200 million(US$207 million) facelift a couple of years back, says Evans, and "thereare a few leases still to be signed there... and the international [con-tracts] have all been signed over the past few years, so this F&B oneis really the last remaining."

Cairns Airport may have finished inking almost all of its retailand F&B contracts, but at Perth Airport in Western Australia, theprocess is only just beginning. Perth recently unveiled the designof an A$750 million (US$774 million) upgrade, which includes anew domestic terminal and an expansion to its international ter-minal, and the airport operator is touting for retailers' business inthe new spaces, which are due to be completed in early 2013.

"We are keen to attract a varied and interesting range of brandssuited to the Western Australian passenger market," says Perth Air-port Chief Executive Brad Geatches. "The retail spaces in the newdomestic terminal and expanded international terminal will pro-vide concessionaires with good exposure and space to creatively pre-

sent their products or services."The new domestic terminal is the first in a series of projects that will

deliver over 50 new retail outlets at the airport in the next three years. Perth Airport's passenger profile is quite distinct from that at all

the country's other major airports, thanks to its proximity to muchof Australia's mining and resources activity. Some 36,000 passen-gers working in the resources industry transit through the airporteach week, and Geatches says the airport will be focused on pro-viding a "relevant retail offering that represents value for money,choice and impeccable customer service".

Elsewhere, an important and rapidly growing passenger seg-ment is mainland Chinese travelers.

"We've had enormous growth in the number of Chinese passengers,and we don't even have a direct flight [to China]," says Cairns's Evans,referring to Chinese travelers passing through the airport on domes-tic flights. "We've had 35-40% growth year on year for the past threeor four years. We're up to 80,000-100,000 Chinese visitors nowfrom about 20,000 three or four years ago."

And it's a similar story at other Australian airports. Ellison saysChina is now the third most important inbound market for Bris-bane Airport, with Chinese passenger traffic up 21.5% on 2010, andMelbourne Airport spokesperson Anna Gillett reports 23.2% growthin the number of Chinese visitors in 2011.

Derek Larsen, Chief Executive of The Nuance Group Australia,which runs duty free under various brands at almost every majorAustralian airport, says: "We're seeing good growth in Chinese pas-sengers in all our airports, but particularly Sydney, Melbourne andBrisbane. They're growing at a much more rapid pace than othernationalities in these airports."


F1rst Duty Free is one of the brands under which The Nuance Group (Australia) operates

Brisbane Airport's food court offers a range of dining possibilities

Brisbane Airport's fashion zone


"The airports are all looking much more closely at how they canadapt their services to meet the needs of Chinese passengers, andlikewise, we are also looking at how we can provide specific servicesfor them," he says. "We already have specialist Mandarin-speakingstaff, and we're looking at how we can communicate with them ina more targeted way."

Larsen says the way to get Chinese travelers to reach for their wal-lets is via gifting and premium products - a conclusion shared byalmost all the airport sources interviewed for this story - and thata strong destination product offering is a big draw for the Chinese,and other nationalities besides.

"Destination merchandise is a strong and growing part of the busi-ness," he explains. "We have Australia by Nature and also Jurlique- both very successful because they are Australian brands but alsofit into the health and wellbeing category which is a growth area forus as well, and we are looking to develop it further. Health and well-being products are very popular with our Chinese customers, too,as they like natural products."

"And we've developed what I think is a really impressive wine offer,"Larsen says. "We have a great relationship with Penfolds, and we'reworking with them to bring exclusives to the airport. Last year we sawan amazing response to the release of the 2008 Special Bin 620 Coon-awarra Cabernet Shiraz. We were the only Australian retailer - domes-tic or on-airport - to carry the wine, which was only showcased atother downtown locations. Only 1,000 cases were released worldwide.We made it available in all our stores and the response was phenomenal."

Larsen says that going forward, Nuance will be revisiting the acces-sories and watches offer at Sydney Airport's main store to take theoffer more upmarket and incorporate additional brands and thatthe company will be looking at doing the same in other locationstoo. He says Nuance is also carrying out renovations at its Expressstores at Melbourne and Sydney airports.

He admits the past year has thrown up its fair share of chal-lenges, one of the most significant being the strength of the Aus-tralian dollar.

"Some of our suppliers' business models have been impacted, soour pricing structures have been affected and in some cases we havehad to work hard to stay competitive," he explains. "There is a realemphasis on innovation and newness, travel-retail exclusives,Nuance exclusives, gifting and 'Australiana', which provide a hedgeagainst the high dollar."

And despite the fact that he sees challenges ahead, Larsen ismatter of fact about addressing them.

"Across the business, we have implemented new governmenttobacco legislation, and there's more to come, with plain packag-ing due in December," he says." The impact of the new legislationwill continue to be a major challenge, as tobacco sales directlyimpact other categories.

"We [also] have LAGs [liquids, aerosols and gels] restrictions here,but we have processes in place now, and we also have a very good'Shop and Collect' service available for both departures and arrivals,which removes this issue for returning Australians and residents.We've seen a steady healthy growth in that business, and actuallywe're dedicating more space to this service as its popularity grows."

The Australian travel-retail industry may have faced one of itsmost challenging periods over the past 12 months, but as retailersand airports innovate to surmount those challenges - and as theresilience of the industry during that period demonstrates - the out-look is promising indeed. c

Perth's new domestic terminal will free up space at

the airport's international terminal and boost capacity

More than 50 retail opportunities are set to open up at Perth Airport

The new domestic pier departures lounge represents a

transformation of Perth Airport's interior space

One of Nuance's promotions at Brisbane Airport

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Regional Report: South Korea


It takes twoouth Korea's travel retail scene hasseen rapid consolidation in recentyears, with just two companiescoming to dominate one of Asia'skey duty-free markets - big boy

Lotte Duty Free and its energetic but smallerrival, Shilla Duty Free.

Since Lotte acquired all of the opera-tions of AK Duty Free - stores at SeoulIncheon and Gimpo airports and a down-town pre-order shop in Seoul - and sincestate-run Korea Tourism Organization gotout of the travel-retail business, the twocompetitors have been left to slug it outalone, and the rivalry between them hasbecome steadily more intense.

That rivalry reached perhaps its mostbitter point late in 2011, when Shilla beatLotte with its bid for a partnership withluxury fashion house Louis Vuitton. Shillabecame the first duty-free retailer in theworld to open a Louis Vuitton store in an air-port - at Seoul's Incheon - in September, caus-ing quite an upset at Lotte.

Opening the 550 square meter store wasa coup for Shilla, but it came at a cost, asother high-end brands reacted angrily to thepreferential treatment Shilla had extendedto Louis Vuitton in order to clinch the deal.The allocation of the best retail space in theairport to Louis Vuitton and a rental of 6-7%- as opposed to the 20% paid by other brands- proved too much for Gucci to stomach,prompting it to close the stores it operated withShilla and team up with Lotte. Chanel alsorefused to renew its contract with Shilla, and

pulled out of the airport in mid-September.Shilla is reluctant to reveal how much rev-

enue its Louis Vuitton store - the largest of itskind worldwide - is bringing in, due to thecommercial sensitivity of the information, butestimates run as high as US$65 million annu-ally, thanks largely to growing numbers ofhigh-spending Chinese travelers.

A rise in passenger numbers from theChinese mainland is driving sales for bothShilla and Lotte. It comes partly as a resultof Chinese travelers shunning Japan fol-lowing its devastating earthquake, tsunamiand nuclear emergency, and visiting SouthKorea instead.

A Lotte spokesman says: "Koreans stillcontribute more than half of all our sales,as they prefer to do their luxury shoppingin duty-free, but a growing number of trav-elers - especially from China - are fast over-taking sales to locals. The high spendingpower of these customers is something wecannot afford to ignore."

Lotte has been aggressively marketingitself in China in recent years, having openedinformation offices in Shanghai in 2009 andin Beijing in 2010.

Lotte Marketing Director Kim Ju-namsays: "The share of sales to Chinese cus-tomers out of our overall sales increasedfrom 8% in 2010 to 15% last year. Sales toKoreans declined about 10% due to the badeconomy, but the drop was more than com-pensated by gains in sales to Chinese."

Sales at Lotte have grown more than five-fold in the past three years, from less than 500

billion won (US$441 million) in 2008 to 2.7trillion won last year. In 2011, the retailer'sfull-year sales were 17.4% higher than in2010, largely thanks to the doubling of Chi-nese travelers' contribution to its revenues.

At Shilla, a spokesman says the Chineseare now the biggest-spending customer seg-ment in the retailer's duty-free stores, con-tributing almost half of their sales.

Until 2009, Shilla's sales to Japanese trav-elers were almost triple its sales to Chinesevisitors.

"[But] sales to Chinese have been risingsince the second quarter of 2010," says ShillaVice President Jason Cha, "turning the tablesbetween sales receipts from Chinese andJapanese travelers for the first time."

Shilla has responded to that trend by hir-ing Chinese-speaking sales staff, and it islooking to hire more.

"Arranging Chinese-speaking staff to helpChinese tourists to shop conveniently is some-thing we consider very important," says Cha."Our Chinese-speaking staff at our maindowntown store in Seoul wear special 'panda'badges so they're easily recognizable, and wehave Chinese-speaking sales staff at ourKorean cosmetics zone to help Chinese vis-itors chose products. Also, about 30% of oursales representatives at our Louis Vuittonstore at Incheon are Chinese speakers."

The retailer has also organized eventsand promotions targeting Chinese travelers,including a card game event during LunarNew Year, with winners using coupons theywin to make purchases in its stores. Shilla says

S

Lotte is aggressively expanding

beyond its home market

The duty-free market in South Korea is the domain of just two retailers, locked in a rivalry whose effects are beginning to be felt far beyond the country's borders

BY P. CONVERY

SMOKERS DIE YOUNGER. SOURCE: EU DIRECTIVE (2001/37/EC)

Regional Report: South Korea

it is planning similar events in the future,especially during the peak travel season andaround Chinese national holidays.

In March, Shilla started using social mediato drive sales to Chinese travelers, with a mar-keting campaign on Sina Weibo - the Chi-nese equivalent of Twitter - offering shop-ping information and promotions.

"We are working on establishing a rela-tionship with Sina Weibo [for a presence on]their homepage," says Cha.

Among the best-selling products to theChinese, Shilla says, are cosmetics fromSouth Korean brands such as Missha, TheFace Shop and Innisfree, as well as high-end international brands including EstéeLauder, Sulhwasoo and Dior. And it says itsLouis Vuitton venture has been a hit amongChinese travelers, highlighting the luxuryambience of South Korean duty free andthe quality of Incheon airport, which recentlyscooped Airports Council International'saward for Best Airport Worldwide for the sev-enth year running.

Although Incheon has long been a bat-tleground for Shilla and Lotte, this year hasseen the fight between the two retailers spillbeyond South Korea's borders.

In January, Lotte launched its first forayinto Asian duty-free outside its home mar-ket, opening two stores at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in a joint ven-ture with local partner PT SJ-Indonesia.

Together, they cover almost 900 squaremeters of floor area, with one store offeringliquor & tobacco and perfumes & cosmet-ics, and the other, slightly smaller store sell-ing fashion and accessories.

Less than a week after that, Lotteannounced that it had won a contract toopen an outlet at Singapore's Changi Airportin May. Located in the transfer area of theairport's Terminal 2, Lotte's Changi store willmeasure 80 square meters and sell a rangeof South Korean products, such as ginseng.

Lotte's next steps into Southeast Asiareturn the focus to Indonesia, where it plansto open duty-free shops at Ngurah RaiInternational Airport, the gateway to theresort island of Bali, a downtown pre-orderduty-free store also in Bali, and a 5,500square meter downtown pre-order dutyfree shop inside Indonesia's first LotteDepartment Store. The store is due to openin December, in the 130,000 square meterCiputra World Mall in Jakarta, which Lotteplans to rebrand as the Lotte ShoppingPlaza Indonesia.

Shilla, not to be outdone, has gone headto head with its larger rival in two big ten-ders - at Hong Kong and Los Angeles inter-national airports.

Hong Kong's tender, the results of whichAirport Authority Hong Kong says will beout in the second quarter, is the biggest heldin the history of the industry, with business

worth at least US$500 million annually atstake. The world's biggest duty-free heavy-weights all submitted bids.

Lotte - already the world's sixth-biggestduty-free retailer, and with a stated intentionto become the world's best by 2018 - bid forthe concessions for liquor & tobacco, per-fumes & cosmetics and general merchandise.Shilla teamed up with local operator SkyConnection in a bid for the general mer-chandise category.

In Los Angeles, the South Korean retail-ers are competing with each other - and afield of global duty-free giants - for justover 3,700 square meters of retail space cur-rently run by DFS Group.

The winning bidder will gain the con-cession to operate all duty-free at LAX fromJanuary 2013 for 10 years, with an option toextend for another three years.

Given the scale of the ambition on displayin these bids - and the fierce rivalry betweenthe two retailers - Cha's modesty aboutShilla's position is somewhat surprising.

"If an opportunity comes our way, wewill do our best to submit either a conces-sion proposal or joint-venture equivalentwith a local partner," he says. “We are cur-rently in the trial and learning process withregard to going global."

As South Korea's two travel-retail giantstake their fight to the next level, actionssurely speak louder than words. c

Lotte's offer at Seoul Incheon

airport is highly brand-driven

Pacific pearlDenarau Duty Free is flourishing in the liberalized duty freemarket in Fiji—and the future looks sunny BY ANDREW BROOKS

Denarau Duty Free is a new arrival

on the scene, but it covers the full

gamut of product categories and

future prospects are good


uty free is our new ven-ture,” says Doreen Yee,Director of Fiji-based Dena-rau Duty Free. “We’ve beenin foodservice for the last 20

years but the government’s initiative to re-intro-duce duty free shopping outside the airportled us to take the challenge of operating aduty free shop.” For nearly 50 years, Yee says,Fiji had two duty free players, operating in theairport and in most major hotels. Then in 2012the government announced its intention toopen up duty free throughout the country.

The 340-square-meter family ownedoperation officially opened on January 20,2011, and based on the year’s performance,the opportunity to open more shops hasbeen offered, but, as Yee says, “we first haveto prove ourselves before we move forward.”There are 15 people on staff.

The shop is located in the Port DenarauRetail and Commercial Centre on DenarauIsland in Nadi, 20 minutes from the inter-national airport. Port Denarau is a ferry ter-minal and a gateway to over 50 outer islandresorts. The shop derives its business fromthe cruise ships that visit the port—roughlytwo per month—and tourists from the nearbyhotels. Australians make up half the touristarrivals, followed by New Zealanders at 16%,then Europeans, Americans and Asians.About 100 flights arrive each week, on AirPacific, Qantas, JetStar, Pacific Blue, Air NewZealand, Korean Airlines, ContinentalMicronesia, Solomon Airlines and Aircalin.

“Our turnover at the moment is enoughto buy stock, pay staff and pay the bills,”Yee says. “We don’t anticipate making hugeprofits in the first few years of operation.”

Top categories are fragrances, jewelry, sun-glasses, apparel, bags and cameras. Some ofthe brands Denarau Duty Free carries werefirst contacted through the TFAP trade showand the rest are sourced through overseascontacts. Sunglasses are a popular item, withMaui Jim, Coach, Calvin Klein, Fendi, Nau-tica and Guess among the brands sold. Infragrances it’s Police from Italy, Jean Couturier,Leonard and Hello Kitty from France and anassortment of other names from the US. Jew-elry gets a lot of attention—brands and itemscovered include Gold Silk, Tahitian and SouthSea pearls, Red Coral from Italy, Maranoglass necklaces and bracelets, Swarovskicharms, pendants, rings and earrings, andgemstone rings. Nautica, Maxum, Hugo Boss,Storm London, Ed Hardy, Tap Out, MickeyMouse and Cactus watches are on offer, andin cosmetics buyers can choose from Australia’sNapoleon Perdis, Condense from France andFiji’s own Renui and Makasoi.

Sony and Canon top out the electronicslist, and a full range of accessories is also car-ried. Buyers can pick up Bohemia crystalhousewares, Guess bags, BCBG Maxazrialadies’ clothing, Legend Soul men’s clothingand Island clothing. Local souvenir items andhealth products are also available

Outside the airport environment, theretail landscape is a mixed bag, with fra-grances, jewelry, cosmetics, sunglasses,watches and most electronics being soldduty free, but bags, clothing, shoes, alcoholand cigarettes sold duty paid, Yee says.

“We anticipate a better 2012 as com-pared to 2011,” Yee says. “2011 has been a trialand error period. Also more cruise liners arescheduling stopovers at Port Denarau.”

Tourism in Fiji is showing good growth, thecruise market is very dynamic, and the new“superyacht” charter market, which didn’teven exist as recently as three years ago, isadding to the growth.

“Apart from our regular tourists fromAustralia we anticipate a growth from Asia,and we are gearing up to service that mar-ket,” Yee says. “We’re already seeing a signif-icant number of Chinese tourists, and theirdemands are different to the tourists fromother markets. We’ve been fairly successfulin that market, particularly with pearls.”

The shop runs its own promotions, gearedaround notable holidays like Christmas andValentine’s Day. Yee says that so far there’s nohelp from brands when it comes to doing pro-motions, but this is simply because DenarauDuty Free is so new. “When we’re able to dealfully with duty free, we will structure pro-motions that build volume by creating mul-tiple purchases, but linking multi-brand pro-motions and by creating value added multi-purchases within a brand,” Yee says. c

Denarau Duty Free

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TRAVEL RETAIL EXCLUSIVE

Glenfiddich celebrates the pioneering nature of American traders who shipped their Bourbon whiskies down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.

Exclusively matured for nineteen years in American oak casks previously used to mellow fine bourbon whiskey, Age of Discovery Bourbon Cask Reserve is another pioneering first from Glenfiddich.

Duty Free Philippines

he past year has been a busy onefor state-owned retailer DutyFree Philippines, with dynamicmarketing campaigns across TV,radio, print media and transit

media, and ambitious renovations at Manila'sNinoy Aquino International Airport.

The company has made significant head-way in revamping its brand image to celebratethe 25th anniversary of its founding, andit's set for growth. It's even publishing a cof-fee-table book and launching a new choco-late brand named Guimaras this summer.

Duty Free Philippines (DFP) Chief Oper-ating Officer Lorenzo Enchong Formoso

says: "We are very positive about this year.Currently, we are experiencing 12% growthin sales, and we are confident that, withrenewed marketing programs that specifi-cally target the right market, this will evenincrease further."

DFP not only markets its productsthrough traditional channels, but also makesinnovative use of social media platformssuch as Facebook and Twitter, which it sayshelps it to stay on top of the latest trends andshifts in shoppers' preferences by taking aninteractive approach that engages directlywith its customers.

The retailer's overall marketing strategywas reinforced by the renovation of its storesat Ninoy Aquino, which started in the firsthalf of 2011. That program harmonizeddesign across all of DFP's outlets, with ayellow and silver color scheme to mark its25th anniversary.

And that visual overhaul appears to haveborne fruit. Formoso says DFP's Gate 15store at Ninoy Aquino's Terminal 2, whichreopened after the revamp in August, posteda 36% jump in sales between Septemberand December 2011 versus the sameperiod the previous year.

DFP is also renovating its stores atTerminal 1's arrival gates 1 and 16, andthe work is set to be complete by theend of April. A similar programof upgrades is planned for thedeparture area, for whichDFP expects the airportauthority's approval soon,Formoso says.

Formoso says DFP willhave more to offer whenNinoy Aquino's Terminal3 begins full operation inthe middle of this year, asinternational carriers grad-ually move from the airport'soverstretched T1. T3 wassupposed to be fully opera-

tional a decade ago, but after aseries of delays, it wasn't until2008 that it began even partialoperations, with a number ofdomestic flights.

"Following the allocation of more spacein T3, we already have a plan to open a storethere," Formoso says. "That means we canprovide our customers with more brands andproduct offerings."

And DFP appears to have its work cut outfor it. Fueled by a boom in low-cost airtravel—largely thanks to Cebu Pacific, whichis now bigger than even national flag-carrierPhilippine Airlines—international passen-ger traffic to Philippines rose by 9.7% in2011 from a year earlier, according to the CivilAeronautics Board.

Formoso says that, unlike a privately-owned duty free retailer, DFP may not be themost profitable business, and nor does ithave a global network of stores. But hepoints out that DFP has a mission beyondfattening its own bottom line: it is also taskedwith promoting tourism to the Philippinesand serving Filipino workers returning fromwork abroad, who may not be in the mar-ket for luxury brands and upscale products.

"The bulk of our customers are balik-bayans [overseas Filipino workers]," he says."They shop at Duty Free Philippines forbasic duty free products such as chocolates,grocery items, liquor, cigarettes and elec-tronic appliances."

And the retailer's focus on its home mar-ket and on fostering tourism is reflected inits current expansion plans.

"We are currently working on the possi-bility of opening new outlets in provincialareas which are tourist spots as well—suchas Kalibo International Airport in Aklan,Embarcadero in Legazpi City, Albay,and Puerto Princesa International Airportin Palawan."

It's a mandate quite unlike that of anyother travel retailer in Asia-Pacific, but it's onethat Formoso seems quietly dedicated to. c

T

Isle be backDuty Free Philippines has much to celebrate in its 25th year,as it pushes forward with a mandate not only to drive sales,but to serve Filipinos returning to the archipelago from workabroad and boost tourism BY P. CONVERY

42

DFP targets Filipino

workers returning from

abroad with affordable

merchandise that's

good for gifting

Duty Free

Philippines Chief

Operating Officer

Lorenzo Enchong

Formoso is upbeat

about the retailer's

prospects this year

as low-cost air travel

continues to boom

www.reminiscenceparis.com

L E N O U V E A U P A R F U M

Hong Kong International Airport


irport Authority Hong Kong(AAHK) produced some slickadvertising to announce the re-tendering of its core duty freeconcessions in 2011, but such

was the excitement in the industry over theprospect of these lucrative contracts beingup for grabs that it probably needn't havebothered.

The tenders, for liquor & tobacco, perfumes& cosmetics and airside general merchan-dise, involve business worth at least US$500million annually, and drew an impressivefield of bidders, including state-owned ChinaDuty Free Group, DFS Group, King PowerHong Kong, LS Travel Retail ASPAC, Chinesemainland-based Sunrise Duty Free, WorldDuty Free Group, South Korean heavyweightsLotte Duty Free and its smaller rival Shilla DutyFree, and incumbents Nuance Watson (HK)and Sky Connection, both of which launcheda solid defense of their positions.

In what was the industry's biggest ten-dering exercise, the airport authority offeredcontracts for retail space of more than 7,500square meters, divided roughly equallybetween the three core categories. The con-tracts will run for an initial five-year termwith an option to extend for a further threeyears. The results of the tender had beenexpected in January, but an AAHK spokesper-son says the airport operator now plans toannounce the winning bids—several ofwhich may be awarded to partnerships thatformed in the run-up to the tenders' clos-

ing date—in the second quarter of this year.A slew of impressive statistics from AAHK

underline the appeal of the concessions forthe bidders that lined up for them last August.

The AAHK spokesperson says: “For theyear 2011, Hong Kong International Air-port [HKIA] welcomed 53.9 million pas-sengers and handled 333,760 aircraft move-ments, representing growth of 5.9% and8.9% respectively as compared to 2010. Bothpassenger trips and aircraft movements setnew records."

Passenger traffic to and from the Chi-nese mainland and Southeast Asia was par-ticularly buoyant.

"In the past three financial years, theshare of mainland [Chinese travelers] in[the] total passenger number increased from21% in 2008-9 to 22% 2010-11," says thespokesperson.

And in 2011, the number of airlines serv-ing HKIA topped the 100 mark, with recentadditions including Mega Maldives, AirBusan, Mongolian Airlines, Tianjin Airlines,Airphil Express and Nordic Global Airlines.The airport now sees more than 900 flightsdaily to around 160 destinations worldwide.

All that is reflected in the airport opera-tor's commercial revenues, with income fromretail licenses and advertising surging morethan 28% for the six months ended Sep-tember 2011, the first half of the 2011-12financial year and the most recent period forwhich figures are available.

