Asia Duty Free magazine

SEPTEMBER 2012 • VOL 16, NO 3

Retailer risingin China p.16 King Power

bulks up p.22 Swarovskibranches out p.32 An eye for

exclusives p.44

New Digital Edition

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11:06 AM 1 9/19/12 11:12 AM



Asian acceleration

4 ASIA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING SEPTEMBER 2012

Letter from the Editor

elcome to the second digital edition ofAsia Duty Free & Travel Retail-ing, which will be sent directly into the inboxes of over 4,400 indus-try subscribers. Compatible with all smartphones, tablets and webbrowsers, the digital magazine will be presented in a flip format withthe look and feel of a traditional magazine.

In this edition we look at some top retailers in the region, in particular Nuance-Wat-son Asia. Fresh from the disappointing loss of its core-category concessions at HongKong International Airport (HKIA), the operator now has more positive news: Nuancehas been awarded contracts at Singapore's Changi Airport and at the HKIA hub.

Nuance will open an Emporio Armani boutique at Changi under a contract run-ning until 2015. The store, which boasts a floor area of 104 square meters, is located inChangi Terminal 2's Departure/Transit Lounge Central.

The three-year HKIA contract gives Nuance-Watson (HK) a 53-square-meterLongchamp boutique and a 119-square-meter gourmet boutique, both in the West Hallof T1. The gourmet boutique is the only multi-branded standalone store dedicated tothe category at the airport.

Turning to China in general, reports indicate that the country is poised for contin-ued growth in the travel market. According to Chinese government statistics, 38.6 mil-lion mainland Chinese traveled abroad in the first half of 2012, up almost 20% fromthe corresponding period in 2011.

The spending power of Chinese travelers is also impressive, at around US$1,000 pertraveler, per trip. This means the Chinese travel market will soon be worth close to US$100billion annually. In 2009, mainland Chinese travelers spent an average of just under US$900per trip.

As the spending power of Chinese travelers continues to soar, China Duty FreeGroup (CDFG) is also growing, eyeing the borders of other nations and territories. Thegiant retailer believes it can lend its expertise outside of its comfort zone.

There’s a lot going on in this part of the world. Get a good look at all the action byreading the many feature articles we have for you in this issue.

Enjoy!

Kind regards,

Hibah [email protected]

W

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. September 2012, Vol. 16, No. 3. 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]

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Melissa [email protected]

ART DIRECTOR

Patrick [email protected]

CONTRIBUTORS

Zuhair Kashmeri

ADVERTISING SALES

ADVERTISING & MARKETING MANAGER

Kim [email protected]

CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER

Deepa [email protected]

http://www.diageo.com

3018

SEPTEMBER 2012 • VOL 16, NO 3

COLLISTAR

Asian anglesCollistar enters Asia travel retail, takes lead fromlocal markets

SEKONDA

Sekonda aims for first Top UK watch brand targets Asian success as partof global travel retail push

SWAROVSKI

Branding up, branching outSwarovski: new brands and new men’s productsdrive success in travel retail

PICA LÉLA

In living colorArmed with colorful collections and tailored visual merchandising, Pica LéLa is on its way toincreasing brand awareness and connecting withpromising new regions

UNDERBERG

Underberg targets Asia afterEuropean successUnderberg, makers of a fifth generation digestiffrom Germany that tastes good and targetsindigestion, is pushing its products in Asia

BELUGA VODKA

A noble pursuitBeluga Vodka’s strong performance in Moscow’sbiggest airports and a concentration on duty freeexclusives bode well for the brand’s future in travelretail

THE EDRINGTON GROUP

An eye for exclusivesThe latest Masters of Photography limited editionfrom The Macallan proves that The EdringtonGroup has an eye for stunning art in addition to apassion for rarified drams

NEW & NOTABLETed Baker Squintessential ■ Botran Reserva ■Set Clarisse

IN BRIEFYves Rocher joins the travel retail world ■ BrisbaneInternational Airport takes a global turn ■ Renovationsto ease congestion at Jakarta Airport have begun ■DFS Group offers luxury shopping at Hysan Place ■Puig paves the way for Valentina Assoluto line extension■ Tourists flock to Philippines, as arrivals increasein the first half of 2012 ■ Tesco premiers virtual groceryin UK at Gatwick ■ Science fuels YSL’s new ForeverYouth Liberator Eye Zone Serum

CHINA DUTY FREE GROUP

Retailer risingChina Duty Free Group's ambitions reflect thegrowing global clout of China itself, as the retailerlooks to internationalize its brand

THE NUANCE GROUP (INDIA)

Eyes on the prizeThe Nuance Group (India) has been showing theway forward in Bangalore for four years. Now it'spoised to lead the field in other Indian airports

NUANCE-WATSON ASIA

Nuance-Watson Asia wins bigNuance-Watson Asia’s win will see the inclusion ofan Emporio Armani boutique at Changi Airport anda Longchamp boutique and fine food concept atHong Kong International Airport

KING POWER (HK)

Bulking upKing Power (HK) may not be pushing into newmarkets for the time being, but it's keenly focusedon boosting its merchandising muscle

LS TRAVEL RETAIL ASPAC

Three’s a charmCOO of LS travel retail ASPAC Emmanuel de Placediscusses the company’s three-pronged strategyfor continued growth in Asia Pacific travel retail

AVIATION NEWS

The devil’s in the detailsReports indicate that British Airways and ChinaSouthern have come to a codeshare agreement,but the depth and breadth of the cooperation hasyet to be officially announced

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In BriefYves Rocher joins the travel retail world

Part of the Cure Solutions

collection, Yves Rocher’s

Elixir 7.9 Youth Intensifier

uses seven plants and

nine anti-aging patents to

boost the effectiveness of

anti-aging skincare

So Elixir Purple

by Yves Rocher

Leading luxury travel retailer DFS Group opened its third downtownHong Kong Galleria at Hysan Place in Causeway Bay, the first on HongKong Island.

DFS opened its first store at Hong Kong International Airport in1960 and has operated two large downtown stores in Hong Kongon Canton Road since 1966 and on Mody Road since 1988.

In opening the Traveler’s Galleria—also regarded as T Galleria—DFS becomes one of the first Hong Kong retailers to be pre-certi-fied under the “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design”(LEED) standard.

T Galleria consists of two levels. The first level offers a rangeof 50 of the most coveted beauty brands, including cosmetics,skincare and fragrances. Beauty consultations and services arealso available on this floor.

The second level offers a selection of luxury watch and jewelry brands.As part of the opening celebrations, DFS partnered up with

Foodlink Foundation and donated 5% of T Galleria’s sales to the char-ity from August 17 to 23, in support of its operations in Hong Kong.

To further celebrate, Hysan Place and T Galleria have extendedstore hours to midnight.

DFS Group offers luxury shopping at Hysan Place

Although the brand has been around for 50 years, it was only recentlythat Yves Rocher decided to respond to the worldwide demandfor natural cosmetics by creating its own travel retail division.Known for creating botanical beauty, the brand felt the division wouldbe the ideal platform for increasing its visibility in untapped regions. “We see all over the world that women are more and more sen-

sitive to and in search for natural cosmetics,” says Yves Rocher’sGeneral Manager Eastern and Nordic Countries, Henri BernardBedoin. “Our brand has over 50 years experience within the field,entering travel retail is an opportunity to become visible and avail-able to all these women around the world. For us it's very impor-tant to show to the largest number of people the superiority of botan-ical beauty and increase the visibility of our brand.”Already having a strong presence in Europe, within many dif-

ferent distribution channels, Yves Rocher hopes to achieve suc-cess with its new venture in Turkey, Russia, the Nordic countriesand Asia. The brand plans to focus on its “pillars”—skincare,body care and fragrances, all of which are rooted in the power ofbotanicals— the brand’s foundation and what it’s most known for.

At the upcoming TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes, Yves Rocherhas a number of launches planned. For skincare, the brand will dis-play several collections and products: Anti-Age Global collection,a world premier in its botanical beauty, which offers products withbotanical native cells derived from Echinacea; the Cure Solutionscollection, which includes Elixir 7.9 Youth Intensifier; the OvaleLifting collection, which includes the sandthorn active serum, andRiche Crème, which is made with 30 precious oils and is rich in anti-aging active ingredients for skin regeneration.As for fragrances, Yves Rocher will unveil three scents: Comme

Une Evidence, which offers notes of bergamot, petitgrain, rose, jas-mine and patchouli; Moment du Bonheur, featuring Centifolia roseabsolute and Infusion from Grasse, and So Elixir Purple, which fea-tures an infusion of tuberose and vetiver essential oils in a floral-woody elixir. Mastering every aspect of its operations from agriculture, botan-

ical and scientific research on plants, to manufacturing, packag-ing, shipping and distribution, it’s quite possible that Yves Rochermay soon add travel retail to its mastering list.

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In Brief


Tourists flock to Philippines, as arrivalsincrease in the first half of 2012A record high of over two million foreigntourists visited the Philippines in just the first half of 2012, reports the Department ofTourism (DOT).