The spokesperson says: "We remain opti-

mistic that the overall positive trend willcontinue in view of the latest, more encour-aging economic signals coming from Europe,the US and the Chinese mainland. How-ever, the pace of growth in overall air trafficmight be slower while earnings growth in thenear term is also expected to be tempered byslower traffic growth and the higher basethat was [set] in fiscal 2010-11."

However much the pace of growth mightcool in the year ahead, AAHK is banking ona return to rapidly rising passenger traffic far-ther down the line, and has started work ona project to expand the airport's capacity byan initial 10 million travelers annually. It isbuilding a new midfield concourse with afloor area of 78,000 square meters, 20 addi-tional aircraft stands, a cross-field taxiwayand other facilities.

The new concourse will be located to thewest of Terminal 1, between the two existingrunways. It will be connected to the termi-nal by a moving walkway and will enable theairport to meet projected traffic demandthrough 2020.

And beyond that, AAHK is planning athird runway—a proposal that has alreadywon the enthusiastic backing of AirportsCouncil International—as passenger trafficcontinues to outstrip forecasts.

With all its connotations of good fortuneand great power, the 2012 Year of the Dragonseems a highly auspicious time for one ofthe world's most growth-focused airports toforge ahead into the future. c

AHong Kong's year of the dragonHong Kong International Airport is at the center of the action in 2012, with the duty free industry's biggest-ever tender and ambitious plans for growth BY P. CONVERY

Travel retailers the world over bid for the contracts to

operate retail at HKIA, one of the world's busiest airports

HKIA's attractive duty-free retail is currently run by Nuance-Watson (HK) and Sky Connection

Well-known local brands share space with

international names in HKIA's large shopping areas

President of Commercial Lim Peck Hoon."There will be a total of seven restaurants andtwo retail anchor tenants located in this area."

That follows an upgrade to T3's BasementLevel 2, which added more than 20 newshops and which was completed late lastyear, bringing the number of retail brandsto almost 30 and the count of F&B outletsto more than 10.

"The upgrading of T1 is also near com-pletion, with the finishing enhancementsbeing done," says Lim. "Final completion isexpected to be by the end of the secondquarter this year.

"The number of concessions at T1, acrossboth the landside and airside areas, has

increased by about 25%, and total conces-sion space has gone up by more than 10%.There are [now] over 70 retail shops andmore than 30 F&B outlets in the terminal."

And if all that revamping weren't enough,CAG is demolishing its Budget Terminal tomake way for a new Terminal 4, geared toquick aircraft turnaround and with capac-ity for almost four times the 2011 passen-ger traffic at the terminal it is replacing.

"The Budget Terminal will be closed onSeptember 25, 2012," says Lim. "The new ter-minal ... will have capacity for 16 million pas-sengers per annum [and] will have a widechoice of retail and F&B offerings, as well aspassenger amenities that will better serve

Changi Airport Group


hangi Airport Group (CAG),the operator of Singapore'seponymous hub airport, neverdisappoints with its seeminglyendless energy, and it's redou-

bling its efforts to build on its success withan ambitious program of expansion anddevelopment.

The airport operator is currentlyputting the finishing touches to a revamp ofTerminal 3, focusing on the landside areasof the terminal's Basement Level 3.

"The last phase of the revamp of Termi-nal 3's public areas, which focuses on Level3 of the terminal, will be completed in thecoming months,” says CAG Executive Vice

C

BY P.CONVERYRoar energyThe Lion City's hub operator, Changi Airport Group, is once again showing thetravel retail trade how it's done, with a drive for success that's keener than ever

w w w. t r a ve l - b l u e . c o mStand D1

the needs of travelers."Construction of T4 will begin in 2013 and

CAG expects it to be completed by 2017.If CAG seems to have targeted low-cost

carriers (LCCs) with the quick-turnaround,no-aerobridges T4, it's certainly not on awhim. LCCs have become a major part ofChangi's traffic in recent years, and thatgrowth show no signs of slowing.

"The traffic volumes of LCCs have showngrowth of about 35% over the past fiveyears," says Lim. "Today, LCCs contribute a25% share of Changi's total passenger vol-ume, compared to about 8% in 2006. In2011, LCCs carried 26% more passengerscompared to 2010."

She adds that traffic on full-service car-riers also showed healthy growth of around6% in 2011, from a much larger base thanthat of LCC traffic.

In aggregate, Lim says, traffic at Changigrew 10.7% year on year in 2011, to 46.5 mil-lion passenger movements.

Notable among those passengers werethe increasingly commercially importantChinese mainlanders, who contributed about

20% to total concession sales at Changi in2011, representing impressive growth of40% year on year.

Lim says they're among the top five cus-tomer groups at the airport, and that theirfavored product categories are liquor &tobacco, perfumes & cosmetics and luxury& watches.

No doubt with this key passenger segmentin mind, CAG has in the past 12 monthsopened airside stores such as Gassan Watches& Jewellery, wine and cigar concept Vine &Leaf and upscale Chinese lifestyle brandShanghai Tang, among many others.

Later this year it plans to open an airsidewine bar named La Cave, and the airport'sfirst fully-fledged electronics store, Elec-tronics Hub@T3, landside, in May.

And to coax shoppers into making pur-chases at the airport's large lineup of retail-ers, CAG will be running its hugely suc-cessful "Be a Changi Millionaire" promotionfor a third time this year, alongside its GSTabsorption program, its ChangiRewards loyalty scheme and ahost of other promotions

throughout the year.With all this activity on the agenda, it's

hard to see how Lim and her colleagues findthe time to answer questions from journal-ists. The fact that they do is yet more testi-mony to the commitment and drive of theteam that make Changi Airport one of travelretail's most respected success stories. c

"The upgrading of T1 is also nearcompletion, with the finishingenhancements being done."

Lim Peck Hoon, Executive Vice President of Commercial, Changi Airport Group

The spice of life

TFAP Exhibitors


pendants are the best sellers. For ALLiSON,we anticipate that Missoni—with both itsflagship line (at around US$300/pair) and itsentry-priced “M” line (around US$150/pair)—will do extremely well. Missoni has threeboutiques in China, two in Hong Kong andone each in Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore andTaipei, so the Asian consumer has first-handknowledge of the brand.

How long have you been supplying travelretail and duty free? Horizon specializes in duty free and hasbeen in business for just over a year.

Who are you reaching out to during theTFAP show? Our primary objective is to continue to engageAsia Pacific retailers with Vice Vodka Icewine,which attracts both traditional Icewine con-sumers who enjoy it neat and younger con-sumers who enjoy Vice in cocktails. We willbe introducing ALLiSON sunglasses to global

retailers. We also have meetingswith brandowners who are con-sidering joining the Horizonportfolio.

Can you give us some insighton trends in your category? Horizon focuses on premiumand luxury brands, a sector thatcontinues to outperform stan-dard brands across all cate-gories. Of course, consumersfrom markets with the strongestGDP growth—such as China,Russia, and Brazil—are impor-tant targets. Those particulargroups of traveling consumersare trendsetters with a tremen-dous appetite for premiumbrands, good disposable income,and the habit to buy in dutyfree due to the high tax rates intheir home markets.

Where are you based? We’re based in Doral, FL, very close to MiamiInternational Airport.

Do you have any new developments inAsian travel retail? One exciting development is the excellentgrowth of Vice Vodka Icewine in the region.Another development is the continued growthof Hong Kong-based Equss accessories,which balance classic elegance and moderndesign to offer a wide range of high qualitywatches, jewelry and leather goods at afford-able prices. Lastly, Horizon International DutyFree has been named the distributor for theALLiSON collection of luxury Italian sunglasses.While the Americas is our primary focus, wehave leeway to work with global accounts, sointroducing this great new entrant to travel retailis another reason we are at TFAP.

What are your bestsellers in travel retail? From Equss, we find that the watches and

José Chao, President, Horizon International Duty Free

Domaine Peiriere Chardonnay from France;Giuliana Pinot Grigio from Italy; and TheRocks Chardonnay from Australia.

What are your bestsellers in travel retail?Our exclusive range of Paul Sapin MLPwines— the “Friendly Bottle"—are now listedin over 35 countries globally at operatorslike Dufry, Aelia, Nuance, DFA, Dubai DutyFree, Lotte, ARI and many more.

How long have you been supplying travelretail and duty free?

Paul Sapin SA will be exhibiting for the sec-ond year in a row in Singapore and will berepresented on stand A7 by myself and rep-resentatives from Jonathan Holland & Asso-ciates, who represent Paul Sapin wines in Asia.

Can you give us some insight on trendsin your category? I firmly believe that other categories will alsolook to reduce packaging and weight, just asPaul Sapin has done for the wine category.The culture that you pay for what you carryis here to stay.

Where are you based? Barry Global Innovations, distributor of PaulSapin wines, is based in Ireland.

Do you have any new developments inAsian travel retail? We will be launching a range of new premiumwine gift packs called "World Wine Cellar.” Thegift pack contains 6 miniature bottles (18.75cl)of red from different classic regions/coun-tries and 6 different whites in another packalso from 6 different wine countries.We are very confident that this is the first

time that such a range of gifts has beencreated exclusively for the travel retailoperators. The range in red consists ofCasa Santa Maria Chilean CabernetSauvignon/Merlot; Devil’s Ridge Cali-fornian USA Cabernet Sauvignon; HopeBay Shiraz from South Africa; BordeauxRed Maison Belleroche from France; TheRocks Shiraz from Australia; and ChateauBlomac AC Minervois from France.The white pack contains Ta Moko

New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc; Devil’sRidge Chardonnay from California;

Barry Geoghegan, Founder, Barry Global Innovations

A record number of exhibitors are showing off their wares at this year’s TFWA AP exhibition.Asia Duty Free presents a guide to some of the industry’s leading brands BY HIBAH NOOR

TFAP Exhibitors


unique integrated flow regulator, so there’sno chance of leakages. The Touch is ashandy and easy to use as its predecessorsyet gives the added benefit of discreet andtargeted fragrance application.

What are your bestsellers in travel retail? Traditionally the Classic Excel and ClassicEssential models have been our bestsellersand we have seen a 10% increase in travelretail listings within the past year. Travalosells so phenomenally well due to the gen-uine, universal appeal as well as the simplicityand ingenuity.

How long have you been supplying travelretail and duty free? Two years.

Who are you reaching out to during theTFAP show?It’s our first ever booth at the show, so ourobjectives are more general than some other

exhibitors. Firstly, the show allows usto demonstrate and showcase theTravalo opportunity to a wider audi-ence, and secondly to introduce thenew Travalo Touch. We have aggres-sive expansion plans so we are reach-ing out to as many retailers andregions as possible, as well asmaintaining our strong existingrelationships.

Can you give us some insighton trends in your category? Travalo is the leading refillable perfume spraywithin travel retail. This is because the buy-ers have realized that Travalo has superiordesign, high production values and a qual-ity patented repeat pump system. The evo-lution of products means that we expectto see a steady increase in sales in thefuture. The new Travalo Touch with itsrollerball technology will revolutionize theway in which people apply fragrances.

Where are you based? The United Kingdom.

Do you have any new developments inAsian travel retail? New listings confirmed include Sri Lankan Air-lines, SunWing Airlines, Peach (DFASS Sin-gapore) and SCOOT (DFASS Singapore).Other existing key airlines include Dragon Air,Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Air, Oman Air,ANA, Thai Airways, Thai Air Asia, Cebu Airand Bahrain Air.

What are some new collections that youwill be exhibiting during the TFAP show? Travalo has found a niche with the newTravalo Touch, a 5ml refillable fragrancewand with rollerball technology. Like theearlier Classic Essential and Classic Excelmodels, the Touch has the patented repeatpump system so refilling with fragrance is sim-ple and mess free. The Touch also has the addition of a

Yusuf Okhai, Managing Director of Aydya Group, parent company of Travalo

How long have you been supplying travelretail and duty free?Furla has been selling to the travel retail mar-ket for many years; however, it was last yearthat the company decided to make a realfocus on the category.

Who are you reachingout to during theTFAP show?Our core business iswith airports anddowntown stores.

However, in Singapore we areintroducing a new exclusive inflightcollection so we are also very keento show this to airline buyers and con-cessionaires from throughout the region.

Can you give us some insight on trendsin your category?There is an ongoing trend towards bagswhich are practical and functional, yet at thesame time stylish and on trend in terms ofdesign and color. That’s why pieces like ourFurla & I “It” Bag (see below), which isreversible and changes shape at the sametime, is already looking like a real winner. I think consumers are also looking for

interesting designs, colors and use of mate-rials—pieces that ring the changes and areaway from the normal “black or brown leather

or pvc.” Again, Furla isway ahead of the rest inthis respect, experiment-ing with different materialsand combinations of mate-rials, with fun colors anddesigns. c

Where are you based?Furla is based in Bologna, Italy.

Do you have any new developments inAsian travel retail?Asia Pacific is a core region in travel retail forFurla, representing approximately 40% of thecompany’s business in the category. Chinain particular is a major growth area for us. To date this year we have opened in Haikou

Airport and on Royal Caribbean’s “Legend ofthe Sea” with DFS and with CNSC in Beijingand Harbin, while in June we are delighted tobe opening at Kunming Airport in the domes-tic terminal with ARI Yunnan and in the down-town galleria with Gebr Heinemann Asia. In Aus-tralia, Furla has locations in the downtown gal-lerias with JR Duty Free in Perth, Adelaide andMelbourne, and is opening with the sameoperator in Cairns Airport in May with a 10-square-meter generic area.

What are some new collections that youwill be exhibiting during the TFAP show?We will be showing our Autumn Winter 2012collection.

What are your bestsellers in travel retail?Bestsellers include Candy, Piper and Amaz-zone. Basically it’s down to style, originality,innovation and practical designs. They’rejust fabulous lines!

Gerry Munday, Head of Travel Retail, Furla

immerse your skin in the rejuvenating power of the seain the rejuvenating power of the seain the r

immerse your skin ejuvenating power of the sea



Skincare & Cosmetics in Asia

��radiantglow p.53 New ��

�� p.58 �� colorfield p.62 Amala ��

�� p.65

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www.dutyfreemagazine.ca ASIA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING 53

Skincare Report

t is worth remembering that during the global eco-nomic downturn of 2009, duty free sales in Asia Pacificcontinued to grow. In the beauty category, the regionhas become a core revenue earner for the big houses,and investment has poured in, particularly in the skin-

care sub-sector. After 2010’s strong rebound, 2011’s beauty perfor-

mance in duty-free proved equally robust, driven by skin-care. For example, at Nuance Watson (Singapore), whichoperates the beauty concessions at Singapore Changi Air-port – one of the biggest duty free locations in the region– skincare grew at over 20%, faster than make-up orfragrance. In terms of beauty share, skincare saw

a +2% gain and SeniorCategory ManagerChillie Por says: “Wepredict skincare willprobably increase by a further +1.5%

points. Skincare will remain a strong driver in2012, in tandem with the healthy sales trend fromPRC travelers, our number one tourist nationality.”

Nuance Watson (Singapore) has in place sev-eral exclusive launches in the pipeline includingthe arrival of Coty’s US skincare acquisition Phi-losophy in May and, at the high end, another SK-II world exclusive launch in June, part of a largerprogram of in-store promotions and animationsthat keeps the sub-sector buoyant.

Another luxury skincare brand, La Prairie, is seeing demand atthe top end. “Generally we can say that our most precious collectionssuch as Cellular Platinum Rare, Caviar and White Caviar IlluminatingSystème are the top sellers,” says Vice President Corporate and SalesStrategy Yves Le Breton. “Our launches have done extraordinarilywell because Asian consumers like new developments in skincare.They understand the luxury and high tech approach of La Prairie.”

This has helped La Prairie to establish itself well in the region. “Whilefive years ago Asian travel retail was 25% less than the travel retail busi-ness in Europe, it is now doing 25% more than in Europe,” comments

I

“Generally we can say that ourmost precious collections such asCellular Platinum Rare, Caviarand White Caviar IlluminatingSystème are the top sellers.”Yves Le Breton, Vice President Corporateand Sales Strategy, La Prairie

Skincare’s vitality is far from fading in Asian travel retail

BY JAMES ROSS

A radiantglow

Cellular Power Infusion

by La Prairie

Shiseido’s Future

Solution LX

� ��

Le Breton. “We have a well-balanced global business now. Even with-out increasing our distribution, we expect to grow further in Asia, maybewith the exception of Japan. The fastest growth however will definitelycome from China, Hong Kong and Macau.”

At Japan’s giant beauty house Shiseido, Regional Marketing Man-ager Eyan Chang adds: “Skincare is still the key driver in Asia withstrong sales expected in the coming months. Greater China will bethe key region to look at, with Hainan coming up strongly.” HainanIsland is the resort at China’s southern tip where certain downtown

retail stores operated by China Duty FreeGroup have been given duty free statusand are seeing very strong demand fromChinese tourists.

The Chinese passenger is inextrica-bly linked to rising skincare sales inAsian duty free, but also further afield.Le Breton says: “The Chinese con-sumer is having an impact on ourbusiness in many other locations inthe world, for example, Hawaii,Los Angeles Dubai and Vancouver.Currently no other nationality isimpacting the travel retail businessin a similar way. The second mostimportant customer group in Asiafor us remains the Koreans.”

This combination of high-enddemand and Chinese influence isone reason why DFS Group hasdeveloped a news service called

Beauty Concierge at its Galleria Four Seasons in Macau and whichrolled out to Galleria locations in Waikiki, Hawaii in November 2011,with others in Singapore and Hong Kong planned. The concept cov-ers skincare analysis, seasonal beauty tips, personalized consulta-tions, complimentary make-up consultations, make-up trendupdates and beauty workshops from a team of dedicated staff.

DFS Group says: “The Beauty Concierge is a specialized servicewith a licensed aesthetician who will help customers understand theirskin and recommend products that are best suited for their uniqueconditions.” The by-appointment service has worked well for theretailer, particularly with skincare. DFS Hawaii Consumer MarketingManager Noriko Harimoto says: “A variety of brands are taking partin skin analysis by VISIA machine [a complexion analysis system]is proving popular with customers.”

Aveda’s ‘Rituals of Renewal’ program has also tempted many tospend. A cup of comforting tea, an aromatic sensory environmentand stress-relieving hand, neck and shoulders treatments, and pre-and post-flight rituals, put customers in the right mood to shop.This sense of service is increasing in skincare, not just to pamperthe passenger but also provide them with staff who know the tech-nicalities of the products.

Shiseido’s Eyan Chang says: “The key elements which customersare looking for today are new technology and effective results (ina shorter time).” Le Breton adds: “The Asian consumer, like everyskincare customer, is looking for results. What differentiates themfrom many others however is that they, especially Chinese consumers,also like to know how it works. It’s not only about knowing that askincare product contains platinum but understanding the bene-fits it has for their skin. Asian consumers are as conscious about pro-tecting their skin from damage as they are about anti-aging.”

Such demands have also enabled the brand owners to take theirproducts into higher price brackets, or more niche areas of treat-ment, which has allowed the top end of the market to over-per-form, in Asia especially. For example Lancôme has seen successthis way in travel retail with its Génifique and most recently Vision-naire lines.

Lancôme’s owner, France’s L’Oréal, the world’s biggest beauty

Skincare Report

La Prairie PowerChargeNight

Face off - A DFS customer

gets the VISIA analysis


house, says: “For the worldwide cosmetics mar-ket, 2011 was the year of luxury.” The com-pany’s overall results show that its selective divi-sion, L’Oréal Luxe, grew, on a like-for-like basis,by 8.2% while sales in the Consumer Productsdivision – which in travel retail includes L’OréalParis – rose by just 4.5%. L’Oréal Luxe made a35% contribution to worldwide growth, with Asiaand the US leading the way, with Lancôme,Giorgio Armani and Kiehl’s seeing particularlygood sales. Skincare was the fastest growingbusiness segment at 7.0%.

In the six months ending December 2011,Estée Lauder Companies recorded 21.7% of itssales from Asia Pacific, up from 20.2% in thesame period in 2010 and well above the 15.1%share in the company’s 2008 financial year. AsAsia’s importance hasgrown, so too has skin-care; its share of sales in thesame periods were 42.9%,

41.2% and 37.9% respectively, and in its lastinterim report Lauder called skincare “astrategic priority”.

At LVMH, Asia (excluding Japan) hasalso taken an increasing share of its Per-fumes & Cosmetics division sales: from16% in 2009 to 22% in 2011. How-ever skincare’s share has declinedfrom 19% to 17% in the sameperiod. Dior’s Capture One Essen-tial a new generation serum hasbeen doing very well in Asia whileGuerlain’s skincare sales have beenstrong, boosted by the premiumOrchidée Impériale line.

The Estée Lauder brand hadstrong sales from recent launchesof Idealist Even Skintone Illumi-nator, Idealist Cooling Eye Illu-minator and Re-Nutriv Replen-

ishing Comfort Creme. Meanwhile in travel retail, continued growthof the Advanced Night Repair franchise has been driving up sales.Its other brands like Clinique, the high end La Mer and the Plantscrip-tion line from Origins have been strong, allowing skincare to see asharp increase in operating income, which the company says “pri-marily reflects improved results from higher-margin productlaunches from heritage brands, as well as from higher-end prestigeskincare products”.

Looking ahead, skincare in Asia looks as though it is going tostrengthen. Based on recent growth data from Euromonitor, emerg-ing markets such as India, Indonesia and the Philippines holdmuch promise (see table) and even in bigger, more mature marketsthere is plenty of potential for steady expansion. Travel retailers are

looking to such markets. Le Breton com-ments: “Our locations at Delhi and KualaLumpur are doing really well and are grow-ing faster than most airports in Europe for

example, but on a smaller scale thanChina.” But what astute brands knowis that a trickle today can become aflood tomorrow, so being preparedwill mark out the winners and the losers. c

Skincare sales and growth in selected regions and leading Asian markets, 2008 - 2011Change Change

Region or country 2008 2009 2010 2011* 11 vs 10 (%) 11 vs 08 (%)

Japan 18,537.6 18,117.7 17,939.9 17,797.5 -0.79 -3.99

China 7,316.1 8,332.1 9,422.8 10,626.6 12.78 45.25

South Korea 2,565.4 2,780.6 3,009.0 3,221.4 7.06 25.57

Taiwan 1,438.1 1,463.0 1,496.8 1,535.7 2.60 6.79

Thailand 1,154.6 1,247.3 1,337.6\ 1,453.3 8.65 25.87

India 661.5 750.6 884.3 1,039.7 17.57 57.17

Indonesia 565.4 686.9 828.0 997.0 20.41 76.34

Philippines 523.0 557.0 618.6 686.9 11.04 31.34

Hong Kong, China 595.4 622.1 653.3 678.6 3.87 13.97

Malaysia 348.1 374.3 395.6 416.8 5.36 19.74

Singapore 249.1 261.9 281.1 298.7 6.26 19.91

Asia Pacific 34,415.3 35,707.3 37,432.0 39,387.5 5.22 14.45

World 81,589.0 84,237.3 88,172.1 92,662.0 5.09 13.57

*preliminary, estimated Source: Euromonitor

Lancôme recently

released Visionnaire

based on the LR

2412 molecule

An airport favorite -

Estée Lauder's

Advanced Night

Repair now in a 30th

Anniversary Trio Set

The science behind the brand

La Prairie


uch like love, skincare is allaround us. The skincareshelves are heaving at air-ports across the lands. Butfor La Prairie their products

hone in on the science behind the age-oldadage ‘what women want’.

It seems what women want is in factwhat La Prairie calls a “high tech” solutionto their routine. And it is this demand andability to supply that means La Prairie cancommand a high brand status. It puts themin a unique position in travel retail whereshelves are already groaning with the highstreet names and the mid to slightly higherend positioned brands.

In reality, competition comes from SK-II and Crème de La Mer who are also neatlypositioned with some real science sat behindtheir product. In Asia, Yves Le Breton, VicePresident Corporate & Sales Strategy, LaPrairie tells Asia Duty Free that while the mar-keting plays a part, it’s all about the launchesand the locations.

“Our travel retail business in 2011 as awhole, was a success in Asia. Apart fromthe terrible tragedy that happened in Japanin 2011 our sales have not been affectednegatively,” he says. “Without increasingour distribution we achieved very satisfyinggrowth rates with some extremely success-ful launches.”