According to a local source, Tourism Sec-retary Ramon Jimenez said the number of vis-itors from January to June (2,143,506) is11.68% higher compared to the number ofinternational arrivals during the same periodin 2011.

Jimenez reportedly said all key marketsrecorded positive growth, with Korea, theUnited States, Japan, China, and Taiwanmaintaining their positions as the country’s toptourist generators.

According to Jimenez, South Korea con-tinues to be the largest source for tourism,contributing 474,685 visitors for a share of22.15% of the total volume and posting a10.50% increase.

Second behind South Korea is the US, witha total of 354,259 arrivals or 16.53% share anda 4.80% increase from last year’s figure, whileJapan yielded 195,504 or 9.12% of the totalvisitors, with an increase of 7.79%.

China and Taiwan produced the highestgrowth rates of 42.99% and 34.47%, respec-tively, contributing 150,749 and 114,269 tourists.

Other markets providing consistent and sig-nificant volume and positive growth are said

to include Australia with 92,648 arrivals(11.95%), Singapore with 73,015 (10.36%),Canada with 65,503 (7.12%), Hong Kongwith 57,790 (2.36%), United Kingdom with57,181 (11.30%), Malaysia with 49,788(11.96%), and Germany with 34,189 (12.61%).

Reports also indicate that overseas Filipinoscontributed 5.16% to the total tourist trafficat 110,703 arrivals, demonstrating a steadygrowth of 4.46%.

According to data collected by DOT, themonths of March to May 2012 recorded atotal of 105,766 foreign tourists. This figuredemonstrates a 10% increase from the sameperiod in 2011.

Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport hasstarted its expansion project to reduce overcrowdingaccording to local sources.State-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II has

set aside 7.2 trillion rupiah (US$766 million) for theproject, which includes expanding Terminal 3 andrenovating Terminals 1 and 2, as well as the addi-tion of apron capacity.

Angkasa Pura II Managing Director, Tri Sunokosays that Soekarno-Hatta was the 12th busiestairport in the world in 2011 with 51.5 million pas-sengers, exceeding its capacity of 22 million pas-sengers a year.Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoy-

ono believes the revitalized airport will help toenhance regional connectivity.

Renovations to ease congestion at Jakarta Airport have begun

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In Brief


Coming home from holiday is bad enough without the addedhassle of returning to an empty fridge. Today at Gatwick Airport,Tesco is revealing a new solution by opening the UK’s first inter-active virtual grocery store in Gatwick’s North Terminal.

The Gatwick opening builds on Tesco’s launch of the world’sfirst virtual store in South Korea last year, an innovation which gen-erated 25 million online posts around the globe.

The Korean virtual store allowed commuters to shop in subwaysand at bus stops by pointing their mobile phones at billboards. Tescois now trialing the concept for the first time in the UK, but this timeusing interactive digital displays.

The Gatwick virtual store will allow passengers passing throughthe North Terminal to combine browsing, as they would in a phys-ical store, with the convenience of an online grocery shop and homedelivery. Customers will be able to view a range of everyday prod-ucts by scrolling through the unique moving screens on large vir-tual fridges. By scanning the barcodes with their smartphones theycan add their chosen products to their online baskets, book a homedelivery slot and checkout. Their shopping will then be deliveredwhen they return from holiday.

Tesco is the first retailer to offer passengers a service of this kind.Around 30,000 people depart from Gatwick’s North Terminal eachday and each has an average of 70 minutes of downtime while wait-ing for flights. They can now use this time to ensure they don’t haveto make a trip to the shops on their way home.

The virtual store will be open for business in Gatwick Airport’sNorth Terminal departure lounge during the two busiest weeksof the year, from August 6 to 19. Staff will be on hand to helpcustomers with the scanning and ordering process on theirsmartphones.

Tesco’s Internet Retailing Director, Ken Towle, said: “Our busi-ness in Korea is teaching us a lot about how customers and tech-nology are transforming shopping. It gives us a unique window intothe future and the chance to try out exciting new concepts. Thevirtual store blends clicks and bricks, bringing together our loveof browsing with the convenience of online shopping.

“It’s a chance to showcase what we can do to the 30,000 peo-ple a day who will depart from Gatwick’s North Terminal, many ofwhom will need to fill their fridges when they get home, and we’relooking forward to hearing what they think,” he added.

Senior Marketing Manager for Tesco.com,Mandy Minichiello, said: “As a busy working mumof two, I know that planning holidays can bestressful. The last thing you want is an emptyfridge when you get back. When we came upwith the idea for the virtual store at Gatwick, wereally wanted to provide a helpful service for busyfamilies. You can book a delivery slot up tothree weeks in advance, do a full grocery shopwhile waiting for a flight and it’ll be delivered toyour home when you get back.”

Puig paves the way for Valentina Assoluto line extensionPuig’s second Valentino fragrance launch,Valentina Assoluto (an intense range of Valentina)is exceeding even the highest of expectations,winning over consumers in many travel retaillocations.The fragrance, created by the master per-

fumer Olivier Cresp, delivers the freshness ofbergamot and white Alba truffle, with a hint ofSmeggia peach. Added touches of jasmine,tuberose and vanilla contribute to the scent’sdelicate nature, while cedar, oak moss andpatchouli contribute to its overall effect. The fragrance is contained in a linear bot-

tle made of brown opaline glass and illuminatedwith amber. Adorned with one large flower,the bottle’s finishing touches include an ornatecopper cap, topped with a black pearl. With such features, the allure of Valentina

Assoluto is no surprise. In light of past Valentinasuccess, Lyndea Dew, Travel Retail MarketingDirector, Puig commented: "The success ofPuig's inaugural Valentino launch, Valentina, has

paved the way for the Valentina Assoluto lineextension. We're already seeing the Valentinobrand rank among our top performers and it iscurrently the third line in the Puig portfolio, despitea selective distribution. In many travel retail locations,

including major hubs suchas Dubai, Moscow and SingaporeChangi, Valentina is even out-performing the still-growing fem-inine fragrance icon Lady Mil-lion, showing the potentialof the Valentino brand.The Assoluto initia-tive in Middle EastTravel Retail isgrowing the busi-ness by over200%. We havebig expectations forthe future of Valentinofragrances."

Tesco premiers virtual grocery in UK at Gatwick

Valentina Assoluto 80 mL, with flower

and black pearl adornments and box

decorated with a floral pattern

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In Brief


Science fuels YSL’s new ForeverYouth Liberator Eye Zone SerumYves Saint Laurent (YSL) Skinscience has takenan advanced approach to skincare by applyingglycobiology to the skin for the very first time.Targeted specifically toward the Asian markets,

Forever Youth Liberator incorporates Glycanac-tif, an exclusive complex of active ingredients, to“unlock” the cells and release rejuvenating mes-sages. Already displaying impressive results,having become a bestseller in France and the UK,Forever Youth Liberator Serum has won womenover with its exceptional anti-wrinkle lift, plump,radiance results as well as the formula’s effec-tiveness and sensorial appeal. As a result, YSLis approaching the extension of the Forever YouthLiberator line by presenting their new ForeverYouth Liberator Eye Zone Serum.The serum is designed to counteract all signs

of ageing in the eye area, from frown lines towrinkles around and below the eyes. At the coreof the Forever Youth Liberator line is Aquatoril, amultisensorial hydrating active ingredient withthree patents that fuse with the skin through itsperfect affinity with the components of the inter-cellular substance in the epidermis. The formuladeposits a highly specific and hydrating veil onthe fragile skin in the butterfly area (temple-to-tem-

ple, including the eyelids, frown lines and wrin-kles around the eyes) for targeted action and asophisticated finish on the skin. A genuinelyactive link, the formula releases Glycanactif in atargeted way on the butterfly area. Glycanactif acts at the three cutaneous levels:

the thickness of the epidermis is better, the syn-thesis of glycans in the Dermo-Epidermal Junc-tion (DEJ) allows for better communication betweenthe dermis and epidermis resulting in improvedoverall skin function and the synthesis of gly-cosaminoglycans is promoted for its proper struc-ture, a determining factor for optimal circulation.As a result, the eye contour appears to be

“lifted,” the skin looks more supple and firmer andthe eyes look rested. After three days, wrinklesare reduced, puffiness diminishes and dark cir-cles are less noticeable. After one month, the eyesare redefined and appear larger and younger,while wrinkles are reduced, eyelids lifted andeyes are radiant.Forever Youth Liberator Eye Zone Serum will

be launched in September in Asian travel retailmarkets, and introduced into Americas in Janu-ary 2013 and in February for Europe, Middle Eastand Africa.