One of the brand’s most recent launcheswas Cellular Power Infusion. “La Prairie’smost brilliant scientific achievement to date”utilizes a unique three-dimensional age-defiance system to restore the skin – at anystage of the aging process – to a more youth-ful state.

Its threefold action secures the cellularenergy supply and protects it from the effectsof external stress, supports the skin’s ownrenewal mechanisms and supplements itsnatural structural rebuilding. It promises youwill “never look your age again”.

Le Breton says: “We supported the launchof Cellular Power Infusion with many pro-motions, not only in Asia but around theworld. However in Asia this product hasbecome a best seller within weeks. Justnow we are launching another spectacularproduct, Cellular Power Charge Night andfirst results promise that it will be an equal

success. Our customers highly appreciatethe service aspect, not only of our pro-motions but also of our concept with hav-ing well trained and experienced beautyconsultants that are always able to giveadvice and find the best products for everyskin concern.”

Over recent months the brand openedanother door in the region on Hainan Island.It is also shortly expecting to move intonew locations: City of Dreams downtownstore in Macao and the Hysan Palace down-town store in Hong Kong, operated by DFS.

“Our latest launches prove that the Asianconsumer embraces our concept of luxuryand high tech in skincare,” Le Breton says.“La Prairie is well known to be the brand withmany firsts in skincare that have changed theworld’s approach to skincare and our con-sumers trust us for what we do.

“So,” he says, “we keep doing what we’vealways done best: Developing the most pre-cious skincare that delivers results. This iswhat we stand for and our consumers appre-ciate this consistency and know that they canrely on La Prairie.” c

MSkincare company La Prairie’s forte is its ability to produce spot-on scientific basedproduct and adapt to the changing trends that women demand of their skincare routinewell in advance. We look at the science behind the brand BY LORNA STRICKLAND-COOK

Steps to success1978: First to apply cellular research to prob-lems of aging skin with the famous patentpending exclusive Cellular Complex.

1987: First to use regenerative substancescoming from the sea: Caviar Extracts. Firstto create a delivery system by encapsulat-ing active ingredients in Caviar Pearls.

1996: First with anti-free radical cocktailincluding Pure Vitamin C.

1998: First to encapsulate Retinol in apatented microsponge delivery system com-bined with Co-Enzyme Q10 and exclusive Cel-lular Complex.

2000: First to offer intensive daytime treat-ment combining Retinol with a high SPF.

2004: First to combine whitening productswith an ozone trap.

2009: First to use Platinum in a cosmeticproduct, helping maintain electrical balancein the skin and producing a unique radiance.

2011: First to act on all three dimensionsof skin aging simultaneously – cells, energyand tissue.

Cellular Power Charge Night

Cellular Power Infusion

Skincare News


Provence-based French beauty specialist L’Occitane had good growthin 2011 in the Asia duty-free market, says Caroline Lhert, Marketing Man-ager, Asia Pacific Travel Retail. “We had new openings and renovationsin Korea, and strong growth in Mainland China including the expansionof Hainan Duty Free,” she says. “The 2011 Japanese earthquake/tsunamidid have an impact in some Japanese travel retail accounts but busi-ness picked up towards the end of the year.”L’Occitane’s Asian plans center on introducing competitive facecare

sets and expanding some of the brand’s best selling ranges, like theImmortelle anti-aging skincare range and the Angelica skincare suite.Whitening and anti-aging products are the key segments in the Asia Pacificregion, Lhert says. Shea butter hand cream continues to be a strongseller, but other segments, such as Immortelle and the extensive haircare range, which has a highly loyal following in the market, are alsonotable performers.Keys to Asia Pacific include product differentiation, which is critical given

the number of options customers have, Lhert says. Another way L’Occ-itane has found to capture traveler interest is by introducing novelties ona monthly basis, similar to what the brand does on the domestic side. “Asian consumers buy skincare not only as gifts but for themselves,”

Lhert says. “When they travel, they realize the good value they receivein travel retail, and that we have only the best sellers listed.”L’Occitane manufactures a wide range of fragrances, facecare, hair-

care, bath & body, men’s and gift products. Shea and almond butterproducts are among its best sellers. Its Immortelle Divine anti-aging creamwas the highest rated “Anti-Aging Miracle Cream” in the 2011 Anti-AgingBeauty Bible, as independently tested by a panel of women across theUK. Shea Hand Cream and Almond Milk Concentrate are among thebrand’s other award winners. The company also markets a line of StrictlyOrganic products and emphasizes the use of eco-friendly packaging.verysatisfactory indeed.”

L’Occitane leveragesgrowth with skincare Immortelle anti-aging

skincare range is one of

L’Occitane’s best-sellers

Collistar has introduced the new “Reshaping Body Slimming Treatment,” a body slimmingcream that produces a slimming “pressotherapy” effect by stimulating the mobilization of fatand performing a targeted action on fluid stagnation. Based on Collistar’s own Slimming Com-plex, a superconcentrated blend of sea salts, the new cream produces what Collistar calls “anultra-rapid ‘deflating’ effect.” Collistar recommends application at night, to take advantage ofthe increased draining capacities of skin tissue during sleep.

The new cream comes in a 400 mL maxi size jar and joins Collistar’s Saline Slimming Cream,which combats water retention. To promote the new launch and the sale of both creams, Col-listar is offering a free 75 mL tube of Exfoliating Body Scrub Regenerating Silk-ifying, which prepares the skin for slimming treatment and optimizes the slim-ming effect, along with purchase.

Collistar launches body slimming cream

Reshaping

Body Slimming

Treatment

Skincare shines in Asia Pacific

Beauty specialists targetAsia Pacific duty free with new products andtechnologies BY HIBAH NOOR

Skincare News


French beauty specialists Talika have intro-duced a new device designed to boostthe performance of active ingredients in skincare products. Dubbed the Cream Booster,the device combines the delivery of pulsedlight with ionotherapy and micro-vibrationtechnology. Talika says the triple actionimproves the action of the active ingredi-ents in skin care products by facilitatingfaster and deeper penetration into the skin.

Ionotherapy enhances the permeabilityof the skin, which enables active ingredientsto penetrate more quickly to the targetedzone, and then tightens pores after absorp-tion so the active ingredients persist withinthe cells. “Cellular metabolic activity isstimulated and ingredients are deliveredand perform in depth, rather than on the sur-face of the skin,” Talika says. Micro-vibration,meanwhile, performs an external massageof the skin, accelerating blood and lym-phatic circulation, causing increased cellu-lar exchange and enhancing cell function.

The pulsed light therapy utilizes a yel-low LED delivered along a 560 nm (0.59micron) wavelength that penetrates deep into

the skin, activating fibroblasts and stimulatingcollagen synthesis. Visible results include thereduction of fine lines and wrinkles and thedissipation of spots and redness, Talika says.

Cream Booster can be used with Talika’sown products or with other brands. Talikasays it is safe to use, has no side effectsand can be used anytime day or night,after application of the skincare product.Talika says it can also be used at point ofsale to boost product performance quickly.

“Cream Booster is the ideal solution to‘super size’ the performance of all types oftargeted skincare, ranging from generalskin care such as purifying or moisturizingtreatments to more specific anti-wrinkleand anti-aging care, as well as eye treatmentproducts such as anti-dark circles and bags,”Talika says.

Talika manufactures a broad range offace, eye and skincare products, based onclinical research and laboratory-tests. Thecompany’s expertise in LED-based cos-metic treatment is exemplified by its exist-ing Light DUO anti-aging treatment, whichutilizes two different light wavelengths to

counteract the effects of aging, pollutionand UV rays to restore elasticity and colorwhile reducing wrinkles and dark spots.

In addition to its light therapy products,Talika’s product range includes Lipocilseyelash and eyebrow growth enhancers,Eye Therapy Patch and Mask and otherspecific beauty treatments.

For the first time, New York skin and hair-care products maker Kiehl’s is offering acollection of FAA-compliant, travel-tested for-mulas titled “Travel-Tested Solutions.” Thisunisex collection is designed to infuse skinwith essential moisture and nutrients dur-ing harsh travel and post-travel conditions. Kiehl’s Travel-Tested Solutions is avail-

able exclusively at Kiehl’s airport shops,downtown duty-free shops and onboardwith Asiana Airlines, Air China, Air Hainan,China Southern and China Eastern airlinesfrom May of this year.Seasoned and infrequent travelers notice

the direct effects travel can have on skinincluding dehydration and skin sensitivity.These stresses start during travel and can affectskin for days afterward. “Preventing hydrationloss during a flight is only half of the battle,”says Cammie Canella, Kiehl’s Vice PresidentEducation and Customer Relations. “Just asjet lag must be tended to for days followingtravel, travelers should actively nurture aggra-

vated skin two to four days post-travel torestore their skin’s natural balance.” Extended exposure to confined envi-

ronments such as trains and planes oftenleaves passengers feeling psychologicaland physiological effects on their skin. Trav-elers face conditions that include low humid-ity, low air pressure and recycled air, whichcause severely parched skin. The typicalrelative humidity in aircraft cabins for flightsover an hour is below 10% for most of thejourney—as dry as desert air—often drop-ping to less than 5% on longer flights. To combat these effects, Travel-Tested

Solutions employs soothing and anti-micro-bial properties to help defend skin immediatelyagainst these adverse environmental condi-tions. The collection also contains cactusflower extract, which is known to deliver 24/7hydration, and Tibetan ginseng, a mountainplant that increases skin-cell respiration athigh altitudes. In combination with the blendof essential oils (lavender, geranium and rose-

mary), the products help to protect againstdehydration. Kiehl’s says that all four productsin the collection have been tested in-flight bypilots and crew members of Air China, AirHainan, China Eastern and China Southern.The In-Flight Refreshing Facial Mist is

designed to restore complexions irritated bysevere in-flight cabin conditions. The mistis formulated with cactus flower, Tibetanginseng and a blend of lavender, geraniumand rosemary. The 24/7 Activated Moistur-izer hydrates skin and helps shield it fromextreme in-flight skin dryness and dullness. The First Class Purifying Hand Treat-

ment is designed to help protect handsfrom impurities commonly encountered dur-ing travel. The Eucalyptus Lip Relief Classhas been formulated with eucalyptus, alongwith cactus flower and Tibetan ginseng.Each product is available for individual

purchase or they can all be bought togetheras a travel set, which includes a compli-mentary limited edition luggage tag.

Talika introduces skincare activating system

Talika’s

Cream

Booster

Kiehl’sannounces “Travel-Tested Solutions”

Philippa Thomas, Marketing Manager, Nougat London, says 2011 was anexciting year for the brand as it saw the launch of its collection into travelretail at the TFWA Asia Pacific fair. Following the launch, Nougat has col-laborated with various partners in Asia and the brand can now be boughtinflight on Dragonair and Philippine Airlines, with more to follow this year.“We developed a small niche collection of products with airline travel

in mind,” Thomas says, “including our Flight Companion, a cute little setcontaining a 75 mL hand sanitizer and 12 g lip balm, which is perfect forprotecting and hydrating your skin whilst flying. In addition we offered exclu-sive sets of our best selling items including our Tuberose & Jasmine andCherry Blossom Hand Cream in an illustrated gift box.” The bath and body category isn’t identical to skincare, Thomas says,

although it is still very much fragrance-led. In skincare the trend is led bywhitening products, while bath and body aren’t dominated by the sameexpectations. “We find that our most luxurious products full of natural ingre-dients such as shea and cocoa butter, mallow extract and vitamin E arealways the most popular.” Consumers look for quality and luxury at theright price, she says.Nougat’s Cherry Blossom fragrance sells especially well in Asia,

Thomas says. The company has also developed a Travel Essentials cap-sule collection within the main range that features individual lines and minisets designed to be carried onboard or taken along on holiday weekends.The collection also serves as an ideal introduction to the brand.In addition to the Flight Companion, Nougat’s Travel Essentials range

includes a Nurturing Hand Cream formulated to soften and protecthands while also strengthening nails. The cream contains cocoa but-ter, almond and macadamia oils, natural extract of comfrey and vit-amin E. The Mini My Feet foot buffer contains exfoliating particles ofvolcanic pumice blended with sweet almond oil. The Creamy FootSoother is a blend of cocoa and shea butters. “As travel across Asia becomes more accessible, con-

sumers are becoming much more knowledgeable,” Thomassays. “Consumers are looking more and more for exclu-sive offers and brands with unique selling points, but atthe same time everything needs to be value for money,so it will be important for the duty free market to keepthe customer’s interest.” Consumers want expert adviceand guidance in purchases, Thomas says, which meanspackaging, marketing material and—where relevant—staff need to be as informative as possible. Asian consumers, especially in China, are heav-

ily influenced by social media, Thomas adds. Thismakes it imperative to connect with consumers viathis channel, to create word of mouth ‘buzz’ dur-ing peak travel times such as Chinese New Yearand Christmas.As most of Nougat’s Asia business is inflight, point

of sale promotion isn’t a major preoccupation,Thomas says. However, she points out that Nougatdoes extend marketing support to its partners inthe form of advertisements, training presentationsand samples and prizes for staff members.

Nougat boosts travel profile withinflight-ready kits

Exclusive

Tuberose &

Jasmine and

Cherry Blossom

Hand Cream set

Nougat’s Flight

Companion

contains a 75 mL

hand sanitizer and

12 g lip balm

The color fieldCosmetics Report

62 ASIA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAIL

he color cosmetics business is notuniformly popular across AsiaPacific. Whereas skincare, forexample, is a one billion dollardomestic business in seven coun-

tries in the region, for color cosmetics thatnumber drops to just two: the markets ofJapan and China, with South Korea justbelow the threshold according to Euromon-itor data (see Table 1).

And while color cosmetics is big businessat more than US$13 billion annually acrossthe region, it plays second fiddle to the com-peting sub-sectors of skincare and fragrancewhen it comes to growth, despite the latterbeing a market worth less than US$3 billion.In the period between 2008 and 2011 colorgrew by 5.8% well below skincare at 14.5%and fragrance at 15.7% (see Table 2).

Nevertheless the size of the color marketmakes it key to any beauty offer especially intravel retail where brands are increasinglypresenting themselves across all sub-sectorsto show passengers their complete level ofexpertise. At Hong Kong International Airport,Nuance-Watson Asia Regional ManagingDirector Alessandra Piovesana says: “Brandssuch as Chanel, Dior, Giorgio Armani, MAC,Bobbi Brown, etc all remain highly popular.They offer an extensive array of items includ-ing face and eye make-up, plus nail and lip

products that make them attractive topassengers who want everything froma single brand, often the case in Asia. Thecolor offer at our Temptation Duty Freestores is vast because we wish to showthe best products that will attract spe-cific and/or upcoming segments of pas-sengers at HKIA.”

At L’Oréal Luxe’s travel retail divi-sion, Lancôme Brand Director StefanLehner says: “Markets in Asia andthe Middle East are still boomingand average spends are increasing. Weneed the best mix to make the mostof this. Japan is the big color marketand the ASEAN area is strong onfragrance, but we need to be dynamicacross all three axes (skincare, colorand fragrances).”

Lehner says that Lancôme is the leader inmascaras worldwide and “we will hold ontothat”. The launch of Hypnôse Dolls Eyes lastyear was one attempt to ensure its leadership,while Lancôme’s Rouge in Love lipstick line,fronted by Harry Potter star Emma Watson,is keeping the house’s color flag flying high.

L’Oréal Luxe has also beefed up the YvesSaint Laurent portfolio with Vernis à Lèvres,a lipstick designed, the brand says, for“women who don’t know when to choosebetween a lipstick and a gloss”, Extremely YSL

For Eyes, the latest eyemake-up palette, anda limited edition forthe 20th anniversaryof YSL’s iconic ToucheEclat called ToucheEclat Collector.

MAC meanwhilehas stepped up itsstandalone and cornerdevelopment and thebrand’s art of engag-ing consumers using

make-up artists on a regular basis, is in demandfrom airports in Asia. One of the most recentincarnations is a ‘pop-up’ at Singapore ChangiAirport’s budget terminal, which will remainuntil the demolition of the building this Sep-tember to make way for the new T4. In themeantime the 25 square meter unit appearsto be popular. Operator Nuance‑Watson(Singapore) comments: “We wanted to drivepenetration in the low cost carrier environ-ment with its relatively younger profile. Resultsso far have exceeded expectations.”

At Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur Interna-tional Airport, retailer Dimensi Eksklusif isdelighted with MAC which is currently itsleading color brand followed by Chanel.“MAC has become the main trendsetter andintroduced colors to die for, plus innovativecampaigns,” a spokesperson says. “They havelimited colors in one-shot production ataffordable prices which attract all ages. Cre-ative events or themes which they have had,such as Hello Kitty and Wonder Woman, havepaid off. Their latest collection on the Bar-bie Doll concept is doing well with us.”

T

Lancôme’s Rouge in Love range

Extremely YSL

For Eyes

KLIA color - Dimensi Eksklusif is

seeing strong results from MAC

Color is brightening up the Asia region, but gradually BY JAMES ROSS


Beauty – the only store in Hawaii carryingthe line, plus a series of brand boutiques fromthe likes of Aveda, Origins and Shiseidosome of which carry both skincare andmake-up. In addition there is a new BeautyConcierge service at the DFS Galleria whichcaters to both makeovers and skincare treat-ments (see Skincare article page 53 for fur-ther details).

For Dimensi Eksklusif, make-up has beencontributing a steady 5% to 7% of beautysales and that color overall is 16%. Theretailer believes that a number of factorsare helping the sub-sector. Managing Direc-tor Zainul Azman says: “Some of the bigbrands have started to recruit sales peoplewho double as make-up artists while majorevents for individual makeovers to ‘modellook-alikes’, reality TV, and the K-Pop Starshow from Korea haveinspired younger peo-ple to be different intheir looks. A small per-centage of men (nor-mally young adults)have also started to pur-chase make-up as partof their daily routine.”But Azman confirmsthat the Chineseremain big spenderson skincare and“usually buy make-up

palettes for gifting due to the lower pricepoint”.

Back in Hong Kong, Alessandra Piovesanasays: “The color cosmetics category at ourTemptation Duty Free stores is showingconstant growth. In common with othersectors , the majority of our make-up rev-enues come from premium brands or prod-ucts due to their optimal pricing, positiveimage, substantial promotion and avail-ability. Both make-up and skincare havealways been top sellers and have consis-tently appealed to Asian travelers. WhileAsian customers still prefer skincare to make-up, in term of interest and revenue genera-tion, they are becoming more eager to fur-ther beautify their appearance and matchfashion trend with color cosmetics.”

As fashion and beauty continue to con-verge, the color business will become morecentral to the store offer. From a regional per-spective, future opportunities for brands liein both establishing presences in the majormarkets such as South Korea, Japan andChina, but also identifying those marketswhere growth is going to be most dramatic.Based on sales between 2008 and 2011 thebiggest growth (among the 12 top markets)came from India by far at +99.4%, Thailandat 34.8%, Indonesia at 32.5% and the Philip-pines at 26.8%. China, as well as being agiant market also grew quickly at 26.6% inthis period, while little known Kazakhstan,grew by 23.2% and its airports in Almaty andAstana are locations where beauty brandsmight do well to showcase themselves to anincreasing wealthy demographic. c

Table 1. Color cosmetics sales and growth in leading Asian markets, 2008 - 2011

US$ million Change Change(retail value) 2008 2009 2010 2011* 11 vs 10 (%) 11 vs 08 (%)Japan 7,656.4 7,369.8 7,189.3 7,067.2 -1.70 -7.70China 1,811.3 1,920.9 2,099.9 2,292.7 9.18 26.58South Korea 815.0 853.1 898.8 951.1 5.82 16.70India 237.8 298.7 375.5 474.1 26.26 99.37Thailand 327.8 361.2 396.1 441.7 11.51 34.75Taiwan 402.7 408.2 418.8 429.7 2.60 6.70Indonesia 199.9 218.2 239.8 264.9 10.47 32.52Hong Kong, China 177.1 182.5 187.1 193.3 3.31 9.15Kazakhstan 127.8 134.3 144.0 157.5 9.38 23.24Malaysia 114.5 119.2 127.8 135.9 6.34 18.69Philippines 107.2 116.8 125.1 135.9 8.63 26.77Singapore 95.9 98.8 103.6 108.7 4.92 13.35Asia Pacific 12,325.7 12,378.4 12,638.3 13,036.9 3.15 5.77World 43,030.4 44,500.5 46,943.3 49,569.5 5.59 15.20*preliminary, estimated Source: Euromonitor

Dior declined to comment on its colorbusiness in travel retail due to restrictions fromparent LVMH, but the group says that AsiaPacific is performing very robustly. In 2011,total color sales reached €1,096.3 millionallowing the sub-sector to hold onto its 34%share of LVMH’s perfumes and cosmeticsbusiness, whereas skincare slipped one per-centage point to 17%.

Duty free retailers are making the most oftraveling consumers’ desires when it comesto color. In Hawaii, all though March, DFSGroup’s Waikiki Galleria ran a big promo-tion called Beauty After Dark, where a headymix of champagne, DJ music, complimen-tary makeovers and photo shoots in the ren-ovated Beauty World area were all designedto build excitement in the color categoryand encourage consumers to experiment.

Already the biggest beauty area in Hawaiiwith more than 1,860 square meters of space,Beauty World has also added new coloroptions for its customers including Burberry

Color cosmetics sales versus other beauty categoriesin Asia Pacific, 2008 - 2011

Change Change2008 2009 2010 2011* 11 vs 10 (%) 11 vs 08 (%)

Fragrance 2,503.5 2,594.5 2,726.3 2,896.8 6.25 15.71

Colour Cosmetics 12,325.7 12,378.4 12,638.3 13,036.9 3.15 5.77

Skincare 34,415.3 35,707.3 37,432.0 39,387.5 5.22 14.45

*preliminary, estimated Source: Euromonitor

Ultra glossy -

YSL's Rouge

Pur Couture

Vernis à Lèvres

collection

A light touch - make-up artists are proving popular

in travel retail (shown here at DFS Galleria Waikiki)


Cosmetics brands build on market successwith updates, new launches for 2012

New andrenewed

As La-tweez’s most popular product, the Pro Illuminating Tweezershas won two Beauty Awards, and is currently selling in more than 40countries worldwide. The product is also listed on more than 50 air-lines, including Air France, Iberia, Alitalia, Singapore Airlines, KLM, CAL,Qantas, Air Berlin, Lufthansa, Cathay, Dragronair and Thai Airways.Manufactured in professional grade stainless steel, the tweez-

ers feature wider flexible arms for better handling, hand-filed slantedtips that enhance alignment for improved grip and a perforated designthat reduces the product’s weight. The integral LED light illuminateshard-to-reach hairs and the auto shutoff function conserves batterypower by switching the light off. The lipstick style compact carry-ing case has a built in magnifying mirror so that the kit can be usedon the go as well as at home. The kit is available in black, white,pink and stainless steel.

At this year’s TFWA Asia Pacific trade fair, La-tweez will launch itsnew Pro Make-Up Brushes gift packaged travel set, which will includefive professional brushes for eyes and face. “The Pro Make-UpBrushes are perfectly contoured and made from the finest materialsto ensure flawless application for a professional effect,” La-tweez says.McG Consultants, the exclusive travel retail and inflight consul-

tants for La-tweez, has reported a 25% increase in sales in 2011and says that it anticipates a similar increase in 2012. McG Con-sultants specializes in the inflight, duty free and travel retail market.

Estée Lauder announces Pure Color Blush and updates to Color Palette

La-tweez to reveal Pro Make-Up gift packagedbrush set in Singapore

Estée Lauder has unveiled its new Pure Color Blush, available from May of this year, whichhas been created in collaboration with Estée Lauder’s Creative Makeup Director Tom Pecheux.“Now cheeks are vibrant with fresh, radiant color in an expansive new palette of shades thatembrace a diverse range of skin tones,” the company says. “High-performance technology com-bines with skin-loving ingredients in this ultra-silky, modern powder blush to add instant dimen-sion and glamour to the face, from a soft flush of color to dramatic contours that last all day.”

Estée Lauder says that the color lasts all day without streaking or fading, and that the ultra-silkypowder sweeps on sheer for a natural glow in two finishes—Satin and Shimmer.The application builds for “contoured and sculpted definition with lumi-nous optic technology.” An exclusive contouring brush is included.

Estée Lauder says that its “True Vision Color” maximizes colorimpact, enhances vibrancy, clarity and dimension and increases bril-liance. "Cheeks come to life when you highlight and contour,” says TomPecheux. “This defines a woman."

In addition to cheeks, The Pure Color collection encom-passes shades for eyes, lips and nails.

Estée Lauder has also announced a forthcoming update toits “Ingenious Color Palette” with new eyeshadows, lip colors anda new blush shade. The palette will include AeroMatte Ultralu-cent Pressed Powder and Magnascopic Maximum Volume Mas-cara, “which encompasses everything you’ll need for a gorgeous,glowing look.”

The lip and powder compact inserts detach for “grab andgo” functionality. The updates to the Ingenious Color Palettewill be available from June of this year.

Cosmetics News

Pure Color Blush

Ingenious Color Palette


Amala

s skincare goes, Amala is con-sidered to be top flight. TheGermany-based skincare housetakes great pains to point out itscareful sourcing arrangements

of the plant and other extracts that are keyto its products and their manufacture.

The company says: “The effectiveness ofour skincare is reliant upon the ingredientswe source exclusively from our global fairtrade farmers. Each plant ingredient is grownorganically and sustainably in its nativehabitat to ensure peak potency.”

The name Amala was carefully chosen: theancient name has a mix of meanings from“most pure” in Sanskrit, “revered mother”in Tibetan, and “love her” in Spanish, all ofwhich give the brand a wide base from whichto communicate its concept.

Founder Ute Leube, who began blendingher own skincare as early as the 1970s, says:“The word Amala has many unique mean-ings, but it is the harmony of all of them thatresonates most with us. We believe that tocreate the world's most pure skincare prod-ucts, we must conduct ourselves most purely.It's the power of the whole plant that sepa-rates Amala from the bunch.”

Eco-responsibility is another core ele-ment of the brand's DNA and that is reflectedin the product packaging which uses sus-tainable outers made of post-consumerfibre, and cork stoppers, while the printingis vegetable ink on reusable packs. The effectis a natural look, but Amala has managed itin a way that does not detract from thehigh-end nature of the brand, and risk plac-ing it in tree-hugging territory, a hard featto pull off successfully.

This passion for purity and the environ-ment makes the brand stand out in thebeauty world - and in travel retail. HoweverAmala's relationship with travel retail hasbeen topsy turvy. It first launched at Singa-pore's Changi Airport in 2008, shortly afterits debut at the TFWA Asia Pacific show inSingapore, with an exclusive presence atretailer Nuance-Watson (Singapore)'s beautylocations at the airport. Prior to that, thebrand was only available in spas in the US.

Thereafter Amala opened up further travelretail locations including big ones like HongKong International Airport and The NuanceGroup Europe's World of Wellness conceptat Stockholm Arlanda Airport.

But with strategic marketing and distri-bution changes happening at Amala, includ-ing a decision not to expand in some localmarkets such as Singapore, in preference toexpanding more strongly in the high-end spabusiness instead, has meant that travel retailis less of a priority now than when the brandfirst made its Asian debut.

Duty free distributor, Escale Holding,President Caroline Cheung says: “The salesresults have been great at Hong Kong Inter-national Airport, but the brand has delayedits domestic market distribution to focus onits high-end professional line for 5-star spaproperties like Mandarin Oriental, FairmontGroup and others. Therefore it has been dif-ficult to gain brand awareness for travel retail.”

Cheung adds: “At a later stage the com-pany may consider airport spas but cur-rently it is focusing on, and doing very wellwith, really exclusive high-end spas.”

Nevertheless at a timewhen duty free beautybuyers are moreattuned to the greenmovement and tonatural products,other possibilities will

no doubt appear if Amala decides to look forthem. One possibility for the future is to tieup Amala's spa focus with new beauty con-cepts in travel retail where spa and niche skin-care brands have high prominence - for

example at Cocoon from WorldDuty Free Group (mostly inthe western hemisphere), ME

from King Power Thailandat Bangkok's Suvarnab-humi airport, or spe-cialist concepts fromDFS Group in Asiaand the Pacific. c

A

Amala - a natural choiceThe organic skincare brand has taken the spa route to expansion and brand awareness BY JAMES ROSS

Amala packaging -

simple, clear and

eco-friendly

Purity and plants -

two core elements

of the amala DNA

Beauty Contact


lobal fragrances consultancy,agent and distributor BeautyContact has been licensed torelease a new series of fragrancesby 21st Century Leaders Foun-

dation, a global charitable initiative foundedin 2003 to contribute to global develop-ment projects. Beauty Contact will helpmanufacture, promote and sell a series of fra-grances, with sales generating contributionsto the foundation’s work. An 8% royaltyfrom sales goes to the foundation. US$8,750has already been paid to the charity andBeauty Contact has also committed to rais-ing a minimum of US$166,250 over thenext three years.

The mission statement of 21st CenturyLeaders Foundation says that the purpose ofthe organization is “to assist and encouragea generation of influencers—royalty, NobelPeace Prize laureates, and well-known lead-ers in the fields of film, music, fashion, artand literature, etc.—to raise awareness andfunds for international development causes,thereby leading the way in promoting pos-itive environmental and sustainable humandevelopment solutions.”

21st Century Leaders is supported byover 600 celebrities who donate artwork forlicensees to produce products. Each licenseepays a portion of sales in royalties to char-ity, says Alwyn Stephen, President of Beauty

Contact. “We’ve included the fragrances inthis. The whole point is to make peopleconscious that they can buy something anda part of that is going to go to a good cause.”

Stephen says that over the next 36 monthsBeauty Contact will create some 30 differ-ent limited edition fragrances, each in a runof about 10,000 pieces and anchored on adifferent celebrity’s donated artwork. Fifteenof the celebrities’ works have already beenselected.

“We’ll launch fragrances designed withGeorge Clooney, Daniel Craig and Pink’sartworks first, in the next three months,”Stephen says. “Around September we’ll bringout three more. Every four months therewill be three new ones launched. The inten-tion is to have nine fragrances out on a 12-month cycle.” The fragrances will be in 100mL sizes. Stephen says that these will behigh-end products, not mass-market, and willbe sold through top retail stores worldwide.

Celebrities who already have their ownfragrances, like Katy Perry and Dame Vivi-enne Westwood, have instead donated art-work to be used on other goods. Katy Perry,for example, has donated artwork that hasbeen applied to stationery items.

Beauty Contact is a licensee, producerand service provider for luxury goods oper-ating out of Dubai, the US and Canada.With professionals in management, finance,

sales/marketing, operations, quality con-trol, production, design and development,Beauty Contact provides turnkey solutionsfor those who want to launch private labelprojects or to enter the fragrances market.

21st Century Leaders Foundation hasworked with notable figures such as Arch-bishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, NelsonMandela, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir RogerMoore, Sir Bob Geldof, Sir Richard Bran-son, George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Clau-dia Schiffer, Donna Karan, David Bowie andColdplay, among many others, to further abroad range of global charitable and educa-tional projects. The campaign has grown toinclude art contributions from over 600 wellknown personalities. These have enabled 21stCentury Leaders Foundation to raise fundsand awareness for multiple charitable projects.

Causes include combating climate change,protecting and enhancing biodiversity, waterand sanitation projects, education initia-tives, improving labor conditions and more.In addition to its own projects, 21st CenturyLeaders Foundation has also supportedcharitable work undertaken by other orga-nizations. UNICEF, Greenpeace, Oxfam andthe World Wildlife Fund are among theorganizations the foundation has supportedfinancially. To date, the foundation has raisedover US$94 million in support of its ownwork and projects by other agencies. c

G

Beauty Contactsupports 21st Century LeadersCelebrities donate art for new fragrance designs: royalties to support global development

BY HIBAH NOOR

From left: Beauty Contact’s Mario Pages,

International Sales and President Alwyn Stephen

Polaroid brings 75th anniversary2012 collections to Singapore


Polaroid says that its 2012 sunglasses collections, which celebrate the brand’s75th anniversary, are proving well suited for travel retail with distribution con-tinuing to grow. At TFWA Asia Pacific & GATE ONE2ONE this year, the com-pany will be highlighting its Core, Premium and Trend collections, as well as itsBest under the Sun range, at the Polaroid stand (M5).The Core Collection offers a choice of metal and acetate frames for men and

women, from classic aviator style to wide fashion frames with just-oversizedrounded lenses. Temple arms go from drainpipe style and thin cut-outs tochunky decorative fashion or deep-set functional styles. The Premium Collection offers men’s designs moving from double-bridge

aviators and single masks to simple black wayfarer-style frames. Styled jew-elled tones for women combine with delicate metal arms and large dark lenses.Frames are encrusted with semi-precious gemstones and come with shapedgradient colored lenses.The Trend Collection introduces rapper-style dark colored acetate frames,

some with metal detailing on the frame top, teamed with gradient lenses for amoody look. Alternatively there are big mirrored lenses in tear-drop style metalframes in silver combined with blue, red or black.The Best under the Sun 75th Anniversary Collection is inspired by designs

from the 1930s to the 1980s. Each model comes in two colorways and is madefrom TR90 high tensile nylon, enhancing durability and clarity in the frames.Nostalgic 1940s styling is reflected in the simple demi or black frame designs

of Buddy, contrasting with the 1950s California sunshine frames of Bel Air forhim and Jive frames for her. For would-be road rebels, there are curved Riderframes from the 1960s or the big framed Twist in plum or brown colorway. For the 1970s, there are disco-diva Sophia frames with open temple arms

or cat-suited Elvis-era Las Vegas frames in silver or gold. The collection roundsoff with two tear-drop aviators: Vice in gold or gunmetal and the Wave framein black or brown.Polaroid is also highlighting a new aviator design called Seventy-five, which

draws on Polaroid frame designs from the 1970s. Made from Monel nickel alloyand corrosion proof sprung stainless steel, these frames offer flexibility for all-

day comfort and bear discreet Polaroid branding onthe temple arms.

Silhouette has unveiled two new sunglasses collec-tions for 2012, which accent fashion-forward designand high-end function. “The demands of the wearersof sunglasses are becoming more and more individ-ual,” says Silhouette Co-Owner and Chairman ArnoldSchmied, who was closely involved in the developmentof the new lines. “Our challenge is to anticipate andrecognize this. With the new 2012 sunglasses collectionwe are not following a trend but making statements.”

Silhouette says that the combination of mainlyrimless eyewear design and robust protection fromthe hazards of sunlight rests on the company’sdecades-long involvement in sunglasses develop-ment. The process combines research, design, prod-uct development and production, resulting in the new2012 sunglasses collections, which Silhouette calls “acelebration in the sun.”

The 16 models offer sun protection but also offercomfort because of their lightness and the way theyare manufactured—as much as 80% of the work isdone by hand.

“The two collection lines, Lifestyle by Design—forthat chic look and good vision in the sun—and Actionby Design—for sporting moments in the sun—giveexpression to the basic philosophy as a core messageand structure the collections in two lifestyles,” saysBrand Director Andreas Aschauer-Martinelli.

“Sunglasses are now one of the most importantaccessories all year round,” says Klaus Schmied, Co-owner and Director Responsible for Technology, Researchand Production. “Not only are they decorative, butmore and more people are becoming aware of the realfunction of sunglasses. We want to meet these everhigher expectations—paired with lifestyle and design—so we offer many additional features such as polarizedsun protection lenses, a sophisticated lens system, theoption of prescription lenses and much more.” From the Best under the Sun

75th Anniversary Collection

Silhouette introduces “Premium”sunglasses line

Lovingthe light

Sunglass News

New sunglasses collectionsemphasize individual style

and retro-look designs

refl ect yourbrilliance

Business is Brilliant with Maui Jim®

How can it be otherwise? Maui Jim offers the utmost in protection from glare as well as extraordinary clarity and color

enhancement, all courtesy of our patented PolarizedPlus2® technology. And now they are available in more must-have

styles than ever! Bring Maui Jim on board at your Duty Free shop. See just how brilliant business can be!

For more information, please contact Giles Marks, Director of Duty Free Sales, at [email protected]

Luxottica

arketing a portfolio ofbrands including Ray Ban,Oakley, Tiffany, Chanel, Bul-gari and more recognizablydeluxe brands than you can

shake a sunglasses case at, Luxottica hasbeen strengthening its marketing team overthe past few months. It’s strength has beenfrom appointing personnel from outsidethe sunglasses category to gain “best prac-tice” from other categories.

Francesco d'Amelia has joined as Mar-keting Manager Travel Retail, responsiblefor the company’s global marketing activityin the channel. D’Amelia brings solid expe-rience in various marketing and sales roleswith companies such as Vodafone,FinecoBank, Sisal and, most recently, intravel retail working for British AmericanTobacco as Account Manager SouthernEurope Travel Retail. He will be based inLondon reporting to Francis Gros, LuxotticaGroup Travel Retail Director, and replacesCharlotte Hamel, who moves within theLuxottica Group to the position of GlobalBrand Manager for the Coach license.

Commenting on the appointment, Fran-cis Gros says, “I’m pleased to welcomeFrancesco on board, and look forward to hiscontribution as we build on the great suc-cess we’ve seen in Luxottica Travel Retailover the last few years.”

“Our dedicated travel retail team, nownearing 20 people strong, has vast experiencefrom within Luxottica Group andother leading travel retail brand-owners in perfume and cos-metics, liquor, tobacco and con-fectionery. Enriching Luxottica’sleadership in sunglasses with bestpractices from other categories,we are in an excellent position to

continue to drive forward the sunglassescategory in travel retail.”

Luxottica Travel Retail now has a strongmarketing team in place to drive furthergrowth and innovation in the channel throughthree regional marketing specialists and aTraining Manager reporting to d’Amelia.

The appointment of Averis Papastefanias Training Manager Travel Retail is a newstep for the company as it only recently cre-ated the role. Papastefani joins LuxotticaTravel Retail in this new role within thedivision tasked with developing and imple-menting travel retail–specific training pro-grams with key travel retail operators. “Stafftraining is a key element of Luxottica’s Cat-egory Management approach,” Gros says.

Papastefani has spent over 13 years invarious positions within the Luxottica Groupin Italy and Dublin. She has worked acrossproduction, brand management, market-ing and sales roles giving her huge experi-ence in all aspects of the company and thesunglasses category.

Gros adds, “Papastefani’s appointment isa significant development for Luxottica TravelRetail. Her role has been created to help workwith our travel retail partners to achieve ourobjective of making travel retail the special-ist channel for sunglasses. Front-line staffare the key protagonists in any service propo-sition, which is even more important with sucha personally specific luxury product as sun-glasses. Our new tailored training programmes

will help differentiate travel retail and con-tinue to drive growth for the category.”

Bettina Danet, Marketing CoordinatorEurope, Near East & Africa joined the com-pany in 2010 and has been instrumental inthe rapid development of the sunglassescategory in Europe over the last two years.Prior to Luxottica, she gained experiencewith Guerlain, Thierry Mugler and Chanel.Now based in London, Danet is responsiblefor planning and execution of Luxottica’smarketing and promotional initiatives withinEurope, Near East & Africa regions.

Anna Ng, Marketing Coordinator AsiaPacific joined Luxottica Travel Retail in 2010,bringing with her over 5 years experience intravel retail with Estee Lauder where, amongstother roles, she was regional Marketing Man-ager for the Jo Malone, Bobbi Brown and LaMer brands. Based in Singapore, she is respon-sible for the planning and execution of Lux-ottica’s marketing and promotional initiativeswithin Asia Pacific and the Gulf region.

Martha Galvis, Marketing CoordinatorAmericas, joined Luxottica Travel Retail inSeptember 2011, having spent much of hercareer in travel retail where, amongst otherroles, she handled marketing in travel retailand domestic markets in Latin America forCoty Prestige. Based in Miami, she is respon-sible for the planning and execution of Lux-ottica’s marketing and promotionalinitiatives across theAmericas. c

MLuxottica strengthens travel retail team


Luxottica carries prestigious

names such as Dolce &

Gabbana and Vogue

With an enviable portfolio of deluxe brands in the Luxottica stable, it’s no wonder that the eyewear supplier has appointed new travel retail personnel BY LORNA STRICKLAND-COOK

Luxottica’s display at

Aldeasa’s store in Alicante

Airport, Spain

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Folli Follie


Folli in controlreece may be in the media todayfor all the wrong reasons, butthere are success stories to reportfrom the economically-strickencountry—and one of them is one

of its best known brands Folli Follie.The Folli Follie Group, stock-exchange

listed since 1997, was originally founded in1982 by Dimitris Koutsolioutsos as a jewelrymaker, but has since diversified into watchesand fashion accessories as well as into retail-ing through its Hellenic Duty Free Shops divi-sion, Attica department stores and ElmecSport and Factory Outlet chains in the Greekdomestic market.

Travel retail has become a core channel forthe brand since it entered the market in 1999at Athens International Airport followed, in2000, by a collaboration with DFS Groupthanks to its high brand awareness in Japan.The first Folli Follie flagship store in duty freewas opened at London’s Heathrow AirportTerminal 3 and today the house has more than50 points of sale in travel retail.

“It is a highly important strategic chan-nel working in parallel to our local marketchannels. Combined, they reinforce ourbrand development,” says Folli Follie VicePresident - International Division JohnnieVoutsas. That development now spans 25countries and over 380 standalone points ofsale and 700 in total, including the UK,Switzerland, Japan, France, US, China (withmore than 120 shops) and Russia.

The rapid move to own-store formats—one of its most celebrated being at HongKong International Airport—has beenaccompanied by a strong presence on airlines,especially in Asia. “Our inflight businessstarted with Eva Air and British Airwaysbut has since evolved to cover more than 40airlines reaching more than one millionpassengers on a daily basis,” says Voutsas.

Asia is a key market for Folli Follie whereexpansion is expected to become a big dri-ver of revenues. The brand already has morethan 10 directly and indirectly controlled sub-sidiaries in the largest Asian markets, witha strong, if relatively recent, presence inmainland China. This time last year, GuoGuangchang, Chairman and Founder ofChina’s largest private conglomerate Fosun,took a stake in FFG of almost 10%, a movethat suggests the faith he has in the company’sprospects.

At the time, George Koutsolioutsos, FolliFollie Group CEO, said: “We believe thatboth Folli Follie and Fosun Group will comeout stronger from this strategic alliance.The added value deriving from this part-nership will be significant and fruitful, as bothwill mutually benefit: The Folli Follie Groupby further establishing its presence in theChinese and other Asian markets, and FosunGroup by taking advantage of the Folli Fol-lie Group’s expertise in travel retail, tourismand brand retailing.”

Voutsas adds: “The Asian market is of highimportance and the significant awareness forFolli Follie has assisted the brand in establishinga strategically important presence with a verygood financial performance.” No surprisethen that the brand’s current global cam-

paign features Gaile Lai, the Macau-bornChinese model, as the brand ambassador.

Folli Follie says that what makes it standout among its competitors is that it “holdsa leading position in the global fashion scene”thanks to a team of designers “who alwaysseek new and fascinating ways to respond tothe needs of the Folli Follie fans and to theirdistinct styles”. The brand has been clever inmigrating the most unique designs andmotifs from its best-selling jewelry collectionsto other categories such as handbags. Thewatch business too has played a crucial roleand Folli Follie now claims to be “a globalpower” on the fashion watch scene.

From a travel retail perspective, the biggesthurdle the company sees is as a result of itsown success. “Our real challenge is to man-age our growth in the face of a risingdemand,” says Voutsas confidently. WithFosun onboard, China’s strategic impor-tance will be magnified, especially as themarket rebalances towards increased domes-tic consumption and internally-led growth,including that from luxury goods and aspi-rational brands. FFG expects to exploit thiswith the Folli Follie brand as well as Linksof London, which it also owns, to becomeone of the leading fashion and accessoriesgroups in the country. c

G “The Asian market is of highimportance and the significantawareness for Folli Follie hasassisted the brand in establish-ing a strategically importantpresence with a very goodfinancial performance.” Johnnie Voutsas Vice President - International Division, Folli Follie

Diversification has taken jewelry house Folli Follie to new heights BY JAMES ROSS

Festina


estina watches have become well-estab-lished in certain parts of the duty freebusiness, but the more-than-a century-old brand's history in the channel is rel-atively recent. As a market leader in the

Spanish domestic market, it was natural that theBarcelona-based company's first travel retail clientwas Iberia—and, following that decisive move in thenineties, the brand's inflight business has grown pro-gressively. “We went onboard in 1997 and have had thehonour of being a supplier ever since,” says WorldwideDirector of Travel Retail Jason Newman.

“For the Festina Group, Iberia was the vehicle that initiallygave our brands a multinational image and was the key thatopened many doors in duty free,” recalls Newman. Today the com-pany enjoys a travel retail business with a multimillion euroturnover with top operators worldwide.

Inflight has been a core channel for thebrand but there has also been expansion in air-port stores, although airlines continue to bea focus. Festina regards travel retail as verymuch a complementary channel to its domes-tic business, with crossover sales a benefit inboth markets.

“We consider airports as showroomsbecause the purchase of a Festina watch maynot always take place in an airport, or up inthe clouds,” says Newman. “Many people con-tact us via social networks or customer services asking where theycan purchase the brand domestically after having seen, for exam-ple, a particular watch onboard.”

For years many brands, particularly those in the luxury goodssector, have used travel retail to generate this kind of exposure andinterest from traveling consumers that they regarded as a perfecttarget profile.

In Festina's case, its target is much more wide-ranging, but thedowntown benefit appears to be just as strong. As such, travel retailhas become a vital channel and the brand's strategy is to keepgrowing in inflight as well as to capture more airport retailers.

Newman says: “We plan to focus our efforts over the next threeyears on those markets where penetration is weak. In geographicalterms we want to develop our presence in the Middle East and Asia.”

Asia Pacific is the biggest challenge for the brand, both domes-tically and in duty free because the Festina brand is not well distributedin the region currently and, despite a few attempts, it doesn't enjoythe penetration that some of its European competitors have there.“In terms of figures, our results in the region are insignificant

compared to what we sell elsewhere,” admits Newman. “Our prior-ity is to open more doors domestically and increase brand aware-ness through travel retail in 2012 and 2013.”

One aspect that Festina counts in its favor when expanding inAsian travel retail is its combination of European design, quality andwhat Newman calls “the ever-important value-for-money con-cept”. He adds: “In travel retail we are one of the few internationalbrands that offers true savings to clients as well as an authentic inter-national guarantee to our consumers.”

The Festina brand also carries weight in sporting circles thanksto its connections with cycling (the brand is the official timekeeperof the Tour de France and other 'tours' in Europe), several marathonrunning events in Germany and ice hockey.

Cracking Asia will be a key to taking the brand's share of salesfrom travel retail higher. Currently the duty free business correspondsto less than 5% of Festina's sales according to Newman but he says:“There has been a lack of focus on this business in the past and inthe next few years we plan to push it much more and increase ourglobal presence in the channel.” c

F

Festina - timing is everything

“We consider airports as showrooms because the purchase of a Festina watchmay not always take place inan airport, or up in the clouds.”Jason Newman, Worldwide Director of Travel Retail, Festina

Festina is seeing

strong sales from

ceramic ladies

watches

Festina’s bestseller

- Gent’s Fashion

Chronograph

The official timekeeper of the Tour de France is planning a big push in travel retail BY JAMES ROSS

Frédérique Constant


eter and Aletta Stas founded Swisswatchmaker Frédérique Constantin 1988, initially as a hobby. Buttheir enthusiasm soon spawned aninternational business in the acces-

sible luxury watches segment covering morethan 100 countries and around 2,700 pointsof sales including travel retail. Fittingly thecompany's slogan is Live Your Passion.

“It remains our strategy to offer classical,Swiss-made watches at sensible prices,” saysFrédérique Constant International SalesManager Adrienne Ogier. “The core of oursales are between US$500 and $5,000 retail.

Based in Plan les Ouates, Geneva thecompany has an ultra-modern productionfacility to hand-assemble its watches.Frédérique Constant has been in the duty freechannel for almost a decade and made themove “in order to enhance the brand’s inter-national status and image, and to completethe brand-building that we had initiated inthe local markets,” says Ogier.

She adds: “Travel retail is a fast-growingmarket for us. It follows the strong devel-opments of the brand in different domes-tic markets throughout the world and, in cer-tain cases, duty free outperforms domesticin terms of percentage growth.”

The company's travel retail sales grewby 20% in 2011, supported by a successfulinternational advertising campaign, and thefirst quarter of 2012 is also seeing double-digit growth. The company expects an equallystrong year in 2012 and is aiming for another20% hike in sales.

From a regional perspective, Asia con-tinues to experience sustained growth intravel retail, according to the company,spurred by strength in Hong Kong, China,Singapore and Thailand. “The brand alsoperformed very well in Russia last year,”says Ogier “and we experienced double-digit growth in the Middle East which is ourstrongest region and continues to showoutstanding performances even though the

Far East is developing at a very fast pace.”Frédérique Constant is now consolidat-

ing its presence in these markets with newPOS openings while plans to expand itstravel retail presence in the Americas arealso pipelined. “Our main focus for 2012 isto expand our visibility in all travel retailchannels,” confirms Ogier. “We willstrengthen our presence in airports anddowntown duty free stores and, wheneverpossible, we will personalize with dedicatedfurniture in the existing ones.”

At this point the company is aware ofbigger watch brands increasingly movingto standalone boutiques in airports. The

challenge for independent players likeFrédérique Constant is twofold: be pre-sented in the right retail environments withcomplimentary brands, and receive ade-quate display space in multi-brand watch andjewelry environments.

In Asia, the brand expects further oppor-tunities this year through existing partners,as well as new strategic markets in the regionsuch as Greater China where the brand hashad robust growth over the past three years.“Frédérique Constant has grown exponen-tially in China's domestic market and has over100 points of sales today,” says Ogier. “Lastyear we opened our very first 130-square-meter boutique in China, located at Taiyuan,one of the most prestigious areas in theShanxi Province. We will also grow our pres-ence in Chinese travel retail with a new loca-

tion in Chengdu Airport scheduled for June.”To keep this momentum going the com-

pany says it constantly reviews its businessmodels “in order to meet the expectationsof very demanding travelers”. Ogier is clearabout the task in hand: “Trends indicatethat consumers are still conscious of pricesand looking for classical designs and moreaffordable items. Our mission is to let morepeople enjoy luxury and we will continue toprovide them with high quality, classicaland innovative watches at a reasonable price.Exclusives and limited editions have provento be very successful and we have once againincreased our offer for 2012.”

Frédérique Constantbelieves its “accessibleluxury” approach res-onates well withduty free shoppersand the companyregularly runsGWP promotionsto reinforce its mes-sage. “Classicaldesign, special pack-aging and price posi-tioning, these three ele-ments are the key of oursuccess in travel retail,”concludes Ogier. c

P

Constant craving

It's very much a case of watch this spacewhen it comes to Frédérique Constant

“Frédérique Constant has grown exponentially in China's domestic mar-ket and has over 100points of sales today.”

Adrienne Ogier, International Sales Manager, Frédérique Constant

BY JAMES ROSS

Frédérique Constant's

Double Heart Beat Black

Beauty which was

launched at Basel World

The Slimline range is a

bestseller in travel retail—a

women's range is also available

Reminiscence looks ahead

Reminiscence


hallenging the austerity of the department store anddeveloping your own retail concept is a brave move. Todo it on a global scale is even harder. Reminiscence’sown take on retailing originated in the 1970s, at a timewhen the world was still abuzz after the swinging 60s taught

everyone to challenge everything. At the end of the 1970s, when India and the Orient were fuelling

the imagination of designers enchanted by their iridescent colors,Zoé Coste launched her artisan jewelry collections for the first time.Coste met Italian visionary Nino Amaddeo and opened their firstboutique in Juan-les-Pins on the Côte d’Azur. The Reminiscence sagahad begun, uniting love of creation and the spirit of enterprise.

Inspiration was born of travel and the treasures the two discoveredtogether: keys, feathers, wood, pearls, crosses and chilies among oth-ers. All these symbols became the Reminiscence “signature.” InLondon, Coste discovered Patchouli essential oil, imported directlyfrom India with its mythical fragrance associated with the freedomof an entire generation.

But this rather ‘out there’ collection of trinkets was joined by ahint of classicism. Back in Grasse, Coste met a perfumer and toldhim “I want a perfume that smells like that.” The famous Patchouliby Reminiscence was born, quickly followed by Ambre and Musc,the brand’s now-classic fragrances.

This vision was quickly translated into retail sales as one by one,boutiques flourished in Paris and Cannes. Reminiscence created con-cept stores in a bazaar-chic style where shoppers could find jewelry,perfumes, accessories, candles, caftans, bags and more. The brandspread through France, Italy, Europe and the Middle East and todaythere are over 3,000 points of sale across the world.

Emotions and dreams have been at the heart of Reminiscencecreations for 40 years, with baroque, ethnic, romantic, childlikejewelry and fragrances evoking memories of distant climes. “Everyobject expresses a taste in expertise and beautiful materials, a sense

C of the exceptional and the expected, a pleasure in imagining and com-municating,” says a spokesperson from Reminiscence.

New launches and regional strategyThis year, Reminiscence aims to surprise its customers by modern-izing the brand, without losing sight of its identity. “We want to reacha new, younger target,” says the company.

Launched in the 70s on the French Riviera, the brand is now con-solidated in France, Europe and the Middle East. “Based on the two pil-lars Rem and Patchouli, and on a family of unique, story-telling fra-grances, the range benefits from an interesting multichannel distrib-ution,” says Reminiscence. The seventeen Reminiscence boutiques, apresence in the major international and national chains and depart-ment stores, and concept stores are all key components to this success.

“We are now focusing more than ever on the internationalexpansion of the brand, basing our approach on the regional speci-ficities of the markets,” Reminiscence says. “For the Asia-Pacific region,with the help of our agent, we are currently carrying a series of meet-ings with potential distributors to consolidate our presence and toidentify the best partner. We believe our Rem line will be our bestbrand ambassador in the area, with its marine, fresh and floralnotes particularly appreciated during our presentations.”

The newest launch is Crazy Rem, the “flanker” of the best sellerRem, with the same bottle and the same packaging. But as thisnew edition’s mission is to be “shocking,” the brand decided for boththe jewelry collection and the fragrance packaging to use trendy col-ors from this season: shocking pink and fluorescent yellow.

“This launch is totally in line with the brand,” says the company.“Since 1970, Reminiscence has always been a trendsetter and aninnovator.” c

Reminiscence pairs two of women’s favoritethings: jewelry and fragrance. The pairing’shistory is an interesting one, as the brand’sretail story and coming overhaul attest

BY LORNA STRICKLAND-COOK

Reminiscence’s newest fragrance launch: Crazy Rem

Zoe Coste and Nino

Amaddeo, the founders

of Reminiscence, with

Lilla Amaddeo and

Sebastien Coste

Devanlay Lacoste Travel Retail


rench luxury brand Lacoste hasa strong presence in Asia. Thebrand is currently present in 10countries, 25 airports and 56 totalpoints of sale in the region, says

Catherine Bonelli, Director, Devanlay LacosteTravel Retail, and continued expansion ison the agenda “everywhere,” she adds.

“In Asia we have a huge potential todevelop. We’ve been in China for 27 years,and Chinese customers recognize us as aluxury brand. For Asians, having a Frenchbrand is something special.” Lacoste posted23% growth in 2011, Bonelli says. “The feed-back is very good.”

For travel retail, Bonelli notes that Lacostehas a new inflight exclusive line on hand,which it launched at TFWA in Cannes lastyear and will be highlighting at the upcom-ing TFWA Asia Pacific in Singapore in May.

The line includes a navy blue or red nyloncanvas foldable shoulder bag with integralpouch, a navy blue or red leather grained cardholder with embossed Lacoste crocodilelogo on the flap, and a tricolor nylon three-in-one multi-currency pouch with snapclosure. This accessory enables the trav-eler to keep his/her foreign currencies indifferent pouches. These can be snappedtogether for storage and then taken indi-vidually on trips or, for multidestinationtravel, taken as a dual or triple pack.There’s also a navy blue or red cottoncanvas two-in-one pouch that can beworn on a belt or over the shoulder.

Lacoste is one of the legendary names inupscale menswear, with excellent brand vis-ibility around the world. This year’s travelretail trade fairs have provided a showcase

for the brand to highlight its new collection,and to unroll a new phase in its branding andmarket strategies—a concentrated push tooccupy more territory on the women’s wearside of the market.

Thirty-seven-year-old Felipe OliveiraBaptista, who has been Lacoste’s ArtisticDirector since September 2010, is taking upthe challenge of moving the Lacoste portfo-lio to the next level, says Bonelli. “Felipe issomeone new and trendy and the press lovehim. He’s young—his Spring/Summer 2012Lacoste collection was his first. Lacoste’sfocus is still 70% on men, but the new tar-get is to develop the women’s side andthat’s the challenge for Felipe.”

Accordingly, at TFWA Asia Pacificand GATE ONE2ONE, Lacoste will be

showing its Fall/Winter 2012 collec-tion, a follow-on to Spring/Summer

2012, which was shown at IAADFS. For thenew collection, Baptista has taken as histouchstone a meeting of rugby and ski cloth-ing. The collection features a sporty line withtapered legs that allow for subtle layering.Large “egg-like” parkas drape more naturallyand the loose knitwear multiplies the cloth-ing’s textural effects, adding volume and reliefto both the men’s and women’s items. c

F

Lacostetakes aim at women’s market

Business

card holder

Foldable shoulder bags

Multi-currency pouch

Iconic brand grows in Asia, commits Baptista’s talents tonew market push

BY HIBAH NOOR

Please contact Deepa J at +1 905-821-3344 ext.#21 or email [email protected]

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Golden glow


Jewelry Report

he upcoming TFWA Asia Pacific trade fairin Singapore should be a hotbed of newreleases in the jewelry category, with newand established makers eager to show off theircreativity—and their awareness of the latest

trends in this fast-changing space. The Asian duty free mar-ket has become a byword for growth, but that doesn’t meanthat jewelers—or anyone else for that matter—can afford tobe careless in how it presents itself. Asian consumers are happyenough to put their spending power to use, but they are also discriminating andhave very well defined product preferences.

Australian jeweler Toscow is bringing a Latin theme to market. The company hasannounced that it will launch a new Carnival-themed collection, titled “RIO,” at theSingapore show. The collection will feature a range of playful pieces with Toscow’scolorful signature crystals as the centerpiece.

The use of “a rainbow of colors” is important for the upcoming summer season,says Toscow General Manager Francis Ng. “I was dazzled by the colors and joy ofthe Rio Carnival and wanted to bring out a collection that was alive with passionafter visiting the Rio Carnival a few years ago,” he says.

The RIO collection features a spectrum of colors ranging from red, yellow andorange to blue, green, indigo and violet and a range of shapes from olive and roundto teardrop.

“Silver colored rhodium plating generally is more popular than gold plating,”says Ng. “However we see there’s a very strong comeback of gold plated jewelry

in recent years.” Toscow’s RIO collection features 18 carat gold and rhodiumplated versions targeted to a range of different consumer preferences. Abangle, ring, pendant and earrings are available with the bangle being thesignature piece. The bangle features a spring hinge and is an easy-wear item.Pricing for the RIO collection ranges from US$79 to $229.Frey Wille’s best sellers are its Gustav Klimt and Hundertwasser collec-

tions. Its new GMS collection features an increased use of gold, including whitegold, says Wessam Elmona, Director Duty Free, Worldwide General Manager

Middle East & Africa. “Gold is more dominant in this collection,” Elmona says, cit-ing the presence of ivory, pink, blue and shiny gold in the pieces.

In addition, Frey Wille’s new Magic Sphinx collection features the Frey Wille sphinxsymbol and three-dimensional enamel canvasses finished in a high-shine mirroreffect. 24 carat yellow bands line the designs. The collection comes in Coral, Ivoryand Royal Blue variants and features Frey Wille’s first use of three gold surfaces withinthe enamel.

Of course gold is an iconic element for Clogau, which features gold in every pieceit produces, including a touch of rare Welsh gold. “On cruise ships and land basedbusiness we’re selling more and more actual gold pieces as opposed to silver and

TFor these trend-ready jewelers, gold accents areone key to success in theAsia market and elsewhere

BY HIBAH NOOR

Pieces from Frey Wille’s new Magic Sphinx collection

From Toscow’s RIO collection


gold combined,” says David Butler, Clogau’sHead of International Sales. “This is also 18 caratgold for the Asian market. The price points don’tseem to be an issue.” Current travel retail best sell-ers are the Kensington Key Pendant and Key Locket,both designed in association with Historic RoyalPalaces.

Mixing metals like rose gold and white gold is goingto continue to be very popular this season, says Frank Lumof Australian fashion jeweler Pica LéLa. The three-dimen-sional aspect of the jewelry will definitely be emphasizedand celebrated. “Jewelry this season is boldly ‘going beyond,’”Lum says. “It curves away from the finger, puffs out from thewrist and coils away from the collarbone. Design goes 3D.”

In May, Pica LéLa will launch new products within theMosaic and Flexi collections, which are exclusive to travelretail. “The Flexi Collection combines edgy designs with cre-ative craftsmanship to depict an ‘I can change’ attitudeand create an ‘I’ style,” says Lum. Flexi is based onthe geometry of the sphere. Individual pieces such as the new“Glamour” mark a change from traditional pearl jewelry and

signal a renewed desire to depict natural beauty and explore therealm of aesthetics, Lum says. The pieces are rendered in a variety ofclear crystal and pearl balls that look unique from different angles whenviewed in reverse.

The Mosaic collection is offered in a mix of flavors and colors tosuit a broad range of tastes. The new “Aurora” piece leverages arange of colorful expressions under a sheen of colored stones to con-vey positive elements such as love, faith, hope, friendship and joy,

Lum says, all inspired by the aurora display in the nightsky. “We believe these ranges have huge potential in travelretail,” Lum says, “attractive to customers of all ages, andperfect as an impulse buy for self-purchase or as a gift.”

Building the channel Frey Wille’s market focus right now is on developing exist-ing duty free footage rather than acquiring or opening newslots, says Wessam Elmona. “With the development of the brandin the local market and the requirements we need for a per-fect presentation in duty free, not many travel retail shops areour target for the time being,” Elmona says.Having just landed a listing on JAL, its biggest airline slot so far,

Clogau is now listed on four large airline carriers in Asia, as wellas on many smaller ones, Butler says. The brand is also to be

found aboard cruise ships in Asian waters, and the company isalways careful to stay very close to its own airport shops. “There’sso much activity that we now have an Asian specialist working

for Clogau in this area,” Butler says.Trends vary within Asia, but it’s an open

secret that the China market exhibits a strongpreference for Western brands, Butler says.“The bigger the brand, the more successful youcan be, but there are opportunities for smallerbrands to take advantage of this trend.” Clo-

gau currently has a GWP promotion inthe form of a key ring in the style of Kate

Middleton’s sapphire engagement ring.The company is in the process of chang-

ing all of its POS materials, and is alsodesigning an interactive touch-screen airport unit that will help totell the brand story. This technology will be shown at TFWA Asia Pacificin Singapore.

Pica LéLa expects its strongest growth market this year to be theMiddle East, where it believes it will double its business from 2012to 2013 thanks to new accounts such as Etihad Airways and somenew store openings in Iran. Pica LéLa’s key sales drivers include awell established brand presence with strong visual merchandising,Lum says. Maintaining a consistent customer experience acrossmultiple markets is also key, as is promotional activity. “Duty freepromotions are getting more and more important as customershave no lack of choice,” Lum says. “Our experience indicates that thebest promotion is the one that strengthens the brand personality.”

An example of just such a promotion, says Lum, isthe Christmas promotion Pica LéLa ran in Jeju FreeInternational City Development Centre in Korea.This featured a quality lip gloss as GWP for pur-chases over a certain value. “It was very wellreceived because we did it in a very dry sea-son, which gave the customer a very goodincentive to buy our brand,” Lum says.Pica LéLa keeps a close eye on market

trends. Each year the company sends designteams to attend local jewelry workshops as well as major

global trade fairs to keep pace with what’s happening in the jewelrybusiness, and to support its strategy of identifying and developingproducts for different cultural preferences around the world. Besidesits intrinsic attraction as a quality marque, Pica LéLa also offers afive-year international warranty. c

“Silver colored rhodium plat-ing generally is more popularthan gold plating. However we see there’s a very strongcomeback of gold plated jew-elry in recent years.”

Francis Ng, General Manager, Toscow

The new Glamour pieces

mark a change from

traditional pearl jewelry and

signal a renewed desire to

depict natural beauty

The Kensington Key Pendant

is one of Clogau’s best sellers

Aero-Cos International


lobal travel retail distributor Aero-Cos International contin-ues to intensify the work it does with Chocolates Turin, the Mexico basedchocolatier. The relationship started seven years ago, and in the last couple of yearsAero-Cos has taken on the responsibility for accelerating Turin’s advances into theglobal duty-free market.

That responsibility represents a challenge and an opportunity at the same time, says Aero-Cos President and CEO Nathanael Barbanel, especially since Turin added Johnnie Walker tothe line of liquor-filled chocolates that it manufactures. The series already featured promi-nent brands such as Jose Cuervo, Baileys, Kahlua, Grand Marnier and Jack Daniel’s. Thebrands all enjoy superior recognition in just about any market you can think of, but interms of global brand visibility Johnnie Walker is probably in a class of its own.

“For Diageo to appoint Chocolates Turin to manufacture a brand like Johnnie Walkeris a huge endorsement for Turin and its management team, which is headed by OctavioPenaloza and Samuel Gutierrez Carranza,” says Barbanel. “Johnnie Walker has prestigepositioning. This is a major opportunity and a major challenge at the same time as thisproduct will have to be positioned on a much higher level.” Brands like Baileys, Kahlua andGrand Marnier are leaders in their own right, but Johnnie Walker dominates a category thathas a much longer history and a much more “traditional” appeal, particularly to men, whoaccount for the bulk of liquor sales in duty free.

The selling of alcohol is a problem in some countries in Asia due to religious or legal restric-tions. Not so much in duty free, Barbanel notes, where alcohol is sold in airport shops, butnonetheless the restrictions have led Turin to create a line of non-alcohol liquor-flavoredchocolates, which parallel the liquor-filled variety but can be sold as confectionery.

Aero-Cos will be attending the TFWA Asia Pacific exhibition in Singapore, but will not beexhibiting. They intend to schedule meetings with some major key operators, Barbanel says.

The Asia market is in the early stages of development for Aero-Cos, which is focused largelyin Europe and the Middle East so far, but it’s a priority for Chocolates Turin, and therefore forAero-Cos.

“In Asia we’re just beginning,” Barbanel says. “But there’s so much demand in Asia wereally wanted to make sure we enter the market properly—we don’t want to just jump inbefore we’ve figured it out properly.” It helps that passenger numbers in China are grow-ing at a phenomenal rate, and that the buyers have a distinct orientation to recognizedprestige brands. The appeal of Johnnie Walker will carry well in this market, whereScotch whisky enjoys a high reputation and where spending power and marketgrowth represent incredible potential, Barbanel says.

“Asia is virgin territory and we anticipate good growth, no question,” Barbanelnotes. The company has an office in Hong Kong, and he says that a likelypoint of attention will be China Duty Free, which is an important and strate-gic operator.

The first focus in Aero-Cos’s Asia push will be airport shops, withinflight and border shops also high on the agenda. The cruise market won’tget the same focus, simply because of its inherent space limitations.

India is another target, though it’s different from other markets inthat it tends to be “parceled out” among the major operators, and hasto be approached differently.

“We understand the brand because we’ve worked with them for many years,”Barbanel says. “We’re determined to build a global brand for Chocolates Turin.” c

GAero-Cos looks ahead to the prospects for Chocolates Turin in Asia duty free

BY ANDREW BROOKS

Aero-Cos has started distributing

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Butlers Chocolates


he presence of Butlers Chocolateshas increased steadily in Asia overthe past year, says Sales DirectorKarl Marnane. “We’re workinghard to forge relationships with

our customers, and we opened a dedicatedoverseas office in Singapore last year to ser-vice the region,” Marnane says. Another newoffice was opened in Dubai as well.

The company, which is based in Ireland,exports to 40 countries worldwide. Butlers’Asian presence is a relatively recent one, hav-ing launched in 2010. Since then the com-pany has seen good growth, and Marnane ishopeful that this trend will accelerate in thecoming months as more and more customersin the region become familiar with the brand.

Butlers has been very well received inthe Asian market, Marnane says, where thereis ever increasing demand for high quality pre-mium chocolate and confectionery prod-ucts. The company is doing a lot of one-on-one work with retailers, and has also designedsome exclusive lines for different retailers inthe region, Marnane says. This custom workhas been backed up with the development ofspecially designed gondolas and display units.

In March of this year, Butlers and PrimeHospitality announced they had signed afranchise agreement to open outlets in theUnited Arab Emirates. The agreement stip-ulates that Prime Hospitality will open But-lers Chocolate Cafés in the UAE market, withthe first two due to open by the third quar-ter of 2012. Prime Hospitality is the foodand beverage arm of Ghobash Trading andInvestment Group, which has a major pres-ence in the region in markets that include retail

and hospitality, oil and gas, realestate, healthcare and informa-tion technology.

“The UAE has always been amarket of immense interest tous,” said Owen Sorensen of But-lers Chocolates in making theannouncement. “We have beencarefully looking for a local part-ner with a successful track recordand high reputation to represent our brand.Prime Hospitality was the ideal choice forus with their expertise, quality, and networkto maximize the success of Butlers Choco-late Cafés in the UAE, and potentially theregion. Our common vision of how themarket should be developed was a key fac-tor in our decision to partner with PrimeHospitality.”

Butlers operates a franchise program forthe international market, with current fran-chisees in New Zealand and Pakistan. TheUAE agreement represents the third franchisepartnership Butlers has entered into. The But-lers Chocolate Café concept was launchedin Dublin in 1998, and the locations servechocolates, hot beverages and sweet andsavory treats—Butlers Hot Chocolate is thehouse specialty.

There are currently 23 locations aroundthe world, including the New Zealand andPakistan franchises, and Butlers says it is innegotiations with a number of potentialfranchisees in further markets around theworld. Butlers runs a Chocolate Café inDublin Airport, and Marnane says Butlersis targeting other international airports forfurther openings.

Butlers has developed a dedicated travelretail range that is selling well in Asian mar-kets, Marnane says. “The range includes pre-mium boxed chocolate assortments, a stun-ning range of 100 g bars, luxury filled choco-late truffles, alcohol free selections and pro-motional lines. We’ll also be launching newranges at TFWA Asia Pacific in Singapore.”

New product development is one of thepillars of Butlers’ success, in Asia as well aselsewhere. This year the company is con-tinuing to work on new product developmentfor specific regions. The brand developed aspecial box to celebrate Chinese New Year,one of the signal selling points on the cal-endar in Asia. In addition, the companydeveloped other deluxe gifting packs featuringnew selections of alcohol-free chocolate.

When it comes to promotional activi-ties, Marnane says that Butlers has developedspecial value-added promotional lines exclu-sive to travel retail that are designed with gift-ing and sharing purchase drivers in mind.

“As we’re a small company, we’re veryclose to our customers, and we feel that theone-to-one relationship that we have withour customers is beneficial in driving sales,”Marnane says. c

T

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Confectionery News

New places, new names

The Hershey Company has announced anexpansion of its World Travel Retail programin Greece with the opening of an island displayat the Athens International Airport. The islandis a kiosk that offers a 360-degree display ofHershey’s products in the airport’s concourse.The kiosk is adjacent to a duty free shop thatalso features Hershey’s products.Starting from gondola displays in a few

Greek Travel Retail airport locations two yearsago, the Hershey’s presence now boasts mul-tiple branded displays in all Greek airportsand points of sale in all 40 Hellenic Duty FreeShops in Greece. “Hershey products have proven to be very

popular in Greece, and we’re expanding Her-shey’s retail presence across the country tomeet the growing consumer demand,” saysSteve Bentz, General Manager, World TravelRetail. “Greece is the first European country tofeature Hershey’s products in its duty free shops,and the Greek people and visitors to Greece havefirmly embraced the Hershey brands.”There are currently 36 different Hershey’s

products in Greek travel retail locations and theproduct mix is continuously refreshed to meetconsumer needs. The most popular productsinclude Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Cookies‘n’ Crème Giant Bars and Hershey’s Giantbars, as well as Hershey’s Kisses.Hershey World Travel Retail works with Mag-

ister Artium Group as its exclusive distributor inGreece. According to Pantelis Velentzas, Presi-dent of Magister Artium, “The portfolio of Hershey’sproducts offers a new tasting experience toGreek and European customers.”

Hershey’s WorldTravel Retail addsGreek locations

Kraft Foods World Travel Retail (KFWTR)has announced that it will present a newarray of products at the Tax Free AsiaPacific trade fair in Singapore. The launchwill include a mix of new offers from wellknown travel retail brands such asToblerone, Cadbury and Milka, as well asthe introduction of the Oreo brand intotravel retail.

Toblerone is aiming at the formal giftingand snacking sharing segments with twonew offers. The Toblerone Variety Gift Boxbrings together four Toblerone flavors,including milk, white, dark and ‘Snowtop,’a milk-white chocolate combination previ-ously unavailable in travel retail. The Tobleronepeaks are presented in a gold triangular giftbox. Also, the Toblerone White Minis Pouchwill offer one of Toblerone’s most popularflavors in a snack format.

Cadbury will be presenting two new gift-ing offers. The Cadbury Chunk Box offers26 individually wrapped pieces of Cad-bury Dairy Milk chocolate in a new gift boxmodeled on a piece of Cadbury’s MilkChocolate. And the newly introduced Cad-bury Travel Mix offers a selection of six Cad-bury favorites—Dairy Milk, Caramel, Twirl,Fudge, Eclairs and Twist. The Mix is pre-sented in a box designed with an exclu-sive travel theme twist.

The Milka chocolate range has recentlybeen expanded with two new taste andtexture combinations. Milka Popcorn is acombination of slightly salted popcornwith Alpine milk chocolate. Also new tothe channel is the Milka Crispello Pouchoffering individually wrapped pieces ofchocolate-covered wafer filled with milkchocolate cream.

The Côte d’Or Belgian brand has beenreinforced with the Finest Milk Choco-late Miniature, a new pure milk chocolateoffer featuring individually wrapped mignon-

nettes in a travel exclusive gift box. Andthe Swedish Daim brand has seen thelaunch of the Daim Bars Pouch, whichextends the original bar format into thesnacking and sharing segment, with 15Daim presented bars in a sharing pouch.

The travel retail exclusive Bassett’sboxes make their return with a new designfor flavors including Liquorice Allsorts andWinegums. And the new ‘travel exclu-sive Bertie’ icon is prominent on every pack.In addition, hanging bags for Winegumsand Liquorice Allsorts cover the self-con-sumption need.

Oreo has made its entry into travelretail with a range of six novelties aimedat driving incremental sales in an under-developed category: biscuits. Targeted atthe premium gifting segment, the Oreo Tinis a giant Oreo-shaped biscuit tin full of cook-ies. For more informal gifting, Oreo Choco-late Gift presents a box of cookies coveredwith milk chocolate, while Oreo TravelPack offers two flavors in a suitcase-shapedbox designed for travel gifting. Also, the MiniOreo Sharing Pouch delivers 10 individualMini Oreo bags in a travel pouch, while MiniOreo Canister offers bite-sized cookies ina cup-shaped snack pack. Finally, the Oreocookie also comes in the Oreo Snack Bag,designed for on-the-go consumption andpresented in hanging bag format.

KFWTR will be at booth P20 at Singa-pore Suntec Center.

Hershey’s deepens presence inGreece; Kraft Foods beefs up multiple brands in its portfolio

KFWTR drives category growth in Asia Pacific

Cadbury Travel Mix

Hershey’s display in Athens International Airport

The Cadbury

Chunk Box is a

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Chocolat Frey, founded in 1887 and now the no. 1 chocolate maker in Switzerland, follows a recipe for success based on tradition, innovation and a passion for perfection. Real premium chocolate, 100% Swiss-made!

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Pernod Ricard Asia Duty Free


ernod Ricard Asia Duty Free (PRADF) is a leader in theAsian travel retail and duty free market. While it coversthe full range of channels in the duty free market, airportsare definitely the main focus of activity, says John O’Sul-livan, Marketing Director, Pernod Ricard Asia Duty Free.

As air travel is especially strong in Asia these days—and growing—2011 was a good year, O’Sullivan says, with the business reboundingquite well from the lows of the 2008-2009 economic crisis. Accord-ing to the research that O’Sullivan and his team have access to, theAsia travel retail market is actually growing at a rate that puts itahead of global trends in terms of passenger numbers, but also by vol-ume and in terms of the value of the travel retail business overall.

Asia presents quite a complex and varied mix when it comes tothe combination of nationality profiles and preferences. It’s even morecomplicated when you factor in the amount of intraregional traveldone by passengers of different nationalities. Koreans favor agedwhisky, which puts Pernod Ricard in the sweet spot, with premiumbrands like Ballantine’s, Chivas Regal and Royal Salute.

The big emerging market in Asia is of course China, and withChinese passengers traveling more and more throughout the region,the Chinese buyer’s preference for premium brands represents a realopportunity for Asian travel retail. Here, O’Sullivan says, whisky andcognac are among the keys to success. In addition to the whiskiesmentioned earlier, the Martell cognac marque in particular is a lead-ing brand for the Chinese consumer.

Shopping is an important part of the travel experience for Chi-nese travelers, O’Sullivan says. “They’re brand-conscious—a lux-ury consumer category is developing. Our presence is strong andour brands are well recognized, so we’re in a good position. It’s amatter of making sure that when Chinese passengers travel elsewherein Asia, we engage them at strategic airports like Hong Kong,Macau, Singapore and so on.”

Promotions play a double role. Of course they bring in addedsales, but they also play an important part in boosting brand pro-file. “We work both levels with special packaging, limited editions,new launches, exclusive products,” O’Sullivan says. “All of these

help us to tell the brand story and increase interest.”New launches are an important vehicle for creating excitement

in the duty free channel and Pernod Ricard has released a numberof new products in the past 12 months. Absolut has always been anactive brand and its latest release was Absolut Mode, the fashion-themedbottling. Chivas is another brand that is regularly innovating and thisis particularly evident with the Chivas 18 series of designer bottlereleases. The latest was based on the work of British fashion designerVivienne Westwood. Previous releases have been developed with fash-ion designers Christian Lacroix and Alexander McQueen.

Other recent launches from Pernod Ricard include the MasterDistiller’s Reserve expression of The Glenlivet, exclusive to travel retail,which was particularly visible recently in Taiwan and Hong Kong.And cognac brand Martell has recently benefited from the Cente-nary Edition of Martell Cordon Bleu with special packaging and,more recently, Chanteloup Perspective in the Extra category, namedafter the home of Martell.

Significantly, the travel retail team collaborated with the domes-tic side to launch Glenburgie Edition, a 17-year-old limited editionBallantine’s celebrating one of four signature Ballantine’s distilleries.The launch was initially focused on Korea, and response was “out-standing,” O’Sullivan says, with a high proportion of the travelretail allocation flying off the shelves in the first days.

O’Sullivan also notes the recent launch of a single Martell eaude vie in the two dedicated Martell Experience boutique airport shopsin Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. Titled “Millésimes,” the very exclu-sive launch came out in December. c

P

PremiumprospectsThe growing luxury market in Asia meansthere’s more growth ahead for PernodRicard in the region BY ANDREW BROOKS

The Martell Millésimes eau de vie had an

exclusive launch at the dedicated Martell

Experience boutique shops in Kuala

Lumpur and Hong Kong (pictured)

The Glenlivet Master

Distiller’s Reserve, a travel

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Rarity redefined

Precious metal

Diageo GTME


iageo recently announced that two new expressions of its iconic blended Scotchwhisky Johnnie Walker will be available in travel retail. The first—a global travelretail exclusive—gives one of the brand’s legendary expressions a new woody,smoky twist, while the second—inspired by the Walker family tradition of creat-ing exclusive “private” blends—offers consumers a strong, sweet and elegant spiritcrafted in traditional Speyside style.

Two of a kindJust in time for TFWA AP in Singapore, Diageo releasestwo new expression in the iconic Johnnie Walker range of blended Scotch whiskies BY RYAN WHITE

A new limited edition release of the world’s lead-ing blended Scotch whisky will be releasedexclusively in global travel retail: Johnnie WalkerBlue Label – The Casks Edition. Crafted fromsome of Diageo’s rarest casks, each noted fortheir intensity and depth of flavor, this specialedition, bottled at 55.8% ABV, has intensifiedwood flavors and “is a tribute to the perfect har-mony of the oak casks used in the blending ofJohnnie Walker Blue Label,” says Diageo.

Johnnie Walker Master Blender Jim Bev-eridge says: “This limited edition is a chanceto enjoy the remarkable experience of John-nie Walker Blue Label in a new way. Only onein ten thousand of our casks have sufficientcharacter for Johnnie Walker Blue Label andin creating this special edition we really wantedto showcase the incredible flavors that comefrom the casks themselves. The flavors drawnfrom these carefully selected casks have inten-sified to produce a robust and powerfully fla-

vored blended Scotch whisky that has richwoody notes, deep smoke, traces of spice anda long, lingering oak finish.”

Produced in limited quantities andblended in small batches, the bold blend isa contemporary expression of the power-ful 19th century character pioneered by theWalker family, created for true connois-seurs who are seeking new depths of flavor.

Steve White, Marketing Director, DiageoGTME, said: “Johnnie Walker Blue Label– The Casks Edition is a Scotch whiskywith a remarkably powerful fla-vor, the result of almost twocenturies of unbroken blendingexpertise. This limited editionrelease is a rare opportunity toenjoy a bold amplification ofthe powerful cask flavors con-tained in Johnnie Walker BlueLabel—it is rarity redefined.”

Diageo’s second new addition to the Johnnie Walker rangeis Johnnie Walker Platinum Label. Inspired by the Walker fam-ily’s historic tradition of creating exclusive “private blends”for favored customers, directors of the company and selectprivate gatherings, Johnnie Walker Platinum Label has beencrafted by Jim Beveridge “for today’s increasingly sophisti-cated global consumers—the ‘new whisky set’—to enjoy attheir own intimate gatherings,” says Diageo. It is a delicate,smoky blend that embodies the characteristic full flavors ofthe Johnnie Walker range of blended Scotch whiskies.

Jim Beveridge explains: “Like the rare and preciousmetal after which it is named, Johnnie Walker PlatinumLabel is rich and refined, delivering the distinctive depthand complexity that is synonymous with Johnnie Walker.In fact, I believe that if John Walker were to create a whiskytoday, Johnnie Walker Platinum Label would be the result.It is a bold, intense and smooth blend, crafted from someof our most treasured whiskies, for the evolving tastes of

today’s global whisky consumer.”“Johnnie Walker Platinum Label is the richest, most

precious crafted 18 year old blended Scotch whiskyJohn Walker & Sons has ever created—its price pointreflects this,” says Steve White. “We believe that consumerswill quickly develop a real affinity for Johnnie Walker Plat-inum Label and that it will offer real value for our tradepartners.

“It is a thoroughly modern interpretation of the ‘pri-vate blends’ that our company has produced from the verybeginning and is a contemporary blended Scotch whiskythat is perfect for exclusive occasions,” he added.

Johnnie Walker Platinum Label is available now in75cl size in limited Asian Duty Free locations with a globalDuty Free launch of the 1L variant from June 2012. Pricedat an RRP of USD $100 for 1 liter in duty free, JohnnieWalker Platinum Label is a premium whisky that will sittowards the top end of the Johnnie Walker range. c

Johnnie Walker

Blue Label – The

Casks Edition is

described as

having rich woody

notes, deep

smoke, traces of

spice and a long,

lingering oak finish

Johnnie Walker

Platinum Label has

been crafted for

today’s increasingly

sophisticated global

consumers—the

“new whisky set”—

to enjoy at their own

intimate gatherings

A moment of pleasure

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Beer Report


sia is a “beer-friendly” market with a history of brewed alco-holic beverages going back some 5,000 years. Although manyof the region’s beer brands, such as China’s Tsingtao, werefounded by transplanted Europeans, Asians have made beertheir own, even exporting the product to western coun-

tries more usually associated with strong beer traditions. Tsingtao, forexample, is now the largest consumer branded product exported fromthat country. And India’s renowned Kingfisher brand claims to be thesecond largest beer brewer in the world.

Another good example is Asia Pacific Breweries which, through thewholly owned Tiger Export Pte Ltd., has a global network in some 50countries where its brands are exported. This is a true Asian success story,with notable names like Tiger, Tiger Crystal, Baron’s Strong Brew andABC Extra Stout enjoying high market profiles in export markets, aswell as in Asian duty free. In addition to airport shops, the Tiger brandsare also available in selected in-flight slots as well as on cruise lines.

“In the area of Asian duty free, we’re now focusing on expandingour presence and channels, especially in Indian subcontinent and EastAsian areas, where we seek to work more actively with key retailers andairline operators to list and promote our brands,” says Royston Loh, Gen-eral Manager, Tiger Export Pte Ltd. The duty free market is a strategicavenue for brand-building, Loh says, complementing the various vol-ume growth drivers for the company’s beer brands, especially Tiger, whichis making strong gains in Malaysia and Vietnam, among other markets.

Tiger is one of the company’s best sellers in Asian duty free, withthe European-style brand enjoying excellent recognition with trav-elers from other parts of the world. Doubtless this is due in large partto the fact that the beer is not only available in 50 export markets aroundthe world, but is also brewed locally in a further ten. Awards like theWorld Beer Cup and brewing Industry International Award also goa long way toward building recognition.

Beer consumption is on the rise in emerging Asian markets likeVietnam and China, but the category’s strength is also based on itsestablished, long-term popularity and high consumer demand in Japan,Korea, Taiwan and other more developed economies, Loh says. Theproduct is purchased mainly for personal or family consumption, butalso has solid market-making potential in the gifting category.

Loh notes that beer isn’t a heavily promoted category in duty freeas price is the main sales driver. But Tiger does deploy prominent prod-uct displays, especially near checkout counters, where this is an option.Beyond that, an ongoing, concerted marketing and distribution cam-paign in the regional Asian markets keeps the brand profile and cus-tomer awareness high.

“For instance,” Loh says, “Tiger beer is a choice brand in Asia, whileit has an intriguing premium brand proposition in the western mar-kets. Being a brand that’s widely enjoyed by millions across 60 mar-kets globally, Tiger beer is a recognizable brand at the duty free shops.This marks a competitive edge over other brands which are new orless familiar to the consumer.”

AAsia’s love affair with beer goes back millennia:today’s duty free players are ringing changeson an old favorite BY ANDREW BROOKS

Tiger Beer has enjoyed

singular success as a

premium Asian export into

countries that have their own

strong beer traditions

EXCEPTIONAL QUALITY AWARD-WINNING BRANDS

It’s all in the mixworldofpatria.com +44 (0)1892 890202

For a chance to win a bottle of The Last Drop 1960 Blended Scotch Whisky worth $2,700 (Suggested RSP)

Visit us at Booth A26 at the TFWA Asia Pacific Show


nnovative promotion is helping propel the beer category everdeeper into the premium product niche. Heineken WesternEurope Export & Global Duty Free caused a stir in February withthe launch of its “World of Beer” interactive

display in Barão Free shop in Rivera Uruguay, incooperation with Kraudal Trading. The displaywas launched in response to what Heineken saysis growing demand for a broader range of beerproducts in travel retail. Heineken offers a widerange of beer brands, and the interactive displayallows retailers to customize a beer offering tothe shopper’s profile. Designed by Amsterdamagency Uxus, World of Beer aims to create a pre-mium look and feel and is available in multiple for-mats, from a standalone aisle toa full wall fixture.

Following its South Americalaunch, the World of Beer is beingrolled out at a number of borderand diplomatic stores in Africa.Natascha Waterbeek, MarketingManager, Heineken Region West-ern Europe Export & Global DutyFree, says there aren’t currently plans for rollout in Asia,but that this could change with the right clients.

New brands for Tiger include Tiger Crystal, whichwas added to the lineup in Singapore duty free outletsin August 2011. A lighter-tasting beer, the brand’s popularity inSingapore duty free echoes the experience in China, Thailand andVietnam, where the brand’s presence is on the rise, Loh says.

In reporting on its results for the second half of 2011, Diageo notedthat beer was one of the primary drivers (the other being Scotch)in delivering double-digit growth in the Southeast Asian market. Guin-ness performed well, the company noted, especially in Malaysia andIndonesia, where the “Arthur’s Day” and Guinness “World Series Pool”promotions fostered gains in market share (In 2010, Malaysia wasone of two markets chosen to test the new Guinness Black Lager).

I

orporate social responsibility (CSR) is a hot topic these days,and some breweries are eager to demonstrate their com-mitment to operating ethically and to minimizing the impacttheir operations have on the environment. In a March press

release, Denmark-based Carlsberg issued a progress report on its CSRinitiatives, and laid claim to being the most efficient brewer in the world.

Among its notable milestones for 2011, Carlsberg says, was itsinvestment in a waste water recovery plant for its Hyderabad Brew-ery in India, where expected annual savings on water from theplant is expected to be 585,000hl (15.4 million gallons). Carlsbergalso pointed to improved performance at its brewery in Huizhou,China. Here, the company says it reduced CO2 emissions by around35% by introducing steam from biomass-powered boilers.

Overall, the company says, it reduced energy consumption in 2011by 9.3%, water consumption by 5.6% and CO2 emissions by 8.3%. Theamount of water required to produce 1hl (211 pints) of beer was dri-ven down from 3.5hl (739.7 pints) in 2010 to 3.3hl (697.4 pints) in 2011.

Carlsberg's Swiss business Feldschlösschen now offers customers

a CO2-neutral delivery option, where the customer and the Feld-schlösschen logistics department identify the CO2 emissions linkedto the delivery process. The identified amount of CO2 emissions willthen be offset with CO2 credits. The income from these credits isthen invested in climate protection projects, Carlsberg says. c

C

“Arthur’s Day” is an annual promotion com-memorating the 1759 founding of Guinness andthe company’s founder, Arthur Guinness. Thecompany sponsors a series of musical events aroundthe world. In the Asia market in 2011, notableevents were held in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) andIndonesia. The Kuala Lumpur celebrations, held onSeptember 23, attracted some 10,000 people whoattended at the Selangor Turf Club. The Indonesia cel-ebrations were held in November and December,and included a four-city musical concert that attracteda total of 22,000 attendees. The promotional value ofthe effort can’t be denied, with the Arthur’s DayJakarta event on November 12 becoming the secondmost trending topic on Twitter worldwide. GuinnessWorld Series Pool was held last June and July in dif-ferent cities in Indonesia, matching that nation’s toppool players against the world’s best. Guinness was also a factor for Diageo in the North

Asia market, where the brand delivered a growth in net sales of over30%. Diageo said this gain was driven by TV advertising in Koreaand increased distribution of Guinness surger in Japan. The surgeris a unit that controls the pint presentation; with the push of a but-ton an ultrasonic shockwave is sent into the beer to create a cleanhead. The unit is operated using special surger-ready cans of Guin-ness. Originally developed in the late 1970s, the system was rein-troduced in 2003 when a redeveloped version was rolled out fortesting in Japanese bars that are too small to accommodate a tra-ditional keg-and-tap system

Beer Report

CSR in action: electric delivery

trucks at Carlsberg’s brewery in

Feldschlösschen, Switzerland

Heineken’s innovative World of Beer display in Uruguay; while no

plans are in the works to roll the concept out in Asia, the company

notes that if operators show interest it may be a possibility

In reporting on its

results for the

second half of

2011, Diageo noted

that beer was one of

the primary drivers in

delivering double-digit

growth in the

Southeast Asian

market

New Horizons

Gulf Beverages


ulf Beverages has set its sights on being the go-todistributor for suppliers looking to crack the challengingIndian market. Asia Duty Free speaks with Leon Ash-ford, Director of Business Development at Gulf Bev-erages, about what the company has accomplished

to date and what’s to come in the months ahead.

Asia Duty Free: What advantages do you offer suppliers look-ing to get into the Indian market?Leon Ashford: Logistically we have the ability to get stock intoIndia easily due to our location in Jebel Ali. Furthermore, we’relearning more and more about the idiosyncrasies of the Indian mar-ket as time goes on, making us a valuable partner for wine and spir-its suppliers. I think our model truly does provide something differ-ent from the traditional model, which has been importing from thepoint of production or taking from one of the domestic operators,which is difficult given taxation and other regulations.

ADF: What have you been up to in the region lately in terms ofpromotions?LA: The Jose Cuervo Margarita Mix gift pack is currently at DFS inMumbai. It’s been there for a few months now and the response hasbeen very positive. It’s also in Cochin Airport and will be in Delhi DutyFree in the very near future. Travelers who buy a bottle of JoseCuervo Gold get a free margarita mix in the package.

The challenge with Indian travel retail is that Indian travelers gen-erally gravitate toward buying whisky. To get them away from thisyou have to provide a few incentives, and the Margarita Mix giftpack has done just that. The pack will also be going into Flemingooutlets in Colombo and Hyderabad in the coming months.

ADF: Are there any new listings to speak of?LA: We now have rights to Jägermeister and it has been incredibly

well received in the domestic market. We have some good duty freelistings as well. It will be going into Delhi Duty Free in the next monthor so and in Flemingo locations. In Bangkok Airport we were lookingat the stats on Jägermeister and something on the order of 40% of thesales were to Indian passengers, so there’s certainly a lot of potentialfor the brand within India.

ADF: You must get excited at the work Delhi Duty Free has beendoing in terms of upping the standard of airport retail in India.LA: Delhi Duty Free is spearheading the revitalization of duty free inIndia and they’re a fantastic partner with a truly world-class travelretail experience. We’ve got some single malts going in there verysoon, such as The Glenrothes and Tobermory. In fact they will alsobe taking a very top end Jose Cuervo 250 Year Anniversary editionaround the festival period in September.

ADF: You mentioned wines earlier. Is there anything happeningof note with your wine portfolio in India?LA: We are actually launching our wine and champagne portfolio intoIndia. We’ve been up and running in India for just over a year nowin earnest and to date most of our focus has been on the spirits sideof things, but we’ve always felt that there’s huge potential for our wineportfolio. Right now we’re launching about 30 or so SKUs. We’ll alsohave a broader range launching in travel retail.

ADF: You’re also supplyingspirits to Indigo, correct?LA: We’ve been supplying Indigofor about a year and we’repleased with the volume they’redoing. Furthermore, as an LCCthere’s no pouring—everything

we supply is for sale onboard.In addition to this, we’re just now

starting to look at diplomatic dutyfree stores and other possibilitiessuch as military canteen stores. Wedo a lot of diplomatic duty freebusiness in the Gulf so our trackrecord there is well established.Really what we provide these oper-ators is a sort of one stop shop thatgives them a variety of greatbrands. Right now it’s about explor-ing all the options in order toexpand our business. c

G

“What we provide operators is aone stop shop that gives them avariety of great brands. Rightnow it’s about exploring allthe options in order toexpand our business.”Leon Ashford, Director of Business

Development, Gulf Beverages

Gulf Beverages now has over a year under its belt distributing spirits in India and has a number of upcoming listings and promotions as a result of its effort BY RYAN WHITE

The Glenrothes

will soon be

listed in Delhi

Duty Free;

pictured is The

Glenrothes

Robur Reserve

The Jose Cuervo Margarita Mix

gift pack is currently at DFS in

Mumbai and at Cochin Airport; it

will be in Delhi Duty Free and

Flemingo outlets in Colombo and

Hyderabad in the near future

Asian-inspired Cocktails


sia is known for, among other things, a wide range of amazing culi-nary creations. Ask any professional bartender and they’ll tell you thatthis creativity certainly extends from food to the world of mixology.BelowAsia Duty Freepresents some Asian-inspired cocktails made withsome of the travel retail industry’s most popular spirits. Some of these

drinks are classics, while some are new—the only criterion is that all are delicious!

The Pearfect ServeChivas Regal is hugely popular amongAsian spirit connoisseurs and certainlydeserves its place in our cocktails list. Intravel retail Chivas is regularly innovatingand this is particularly evident with theChivas 18 series of designer bottlereleases.

Recipe■ 1 1/2 ounces of Chivas Regal 12YO■ 1 tsp of brown sugar■ 2 drops of vanilla essence■ 1 pear slice

MethodThis drink can be served warm or colddepending on the season. Warm ChivasRegal 12YO in a saucepan with sugarand pear slice. Pour into a rocks glass.Garnish with a second pear slice witha vanilla pod speared through it.

The Original Singapore SlingIn addition to being a great-tasting spirit in itsown right, Bénédictine D.O.M, owned byBacardi, has the distinction of being a must-have ingredient for a proper Singapore Sling.

Recipe■ 1 part Bombay Sapphire gin■ 1/2 part Bénédictine D.O.M■ 1/2 part cherry brandy

■ Club soda■ 2 lime wedges

MethodPour the Bombay Sapphire, Béné-dictine D.O.M and cherry brandyinto a highball glass. Fill with icecubes and top up with club soda.Squeeze and drop one lime wedgeinto the glass and then stir. Garnishwith the other lime wedge.

AA taste of AsiaCocktail lovers will find that drinks in Asia are just as exotic as the region itself BY RYAN WHITE

Ginger Lychee VICEA big step for VICE Vodka Icewine is that itwill be exhibiting on its own at this year’sTFWA AP Singapore show. Indeed, ViceVodka Icewine proved extremely popularat last year’s show—especially with in-flightbuyers—given the popularity of Icewine withAsian consumers.

Recipe■ 1 1/2 ounces of VICE Vodka Icewine■ 1/2 ounce of lycheeliqueur■ 1 sprig of ginger■ 3 dashes of Orange FlowerWater

MethodServe in a martini glass or tum-bler over ice and garnish withan orange rind.

The Sun and MoonU’Luvka Luxury Polish Vodka will beexhibiting again this year with HorizonInternational Duty Free at the TFWAAP exhibition in Singapore. U’Luvka isnot so much a new arrival on thescene as it is a great revival. It is arecreation of a legendary royal vodkafrom the late 16th century made todayunder the strictest of quality standards.

Recipe■ Sage leaves■ 1/2 ounce of sirop de gomme■ 1 3/4 ounce of U’Luvka Luxury Polish Vodka■ 3/4 ounce of pineapple purée■ 1/2 ounce of lime juice■ Soda water

MethodMuddle the sage and sirop de gomme until the sageoils are released. Add the rest of the ingredientsand a scoop of crushed ice. Churn to mix then topwith soda water. Garnish with a wheel of pineap-ple and a sprig of sage.

Cognac Report

aron Otard Cognac, a Bacardibrand, is present in the Asia mar-ket primarily through airportstores, says Philippe Jouhaud,Sales and Marketing Director.

However, there’s also a strong footprint inborder stores and inflight—Baron Otard isthe pouring cognac onboard Singapore Air-lines and Malaysia Airlines.

The cognac category is very healthy,Jouhaud says, with sales at record levels.With the Asia market driving demand, thetrend is set to continue, he says. Globally thecategory is up five percent over the last 12months, and in Asia the superior qualities(i.e. above VSOP) have grown by 14%. Thistrend is reflected in the growth of BaronOtard in travel retail.

“With Baron Otard still increasing itsdistribution in travel retail, there’s enor-mous potential for growth in the yearsahead,” Jouhaud says. “The introductionlast year of the rarest ever Baron OtardCognac—Fortis et Fidelis—was a great suc-cess.” This has helped to raise awareness ofthe superior quality of Baron Otard, Jouhaudadds, further establishing its credentials atthe luxury end of the market.

“We’ve been strong in Scandinavian mar-kets for years and we very recently enteredAsian markets,” says Aristide Chevaillé, AsiaDirector at Bache-Gabrielsen and DupuyCognac. “We’re currently mainly distrib-uted in domestic markets and we now wantto use this increasing awareness to enterinto duty free markets.”

Chevaillé and his team are banking onthe premium appeal of the cognacs theybring to market, which he characterizes asbeing noted for the elegance and smooth-ness imparted by a long process of aging. “TheXO cognacs in the range are 20 years old.”

2012 is the second year for the new DupuyTentation range, “still with VS, VSOP andXO,” Chevaillé says, “but with some newvintages coming, like the sublime 1966.”Also new is the premium packaging treat-ment of the XO entrants under the Bache-Gabrielsen brand.

For A. de Fussigny, a major Asian strong-point is Taiwan, where the brand is presentwith all airport retailers as well as airlines.Malaysia and China are other points of pres-ence, says President and CEO Jean-DominiqueAndreu. The category is popular in Asia, andthat popularity has helped to support thebrand’s strong resurgence since its relaunch.

“The intrinsic qualities of our cognachave guaranteed our rapid and self-evidentsuccess,” Andreu says. “It is the exceptionalcharacter of our cognacs that brought A.de Fussigny immediately both recognitionand a legitimate place in the cognac scene.Today, within only two years since A. deFussigny was relaunched, were are repre-sented in over 45 countries worldwide bysome of the best companies to market andsell high quality spirits.”

Growth is continuing at an exceptionalpace, starting from zero in 2008 and pass-ing quickly to 3,000 cases in 2009, 9,000cases in 2010 and reaching 18,000 cases last

year. Andreu says the figure is expected to hit25,000 for this year—all of it in the pre-mium tranche, with a strong proportion ofthat in the XO category.

China is an interesting case when it comesto cognac, says Jacques Ielli, Managing Direc-tor, Duty Free for CL World Brands, whichoversees the Hine cognac marque. “For thetime being the Chinese market starts withVSOP and older qualities,” Ielli says. “TodayVS is not really sold in this market. Pro-moting a brand like Hine in a market dom-inated by the big players is a very motivat-ing challenge and we feel that the quality ofthe Hine brand awareness is an excellentbasis from which we can build the brand.”

As a small company focused on the highend of the market, Hine has been postingdouble-digit growth figures over the last

BCognac conquersThe cognac category is a perfect fit for a strong, growingand prestige-oriented market like Asia duty free

A. De Fussigny’s 24 Carat XO,

a top-of-the-line Grande

Champagne vintage

A. De Fussigny’s Jean-

Dominique Andreu: the

brand has accelerated

from zero to 18,000 cases

in three years—expect

25,000 this year

Bache-Gabrielsen’s

XO cognacs are 20

years old—the

premium packaging

is a recent redesign


“Cognac is getting more and more recog-nition and is getting more and more spacein duty free,” Chevaillé says. “In Asia, cognacis a synonym of a gift and a lot of it is boughtin duty free.”

A. de Fussigny’s Andreu seconds thatnotion: “Cognac is the luxury spirit parexcellence. Passion, excellence and the spiritof innovation are timeless virtues whichinspired the most magnificent cognac mak-ers’ creations in the past and will inspire allthose of the future.” The notion of “excep-tional” is overused by firms for whom lux-ury is merely a marketing posture, Andreubelieves. “As words no longer have any sig-nificance, we have allowed our cognacs tospeak on our behalf. The passion with whichthey have been designed, the meticulousnessand talent with which they have beenblended… all this speaks for itself and theconnoisseur knows how to recognize this.”

For Aristide Chevaillé, a key market dif-ferentiator is the length of the aging process,which he says generates a smooth and eleganttaste that contributes to an award-winninglegacy—Dupuy XO won the “Best in Class”Gold medal at the most recent IWSC com-petition. The packaging, which is both mod-ern and traditional, also plays a role, he says.

For TFWA Asia Pacific in Singapore,Baron Otard will be releasing the BaronOtard Vintage 1972, a limited 2,500-bottleedition. “We are anticipating significantinterest from cognac connoisseurs,” saysJouhaud. “The 40-year-old cognac, which hasa classic, contemporary-style bottle design,will be priced at approximately €400(US$520) for a 70 cl (24 fl. oz.) bottle.”

Jouhaud says that the distinctive taste ofBaron Otard goes back to the Château deCognac, the home of Baron Otard (and the

birthplace of King Francis I of France) anda landmark in the Cognac commune in Char-ente, France. The cognac is aged in the cel-lars of the château, where the thickness of thewalls and the nearness of the River Charenteestablish the required humidity and constanttemperature. Jouhaud says that these char-acteristics are what establish the characteris-tic smooth, round taste of Baron Otard.

On the promotional front, Baron Otardis reinforcing its high-end positioning byextending its partnership with ChristophePillet, the French designer who createdthe award-winning crystal decanter for

Fortis et Fidelis. In partnership with Pillet,Baron Otard has now created a new airportdisplay that provides superior stand-outand showcases the quality of the brand. Asthis went to press, the display was scheduledfor rollout in Kuala Lumpur in April.

It’s been a landmark year for Baron Otard,Jouhaud says. As well as the launch of For-tis et Fidelis, Baron Otard also introduced anew look for the Baron Otard portfolio. Thefeedback received from operators and con-sumers has been very positive, Jouhaud says.“It’s initiatives like these which are helpingus to raise the profile of the brand in Asia.In the year ahead, we will be building onthis momentum with more new initiativesincluding the launch of the Baron OtardVintage 1972.” c

four years without even having made sucha growth rate a high priority, Ielli says. Thatsaid, the company is affected, as is the entirecognac industry, by the current shortage ofold eaux de vie, a situation that Hine needsto take into account. For this year, Iellisays, they expect sales figures to finishslightly higher than those of 2011.

The Asian presence of CL WorldBrands is still young, Ielli says, focusedprimarily on Korea and China. Otherthan airport stores, there’s an inflightpresence on Asiana Airlines, andthere is quite a lot of activity inborder stores in south China, HongKong and Macau.

There’s an enormous potential for growthin the Chinese market given the fact thatChina, particularly the southern portion,accounts for at least one third of globalcognac sales. Once the cognac market weath-ers the shortage of eaux de vie, which Ielli saysshould last for the rest of this year and mostof 2013, things shouldpick up again.

Market momentumOn the plus side, Bache-Gabrielsen is cur-rently experiencing a major sales increase,Chevaillé says, observing that one con-tributing factor is the brand’s newness in theAsia market. Also, Asia is a very dynamic mar-ket, he says, and can propel very solid growthrates once a brand establishes a good, long-term relationship with the right partner.

As a small company

focused on the high

end of the market,

Hine has been posting

double-digit growth

figures over the last

four years without

even having made

such a growth

rate a high

priority

Baron Otard’s

Fortis et Fidelis,

its rarest-ever

cognac, boosted

the brand’s luxury

credentials when it

was introduced

last year

The Dupuy Tentation range

is only two years old, with

“sublime” vintages on the way

The Edrington Group


he Edrington Group recentlyannounced that it has establisheda separate business unit which willdrive growth and development ofits brands, including The Macallan,

Highland Park, The Famous Grouse, CuttySark and Brugal, in the dynamic Asian region.

The new Asia Travel Retail division (ATR),led by Regional Director Ryan Hill from itsbase in Hong Kong, owes its foundation tofive years of rapid growth for the premiumwhisky brands in the duty free and travel retailchannel. The new division reports to Mar-tin Reimann, Managing Director Asia Pacificfor The Edrington Group.

Hill joined The Edrington Group in late2006 as Area Manager based in Shanghai andsubsequently held various roles coveringdomestic and duty free markets across Asia.Since the demise of Maxxium Global TravelRetail three years ago, The Edrington Group’sbrands have been distributed through a net-work of distributors and agents, includingRémy Cointreau TRA in the Americas, FIXin the Middle East and Beam in South EastAsia, Australia and New Zealand.

With the strong growth of its own brandsin Asia, The Edrington Group was driven toassume direct control of its own distributionand has been managing duty free and domes-tic sales through its four wholly-owned localoperating companies in Korea, Hong Kong,China and Taiwan. These companies also dis-tribute wines and spirits for third parties suchas Rémy Martin, Bols, Campari, Skyy (Koreaand Hong Kong) and Jim Beam (Taiwan).

The Macallan has been the star brand in thedramatic growth enjoyed by The EdringtonGroup’s brands, with duty free sales volume

doubling in just four years making it currentlythe leading single malt by volume and valuein Asia. Indeed, The Macallan is one of theworld’s most admired and awarded singlemalt whiskies. Traditionally known for mat-uration in Spanish oak, sherry seasoned casks,The Macallan’s range of outstanding singlemalts includes Sherry Oak, matured in Span-ish oak casks seasoned with sherry; Fine Oak,matured both in sherry casks of Spanish andAmerican oak and in American oak casks sea-soned with bourbon; and the 1824 range,exclusive to global travel retail.

In fact, high praise for the brandin the region is the fact that sometruly rare expressions of TheMacallan were snapped up by con-sumers at HKIA recently. Therarest and most exclusive expres-sion to have been offered for salewas a unique bottle of TheMacallan Fine and Rare 1949 which retailed atHK$338,800 (US$43,435).Additionally, three bottlesof The Macallan in LaliqueIII rare limited edition weresupplied to HKIA and atlast count two were pur-chased at HK$288,000(US$36,923) each. Finally,all 10 bottles of TheMacallan Masters of Pho-tography II Albert WatsonEdition allocated to SkyConnection were soldwithin five days of beingput on shelf at HK$12,800(US$1,641) each.

“The pace of growth plus The EdringtonGroup’s ambition to control its own routeto market and the high regard in which wehold this channel as a vehicle for brandbuilding, have resulted in a critical need tocreate a dedicated business division,” said Hill.“The creation of Asia Travel Retail is a veryexciting chapter for both the brands andthe company.”

The Asia Travel Retail division, whichbecame fully operational on April 1, is in theprocess of recruiting sales and marketing pro-fessionals to key roles in the new organization.New appointments to date include Mandy Soto Senior Brand Executive, Asia Travel Retailand Joseph Liu to Duty Free Sales ManagerTaiwan, Asia Travel Retail. c

T

Keeping pacewith growthThe Edrington Group establishes new Asia TravelRetail division with Regional Director Ryan Hill at the helm to drive growth in the region BY RYAN WHITE

The Edrington Group

calls the Macallan its

“star” in Asia, with

duty free sales

volume doubling in

just four years

Recently, all 10 bottles of The

Macallan Masters of Photography II

Albert Watson Edition allocated to

Sky Connection were sold within

five days of being put on shelf at

HK$12,800 (US$1,641) each

Highland Park is among a

number of other Edrington

brands, including The

Famous Grouse, Brugal

and Cutty Sark, that will

be areas of concentration

for the new Asia Travel

Retail division

Liquor News


Hong Kong is the latest airport location to betreated to a demonstration of “Vodka as it shouldbe” by supplier Russian Standard Vodka and dis-tributor Rémy Cointreau Global Travel Retailwith the presentation of their portfolio of premiumvodkas, including a limited edition exclusive tothe airport retailer.The “Vodka as it should be” campaign brings

to life the real Russian vodka experience in travelretail by offering the world a portfolio of authen-tic Russian vodkas of superb quality and great style:Russian Standard Original, Russian StandardGold, Russian Standard Platinum and IMPERIA. During January and February a special pillar

display encrusted with crystals was created to putthe spotlight on IMPERIA Crystal Crown, a lim-ited edition of the ultra-premium IMPERIA vodka,which was made available in Asia exclusivelythrough Sky Connection. To celebrate the splendor of Imperial Russia,

Russian Standard created for IMPERIA an elegant

red cylindrical cap reminiscent of the tall fur-linedhats worn by Russian nobility from the 15th cen-tury. In this limited edition, the dark red cap is stud-ded with 24 Swarovski crystals of flawless clar-ity evoking the extraordinary purity of the vodka.Commenting on the special promotion,

Matthew Hodges, Marketing and Business Devel-opment Director, Rémy Cointreau GTR, said:“We were delighted to share this unique promotionof the Imperia Crystal Crown exclusively with Sky.This is a product of supreme quality presentedin a most impressive and alluring way whichhas resulted in sales far above what we wouldexpect for a normal two-month period.”Walter Kooijman, Commercial Director Global

DF & APAC, Russian Standard Vodka, says: “Work-ing with Rémy Cointreau and key retailers we havebeen conducting an orchestrated campaign toraise awareness of the Russian Standard Vodkabrand in the Asian market and the results have beenvery satisfactory indeed.”

Vincor has launched a new Icewine brand to complement its existing well estab-lished portfolio. Winter’s Kiss was launched earlier this year with current listingsin Korea. This brand was designed for the new demographic of Icewine drinkersat a more affordable price point.

“Winter’s Kiss is produced from the highest quality Icewine grapes from theNiagara region at a selective temperature of -8⁰ Celsius,” says Amanda Dolotowicz,Business Development Manager at Vincor. “The Icewine harvest for both the Ries-ling and Cabernet Franc Icewine began in December of 2011 and lasted until thefirst week of January 2012. Our winemakers selected various vineyards in Nia-gara to be used in this Icewine’s blend—Icewine grapes that truly showcase themost desirable characteristics that make Canadian Icewines so lovely to enjoy.”

For the first vintage only a couple hundred cases of each of the varietals—Ries-ling and Cabernet Franc—were produced, and Dolotowicz says that the wines aretypical of the Niagara Region, displaying minerality, acidity and some alluring aro-mas. Visitors to this year’s TFWA AP exhibition can visit Vincor at stand M34.

The Russian Standard display at

Hong Kong International Airport

Vincor launches Winter’s Kiss Icewine

Winter’s Kiss is produced from the highest quality Icewine grapes from the Niagara region at a selective temperature of -8⁰ Celsius

BY RYAN WHITE

Russian Standard Vodka demonstrates “Vodka as it should be” at Hong Kong Airport

Patrón releases XOCafe Dark Cocoa,partners with WDFGon Ice Bar promotionPatrón Spirits, World Duty Free Groupand Birmingham Airport joined forcesto install an Ice Bar on April 5 at theairport’s landside departures area,where passengers were able to sam-ple Patrón’s ultra-premium tequilasand liqueurs, along with its Pyratrum. Patrón also used this opportu-nity to introduce a new chocolateand coffee liqueur called Patrón XOCafe Dark Cocoa, which it says willbe a European exclusive for WorldDuty Free Group and BirminghamAirport, making this the only Europeanlocation in domestic or duty freewhere the new spirit can be pur-chased. Patrón XO Cafe Dark Cocoawill be rolled out worldwide at a laterdate, Patrón spokesperson GregCohen told Asia Duty Free.

“In addition to promoting our prod-ucts, more importantly this initiativeis designed to showcase the duty freeand airport shopping experience,”says Mike Hill, Vice President forEurope, Africa and the Middle Eastat Patrón Spirits International. “Ourgoal is to drive penetration andgrowth by giving travelerswho might not considershopping in the airport’sduty free store a com-pelling reason to shop.”

Despite launching as a WDFG

exclusive in Birmingham, Patron

notes that XO Cafe Dark Cocoa

will be rolled out worldwide in the

coming months


For the third consecutive time Lateltin AG will pre-sent its premium product Cresta Swiss ChocolateLiqueur at TFWA Asia Pacific & GATE ONE2ONE.Cresta is a cream liqueur with the taste of Swiss choco-late. Its unique bottle shape and the real gold printrepresent the smoothness and high quality of theliqueur, while the design focuses on its Swiss origin.

First produced in 2006, Cresta was initiallyexported to Bangkok four years ago.Later it was launched in Singapore andis now available in many Asian and Euro-pean Duty Free destinations. LateltinAG, the producer of Cresta, is a Swisscompany formed in 1899. At the end ofthe 1930s it became a private, family-

owned business. Lateltin is a man-ufacturer of liquors and distil-lates and the sole distributor formany well known internationalbrands in the domestic Swissmarket, with Cresta SwissChocolate Liqueur as itsmain export product.Attendees to this year’s

TFWA AP exhibition in Sin-gapore can visit Lateltin atstand A5.

March 28 saw the unveiling of the latest Glenfiddich Crystal Stag Gondola at Syd-ney Airport through The Nuance Group Australia. The first in Australia, the Glen-fiddich Crystal Stag Gondola has a high profile position in the main mega walk-through store and forms part of a significant brand presence with a Glenfiddich50 Year Old Plinth, branded tasting table and freestanding units, enabling pro-moters to offer tastings and brand information.The Stag was presented to The Nuance Group Australia team by Glenfiddich

Global Brand Ambassador Ian Millar following a day of staff training to ensurecomplete product knowledge and understanding. The placement is supportedby advertising and imagery throughout the departure zone, including the Cus-toms window and nearby pillar.“We have an extremely good relationship with The Nuance Group Australia

and are very pleased to be unveiling the latest Glenfiddich Crystal Stag Gondolahere in Sydney,” says William Grant & Sons Regional Manager Asia Pacific ScottHamilton. “It’s part of an ongoing campaign of high profile activations for WilliamGrant & Sons brands here at Sydney and Melbourne airports which we have devel-oped in very close cooperation with Nuance Australia.”

Cresta Swiss Chocolate Liqueurreturns to TFWA Singapore

Cresta is a cream liqueur with the

typical taste of Swiss chocolate in

a unique bottle with real gold print

At the Visitor Centre people can learn about

Gran Coronas and the entire Torres portfolio

through a number of innovative activities

The latest Crystal Stag Gondola was presented to The Nuance Group Australia by

Glenfiddich Global Brand Ambassador Ian Millar (pictured) following a day of staff training

Drinks International has highlighted the workof Bodegas Torres in the area of wine tourism,giving it one of its first "Wine Tourism Awards.”Bodegas Torres has been recognized in thecategory of "Most Innovative Vineyard orCellar Tour" thanks to the success of theinnovative activities offered to visitors.

Bodegas Torres provides an extensiverange of wine-related experiences, includingtastings, wine and cheese pairing seminars,cooking courses, VIP Tours, Ecotours andNatureo tours, aimed at all kinds of peoplewith a wide range of interests. Proof of thepopularity of the activities is that the VisitorCentre has received more than 1.5 million vis-itors in the last 25 years.

Bodegas Torresreceives internationalaward for wine tourism

Cointreau Mabille to belaunched in travel retail

Glenfiddich takes centre stage in Australia with Nuance

Cointreau celebrates French elegance with a fashionable limitededition bottle designed by French haute couture fashiondesigner Alexis Mabille. In the new limited editionMabille revisits the bottle of the iconic French liqueurwith a special sleeve decorated with his signaturebow tie, his favorite emblem and a timeless sym-bol of sophistication and edginess, in lustrous gold.

Cointreau Mabille will be launched exclusivelyby Remy Cointreau GTR with Aelia in Paris in Maybefore the product becomes available globally.There are promotional events planned in Brazil,USA, Italy, Greece and all across Asia.

Cointreau was founded over 160 years ago inAngers, in the Loire Valley of France, and hasbecome the most renowned and distinguishedorange liqueur in the world. Its iconic square bot-tle with rounded shoulders and amber color is syn-onymous with heritage and quality.

Cointreau Mabille will be launched exclusively by Remy Cointreau

GTR with Aelia in Paris in May before a global rollout with promotional

events planned in Brazil, USA, Italy, Greece and all across Asia

The biggest product launchfrom Bacardi in 15 years,Bacardí OakHeart, has arrivedin Asia. In partnership withDFS, Bacardi Global TravelRetail will be unveiling Bac-ardí OakHeart for the firsttime in the region at ChangiInternational Airport.

As Bacardi celebrates its150th Anniversary, the intro-duction of Bacardí OakHeartin Asia is set to make a dra-matic impact on the spicedrum category and the rumcategory as a whole. BacardíOakHeart has already provensuccessful at growing thebroader rum category inNorth America and it’sexpected to do the samein Asia.

Backed by Bacardí crafts-manship and expertise, Bac-ardí OakHeart is a new,expertly blended, smoothand smoky, spiced spiritdrink which is reaffirmingthe brand’s leadership posi-tion in rum. Bacardi nowhas expressions across allrum segments—traditional,flavored and spiced.

John Hoover, Vice Presi-dent of Spirits Merchandis-ing for DFS, said: “We are

very excited to be partneringwith Bacardi Global TravelRetail for such a significantnew product launch in Asia.Changi is the perfect place toexclusively unveil a spiritdesigned for the modern dayadventurer and we aredelighted that our consumerswill be the first in Asia totaste Bacardí OakHeart.”

“Bacardí OakHeart is aperfect illustration of theway in which Bacardí is stillinnovating after 150 years,”says Paul Francis, RegionalDirector – Asia-Pacific, Bac-ardi Global Travel Retail. “Thereception it has receivedfrom our customers andconsumers in North Amer-ica has been beyond ourexpectations and we’re look-ing forward to building onthis success in Asia.”

The Maestros de RonBacardí have created the per-fect base for the liquid, usingrums that have been mel-lowed in specially selected,charred American white oakbarrels to impart a hint ofsmokiness, enhanced by nat-ural charred oak extract togive the rum woody notes.Finally, they add carefully

selected flavors and spicesincluding honey essence,Madagascan vanilla, cinna-mon and nutmeg. The resultis a truly unique boldly spicedrum, velvety smooth withjust a hint of smokiness thatmixes well with cola or tastesgreat straight.

Bacardí OakHeart will beavailable exclusively at DFSChangi International Airportfrom May before being rolledout across the region in July.

Liquor News


World of Patria International (WOPI) hasannounced that Singapore will see the intro-duction of the FirstCape range of wines to theAsian and Australasian markets. FirstCapeoffers a range of white, red and rose winesplus a recently introduced lighter alcoholCafé Collection which aims to become a 5 mil-lion-case brand in the UK. FirstCape is nowsetting its ambitions on the Far East follow-ing the decision to sponsor the Lions Tour inHong Kong and Australia next year. “We’re extremely pleased to be supporting

FirstCape on its mission to secure distributionwithin Asia Pacific and Australia and the oppor-tunities for high profile activations throughoutairports in the region are amazing,” says WOPIDirector Andy Butcher. “While the brand ispositioned more at the entry price level, it has

a huge following in the UK and growing busi-ness in Europe, and its new lighter alcohol CaféCollection is proving extremely popular."Also new in WOPI's wine portfolio is the

super-premium Lindhorst range of wines, com-prising six 2007 vintage red wines, includingthe signature Shiraz-dominated blend “State-ment” and a fresh 2011 Sauvignon Blanc.Other wines being highlighted on the standinclude the popular Blossom Hill selection;Follador premium Prosecco selection, whichincludes a special gift tube for travel retail; andChampagne Penet Chardonnet available as aCuvee Diane Claire Grand Cru and GrandReserve Grand Cru, both presented in a gift box. Additionally, in Singapore WOPI will be giv-

ing one lucky visitor the chance to win a bot-tle of The Last Drop 1960 Blended ScotchWhisky, with a suggested retail price ofUS$2,700, through a simple business card

draw. Finally, new to the WOPI portfolio areunique products from the British based ChaseDistillery, including award winning five timesdistilled Chase English Potato Vodka; ChaseMarmalade Vodka; and William’s Chase Gin.

World of Patria

DFS premieres Bacardí OakHeart in Asia

The TFWA AP exhibition marks

the launch of Bacardí OakHeart

at Changi Airport; pictured is the

launch party at the 2011 TFWA

WE in Cannes

Continuing its passion fortraditional production methods,Tequilera Corralejo is introduc-ing a special commemorativeedition premium tequila at thisyear’s TFWA Asia Pacific &GATE ONE2ONE exhibition(stand A15): 99,000 Hours.

99,000 Hours is aged in single Kentucky oakbarrels (no bigger than 200 liters) for 18 monthsand double distilled using copper and col-umn stills. This premium tequila is presentedin a rounded carafe-style bottle and is designedfor drinking neat, on the rocks or in cocktails. Also new at the show is Vodka Boker, a

unique Mexican corn vodka presented in ahighly attractive and unusual deep blue bot-tle that has a twisted effect. Initially launchedto travel retail markets in India, Central Amer-ica, Mexico and Canada, Vodka Boker isdescribed as versatile and smooth, but with theadded bonus of a direct link with centuries ofhistory and culture. Tequilera Corralejo notes that it is steadily

expanding outside the Americas and nowreports significant duty free business in India,the Maldives and Sri Lanka, plus in Spainthrough Aldeasa and via Russian border stores.The Middle East and Asia Pacific are next onthe hit list and the company is keen to makenew contacts at this year’s Singapore show.

Tequilera Corralejobrings 99,000Hours, Vodka

Boker to Singapore

WOPI will be giving

one lucky visitor the

chance to win a

bottle of The Last

Drop 1960 Blended

Scotch Whisky at

TFWA AP Singapore

99,000 Hours is aged

in single Kentucky oak

barrels (no bigger than

200 liters) for 18

months and double

distilled using copper

and column stills

British American Tobacco


ritish American Tobacco International, through itsGlobal Travel Retail Asia Pacific (GTRAP) team, currentlydistributes its brands in more than 22 countries and loca-tions in Asia, dealing with more than 70 customers.Products are present in all major airports, border loca-

tions, ferry terminals, railway stations and inflight, as well as onboardtrains and ferries, says James Li, Head of Brand, GTRAP. Li echoesthe sentiments of many others involved in Asian duty free byobserving that Asia is an exceptionally strong growth market rightnow, driven by the compound effect of increased passenger num-bers combined with rising spending power per passenger.

As the world’s second largest quoted tobacco group by marketshare, British American Tobacco’s products already enjoy very highvisibility in most Asian markets, Li says. Notwithstanding, GTRAPis still managing to generate strong organic growth by adding newcustomers. This pace of organic growth mirrors the expansion thatis taking place on the domestic/duty paid side.

“Popular brands for us include the ‘Global Drive Brands,’ whichare Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall,” Li says. In Asian travelretail, he adds, State Express 555 and Benson & Hedges are also highlypopular, posting sales on a par with—and in some cases even aheadof—sales of some of British American Tobacco’s major brands.

The gifting impulse is noted as a major factor behind sales in othercategories in Asian travel retail, and there’s no exception with regardto tobacco. Besides gifting, Asian adult consumers in travel retail areespecially attracted to limited edition products, and travel retail exclu-sives are also a strong draw. “British American Tobacco continuesto work hand in hand with our customers to leverage on those uniquequalities,” Li says.

As far as prospects for this year are concerned, Li says that it’stoo early to predict outcomes but that British American Tobaccois confident market growth will continue. 2011 travel retail sales wereexcellent. Based on comparative data, sales volumes marked highsingle-digit increases last year compared with 2010, driven for themost part by British American Tobacco’s Global Drive Brands,where growth was in the double digits.

During the 2008-2009 economic crisis, Asian passenger numbersfluctuated by less than 2%, and sales within British AmericanTobacco International weren’t seriously affected. After thatthe market bounced back quickly, with passenger num-bers for 2010 growing by 10% over 2009.

“In 2012, we’ll continue to work with our customersin order to provide the premium shopping experience foradult tobacco consumers in travel retail, which BritishAmerican Tobacco International is known for,” Li says.“We’ll continue to innovate and provide new offers.”

On the new products front, British American Tobacco hasa number of recent and forthcoming releases. For the thirdquarter of 2012, the company plans to introduce DunhillRelease, a product that incorporates a capsule in the filter that

releases an extra burst of menthol flavorwith a click. The smoker can wait for the“Blenders’ Mark”—a dotted line—to be reached, oractivate the capsule at a time of their own choosing.

In the second quarter of 2012, the Chinese Year of the Dragon,British American Tobacco plans to issue a limited edition for LuckyStrike. The packaging will be available in three core variants, andtargets adult smokers in search of limited edition products. Also slatedfor the second quarter is a 555 limited edition exclusive to GTRAP,which will reinforce 555’s key marketing attributes of smoothnessand exclusivity.

At this year’s TFWA Asia Pacific trade fair, British AmericanTobacco will highlight Dunhill’s limited edition Special Reserve 2010,which features leaves from some of the world’s top tobacco regionsthat have been carefully aged, cured and blended. Head growersfrom British American Tobacco have selected the leaves from tobaccofarms in Brazil’s Itajaí Valley and the Nile Valley in Uganda. SpecialReserve 2010 will be available in selected markets for a limited time.

Dunhill’s Fine Cut Exceptional Edition (FCEE) is also beinghighlighted as a new super-premium expression of the brand’sFine Cut offers. British American Tobacco says that FCEE is “dif-ferentiated by attention to detail delivered through its packaging,format and refined 46 cuts per square inch of the tobacco.” c

B

Breadthand depth

British American Tobacco’s market reachand product depth bring continued growthon its Asian home turf BY ANDREW BROOKS

Dunhill’s limited edition Special Reserve 2010

will be center stage at TFWA Asia Pacific

A 555 limited edition exclusive to

GTRAP is slated for release in the

second quarter of this year

AFTER A GOOD MEAL

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Find us on the TFWA Asia Pacific at stand A4

worldwide after a good mealsince 1846

thenatural herbal

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“It was unfortunate timing, definitely,”Pfister says. “We started out right when themarket was at its lowest point. But we wereyoung and new and we didn’t feel the reces-

Ray Tobacco is based in HongKong and only started in 2008,making it a genuine newcomer.The bulk of Ray’s business is still

domestic, says Chris Pfister, the recentlyappointed Export Director. Duty freestrong points right now are in Malaysia,Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia andVietnam, but expansion plans are afoot.

The fact that the company started up in2008 gives Pfister an interesting perspec-tive on the 2008-2009 recession that spikedthe plans of so many other companies intravel retail. Starting out during a recessionis never part of any businessperson’s plans,but as Pfister points out, it had some advan-tages in Ray’s case.

sion as much as older players in the market.While they were losing business, we were get-ting our first listings. So we were growingwhen others were struggling.”

Now that the recession is more or lessbehind us, the growth prospects for Ray areinviting to say the least. The Asian portfo-lio is concentrated in airport and bordershops, with inflight not yet on the scope.Growth across all markets is good, Pfister says.The company is young enough that growthpotential is still strong in the markets whereRay is already present.

The company is continuing to makeinroads in the Middle East, where it took itsfirst steps outside of Asia and where it hasalready turned in positive results. In Egypt,Ray is present in airport and border stores,as well as in the high street, with its fullrange of products. Ray has also listed withborder shops in Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Turkeyand most recently Libya. More Middle East-ern markets are in the offing.

Ray Tobacco’s main products in duty free—and generally—are the Walton Royal Blend andRay American Blend cigarette brands. Newproducts are under development, Pfister says.Interestingly, two years ago Ray also ventured

into the whisky market

under the Waltonimprint, with a new blend produced at oneof Scotland’s largest distilleries.

“It looks a bit like Johnnie Walker,” Pfis-ter says. “The taste is also similar. The dif-ferentiator for us is the combination of high

quality with avery attractive price point.” With a newbrand, and especially a new brand in a newcategory, Pfister says, you have to convincethe customer first, and the low selling priceis the way to go.

“People who try it are surprised by thequality of the product,” Pfister says. “We’reworking with low margins so we can sell ata good price and build sales. So far the strat-egy is working very well for us.”

Echoing the experiences of so many oth-ers, Pfister finds that Asian customers are veryinterested in high-end items, but he notes thatRay’s price-active approach also reflects thereality that even here there are customers whocan’t afford top-line purchases, and manyoperators in Asia are very much on the look-out for better pricing.

“There are always customers who can’tafford the big-ticket items and go for thecheaper ones,” Pfister says. “It’s a good oppor-tunity—not everywhere of course, but in cer-tain markets.”

Ray followed up on the success of itsblended whisky last year when it introduceda new beer product, also under the Waltonlabel. So far it’s been launched in Asia, theMiddle East and Africa. The latter is a verybeer-friendly market, and prospects are alsogood for South America, another regionknown to favor a good brew.

Ray is an active participant in thetrade show circuit, and Pfister waspleased with the quality of new con-tacts he made at the latest IAADFSevent. The trade show agenda for Rayalways involves showcasing the fullportfolio, instead of selecting a few“stars” from the lineup.

For the future, Ray remains focusedon growing organically in Asia andits “newer” markets. Ray tends to work

with smaller, locally oriented operators,where close cooperation and the intimateunderstanding of local markets pay big div-idends. “They do a good job,” Pfister says.“If we work closely with them it works outwell for us.” �

Ray Tobacco

STARIN THE

EASTBorn in a tough economy,Ray Tobacco knows how to survive—and thrive BY ANDREW BROOKS

Walton is Ray’s other main cigarette brand, whichRay has taken into whiskyand beer products

The Ray American Blendcigarette brand continues tobe Ray Tobacco’s flag carrier



Tobacco News

The XIV Habanos Festival ended after bring-ing together innumerable international per-sonalities and lovers of Habanos. The GalaEvening, dedicated to the Romeo y Julietabrand, closed the event.During the Gala Evening, two new Habanos

were launched and sampled by attendees: theRomeo y Julieta Churchills Reserva 2008—the first reserve of the brand—and Romeo yJulieta Petit Churchills, a new vitola that willdelight connoisseurs with its characteristic aro-matic and balanced flavor, suitable for anyoccasion.Romeo y Julieta Churchills Reserva 2008

demands the most stringent selection criteriain creating the reserve, Habanos says. From thelong, careful process of aging the best tobacco

from Vuelta Abajo* (D.O.P.) for at least 3 yearsto the tasting committee comprised of more than50 experts who have supervised the selectedblend to guarantee a unique flavor that is har-monious, balanced and aromatic.The Reserva of Romeo y Julieta is a unique

product with an extremely limited productionrun of only 5,000 numbered cases, each con-taining 20 units.The new Romeo y Julieta Petit Churchills

vitola completes the current Romeo y Julietaoffering by adding a format that has beenhighly favored in recent years by Habanosenthusiasts. The cigar can be smoked intwenty minutes.Ahead of the dinner and the new Habanos

tastings, the traditional Auction of Humidors

took place. This year it raised US$963,506. Thesix humidors auctioned feature artisan-crafteddesigns of the most prestigious Habanosbrands (Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo y Juli-eta, Partagás, Hoyo de Monterrey and H.Upmann). Over the past 12 years the auctionhas raised almost US$10 million, all of whichhas been donated to the Cuban Public HealthSystem. Other events during the festivalincluded the XI Habanosommelier Interna-tional Contest, the 2011 Habano Awards andthe international contest “Habanos in images.”

The first Romeo y Julieta Reservacloses the XIV Habanos Festival

Ana López, Marketing

Director of Habanos,

presents Romeo y Julieta

Churchills Reserva 2008

at the close of the XIV

Habanos Festival

J. Cortes announces new releases for TFWA AP exhibitionJ.Cortès Cigars has announced the launchof two new products that will be launchedat this year’s TFWA AP & GATE ONE2ONEexhibition: Neos Mini Menthol Filter and J.Cortès Wood Tip cigarillos.

Neos Mini Menthol Filter cigarillos,packed in a bespoke tin, are made froma perfectly balanced tobacco blend andcarry a premium Ecuadorian light shadewrapper. The fresh menthol flavor turnsthese filter cigarillos into a very accessibleand pleasant smoke, says J. Cortes.

J. Cortès has also created a new conceptinvolving wooden tip cigarillos, available inthree different tastes: natural, vanilla andginger. These rich and tasteful cigarillos come

with a quality Java Besuki wrapper and arepackaged in an innovative and exclusive boxthat holds eight smokes and features aneasy-to-use magnetic closure system.

Attendees to this year’s show can learnmore about these products, as well as therest of the J. Cortes portfolio, at Booth F10.

Attendees to this year’s show can learn more about

new J. Cortès Wood Tip cigarillos (pictured) and Neos

Mini Menthol Filter at Booth F10

Tobacco News


The Oettinger Davidoff Group hasannounced that effective April 10, EveBinard joined its Global Travel RetailBusiness Unit as Trade Marketing Man-ager – Global Travel Retail. She willreport to Christian Vonthron, Head ofGlobal Travel Retail.During her professional career—

in cosmetics in Paris, in tobacco withBAT Global Travel Retai l and inZug and Asia with GlaxoSmithKline—Binard has concentrated on brandmanagement, merchandising and pack-aging design. In her new role, she willassist Oettinger Davidoff Group in allmarketing tasks, the company says.

Eve Binardjoins OettingerDavidoff inglobal travelretail role

Every great invention, every memorable song, every tear-jerking film, everystunning piece of artwork—starts with a great idea. At this year’s TFWAAsia Pacific & GATE ONE2ONE exhibition, Imperial Tobacco will be reveal-ing its latest and greatest idea for premium brand Davidoff (stand J1).The aim, says Imperial Tobacco, is to target a wider audience for David-

off using an inspirational and artistic approach. The company notes thatall details will be revealed in Singapore where Imperial Tobacco will be pre-senting the new concept and celebrating with a special launch party.“This is the most important launch from Davidoff for many years and

we are incredibly excited about it as we believe it will open up the brandto a completely new audience of smokers,” says Jennifer Thanscheidt. “Theinitial launch announcement will take place in Singapore and we will fur-ther push this inspirational concept with another major presentation at TFWAWorld Exhibition in October.”

Imperial Tobacco to reveal “Davidoff’s Greatest Idea” in Singapore

Eve Binard, The

Oettinger Davidoff

Group’s new Trade

Marketing Manager –

Global Travel Retail

Imperial Tobacco calls

“Davidoff’s Greatest Idea” the

most important launch from

the brand for many years

Japan Tobacco International (JTI) hasannounced that it has restyled its Mild Sevenpackaging. The company calls this the nextevolutional stage for the world’s undisputednumber one charcoal filtered cigarette brand. David Francis, General Manager World-

wide Duty Free Vice President at JTI, said:“Mild Seven has continuously set the pacein packaging design since its debut in Japanin 1977. JTI is pleased to bring the next gen-eration pack to the travel retail market as wetake confident new steps to upgrade theimage of one of our core brands. This new,elegant exterior is a fitting tribute to the qual-ity of this famously smooth cigarette andacknowledges the discerning sophisticationof the adult smokers throughout the world whoselect Mild Seven as their premium ciga-rette brand of choice.” The new, asymmetric pack creates a more

sophisticated image to better align the brandto the status and desires of Mild Seven adultsmokers, and at the same time attract newinterest from adult smokers in today’s increas-ingly competitive market. The familiar BlueWind icon is maintained as a hallmark ofMild Seven’s uncompromising commitmentto superior quality, and reinforces the inspir-ing and smooth taste that is synonymous withthe brand. The depth and creativity of the design

reflects Mild Seven’s active evolution andcommitment to reaching the next level ofexcellence. An upward curve, gliding intothe future, symbolizes success and expan-sion, and the new pack also has a special tex-

tured finish to strengthen even more itsalready premium feel. The new packs will be available in duty free

outlets from June 2012 and will furtherenhance brand awareness of Mild Sevenamongst adult smokers in the global travelretail market.

New pack design for Mild Seven

The new, asymmetric pack creates a more

sophisticated image to better align the brand to the

status and desires of Mild Seven adult smokers, and at

the same time attract new interest from adult smokers


New & NotableBottega DiamondCompany: Distilleria Bottega Description: Bottega Diamond is a sparklingwine produced with a selection of Pinot Noirgrapes from Oltrepò Pavese. This well-structured wine is characterized with dry,velvety and fruity notes, enriched by a slightaroma of bread crust and a pleasantaftertaste of fresh fruit and spicesBooth Number: J9

Balmoral Dominican Selection Collection 12Company: Royal Agio CigarsDescription: The BDS Collection 12 offersa luxury assortment box containing SmallPanatela, Panatela and Corona cigars. Allblended of carefully selected tobaccosfrom the wide region of the Caribbean Booth Number: E9

Avondale wines, from Paarl, South AfricaCompany: Diverse FlavoursDescription: Avondale’s collection ofseven hand- crafted wines, with theethos, ‘Terra Est Vita’ meaning ‘Soil isLife’ encapsulates Avondale Estate as adynamic living system where nothingcompromises the growing of healthy,balanced grapes and the making ofnaturally delicious winesBooth Number: Q8

Follador Prosecco SelectionCompany: World of Patria InternationalDescription: The Folladors are a familypassionate about their wine-makingheritage. They have quietly gone aboutmarrying traditional vineyard cultivationwith the latest production techniquesto create wines that are highlyrespected among their peers.Follador’s Superior Line of winesincludes 4 DOCGs in the Torri diCredazzo Cuvée, Cartizze, Brut and Extra-Dry categoriesBooth Number: A26

LIQUOR & TOBACCO

SouvenirCompany: Godiva ChocolatierDescription: An assortment of Godiva chocolatepieces in a Gold Rigid Box covered with a sleeveof different destinations. The souvenir box is a

perfect way to remember yourfavorite destination. The boxcontains 15 pieces of Godivachocolates and is alsoavailable with 16 differentdestination sleevesBooth Number: H2

Temptations mixed 537g pouchCompany: GuylianDescription: Convenient sharing bag with50 pieces of artisanal, creamy filled andindividually wrapped Belgian Chocolatesin the unique Guylian Seahorse chocolateshape. Mixed flavors including originalpraline, milk truffle and dark pralineBooth Number: K10

CONFECTIONERY

New & Notable


Butlers 200g Limited Edition AssortmentCompany: Butlers ChocolatesDescription: In celebration of Butlers 80thbirthday, the company has created alimited edition assortment, containing aselection of alcohol-free chocolate trufflesand pralines including Chocolate Trio,Chocolate Flake and 70% Truffle Booth Number: Q9

CONFECTIONERY

Heartstrings pendant Company: Clogau GoldDescription: Inspired by the musicalinstrument of Wales, adopted in the17th century, the Heartstrings collectionelegantly acknowledges a traditionbegun in 1660, where an official harpistwas appointed to the Royal court. Theharp is said to symbolize the bridge oflove connecting heaven and earth

2012 CollectionCompany: Buckley LondonDescription: The new collectionincorporates the best selling designsfrom previous seasons and includesstunning new designs along withcontemporary looking packagingBooth Number: N9

ACCESSORIES

Aloha MixCompany: Hawaiian HostDescription: Aloha Mix includes anassortment of individually wrappedmacadamia favorites including HawaiianHost Signature Chocolate Macadamias,hand-selected macadamias covered inHawaiian Host’s secret milk chocolaterecipe, and MacNut Crunch, a greatcombination of diced macadamias,crisp rice and milk chocolateBooth Number: P13

Chinese Year of theDragon Limited EditionsCompany: Nestlé InternationalTravel RetailDescription: These two exclusivetins- in red, silver and gold forNestlé Swiss and red and goldfor KITKAT- are embossed withDragon graphics and have apremium look and feel.Containing 350g (66) SwissNapolitains and 450g (10)KITKAT 4 Finger bars Booth Number: G30

Desigual Travel WalletCompany: DesigualDescription: A functional design for an unforgettable travel experience.Desigual's spirit, color and fun comealive in this unique wallet that is perfectlydesigned to carry passports, tickets,travel cards, insurance, bills and coins

Lip SmackersCompany: ScorpioDistributorsDescription: Fun andpopular lip balms inmultipacks for thetravel retail market.Each balm has its owndistinctive scent andflavor – including CocaCola, Sprite, Fanta andother household namesBooth Number: K28

Tribe (Zebra) It BagCompany: FurlaDescription: This multi-functional bagnot only changes design when reversedbut shape as well – working as a N/SShopper on side A and as an E/WShopper on side B. Color contrastsinside and out with shiny nappa on oneside and printed zebra on the otherBooth Number: E19

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never look your age again

Success in ITR comes in many colours.

As one of the leading confectionery players in ITR, you’ll find Mars’ brands at almost every travel location across the world. Focusing on the key purchase motivations our stunning product portfolio, containing the nr. 1 and nr. 2 brands M&M’s and Snickers, is backed by creative merchandising driving the purchase decision. Our combination of insight, category vision and global strength enables us to optimize the effectiveness of our unmatched portfolio of global favourites. Finally, we continue to develop exciting new concepts.For example, we now have all Wrigley products fully integrated into our ITR program, creating even more opportunities to drive your business.

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