Brisbane International Airport takes a global turnBrisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) has put plans into motion fora major redevelopment of the retail space in the arrivals and depar-tures zones of its International Terminal. BAC’s aim is to set a newglobal standard by transforming these high traffic spaces intovibrant, interactive and engaging, quintessential Queensland areas.Working with The Design Solution, the UK’s leading airport

retail architecture firm and the S-A-P Group, a specialist airportretailing planning consultant from Asia and the US, BAC plans toinclude larger walk-through duty free tenancies for arrivals and depar-tures, central seating zones and new speciality food and bever-age opportunities, which will capitalize on the direct aerobridgeaccess to the retail area. BAC General Manager Terminal Retail and Commercial, Andrew

Brodie, said the redevelopment will deliver an exceptional retail envi-ronment that will enhance the passenger journey as well as encour-age dwell time and repeat visitation to retail stores.“Exhaustive research has been conducted to ensure the final

design produces a world-class environment that creates a mem-orable and uniquely ‘Brisbane’ experience for travelers, whilemaximizing sales for retailers.“Essentially we have completely changed the way we look at

retail, going from traditional to a more homogenous approachthat stimulates, entertains and engages travelers, providing oppor-tunities for activity, education and retail interaction,” said Brodie.Fundamental to the redevelopment—and for interaction between

passengers and retail— is the creation of a new, larger 1600-square-meter walk-through duty free outlet and centrally located seating inthe departures area, creating an exceptional shopping experience. “There will also be exceptional food and beverage opportuni-

ties to cater for the 4.5 million passengers who travel through ourInternational Terminal each year,” Brodie continued.These opportunities couldn’t come at a better time, since for

the past 10 years, Brisbane Airport has recorded an average 5%year-on-year growth with passenger numbers increasing from 5.2million in 1991 to 21 million in FY2011-12.Internationally, passenger growth increased by 4.6% to nearly

4.5 million or an extra 195,000+ passengers in FY2011-12, with Chi-nese travelers the fourth largest passenger market representing 4%of total passenger numbers and recording 24% increase on FY11. Seat capacity on international routes was also up by 4.9%

(over 300,000 additional seats) in FY2011-12, with several airlinesincreasing frequency on direct services between Brisbane and main-land China and US this year, and Hawaiian Airlines launching newdirect services between Brisbane and Honolulu in November.A longer term forecast predicts annual passenger numbers to

more than double to 50 million passengers by 2029, with BAC plan-ning to invest more than US$2.5 billion in infrastructure over thenext 10 years to meet expected future demand.Construction is expected to commence mid-2014, in line with

the expiry of the retail contracts, and will be complete by mid-2015.

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China Duty Free Group

Retailerrising

s the spending power of Chinese travelers continues togrow apace, China Duty Free Group (CDFG), which haslong enjoyed a virtual monopoly in its home market,is poised to move on to even bigger things.

No longer content with selling merchandise merelyto travelers crossing China's borders, it now has its sights set on trav-elers passing through the borders of other nations and territories.And in a move that's savvy – and which capitalizes on its strong rep-utation at home and a global travel trend – it's mounting a partic-ularly strong push to sell to Chinese nationals traveling abroad.

When the three core-category concessions at Hong Kong Inter-national Airport were put out to tender last year, CDFG was quickoff the mark getting its bid in. The contracts were awarded to globalduty-free giant DFS in June, with CDFG and many others losing out,but CDFG’s ambitions to expand outside mainland China havelikely only been sharpened by the experience.

CDFG Marketing Director Gu Naxin says: "It was a valuable expe-rience for us. From day one we did not think that the task was easy,because we were competing with international operators [for the con-cessions]. And now we are keeping our eyes on many other markets."

Gu is reluctant to say where CDFG is planning its next pitch, butits primary targets are destinations favored by Chinese travelers.

"We are in a good position in terms of our offer to Chinese cus-tomers," says Gu. "Over the past 30 years, we have built a strong rep-utation among Chinese travelers and we understand their spend-ing psychology better [than other retailers]. That also holds true foroverseas operations - we're going to serve mainly Chinese cus-tomers if we're going abroad."

And CDFG's bet on continued growth in the Chinese travelmarket seems sound. China's recent economic slowdown has yet toaffect passenger traffic from the Chinese mainland. According to

A

BY P. CONVERY

CDFG Marketing Director Gu Naxin says the retailer intends to follow its

success in Sanya with the world's biggest duty-free complex at Haitang Bay

China Duty Free Group has been expanding inside China as well as

looking abroad, having recently opened stores at Changshui

International Airport in the southern city of Kunming

CDFG's stores at Kunming's new international airport demonstrate

the retailer's commitment to taking its offer upmarket

China Duty Free's business in Sanya, on Hainan island, has been a major

focus for the company as it seeks to shift its business up a gear

China Duty Free Group's ambitions reflect the growing globalclout of China itself, as the retailerlooks to internationalize its brand

www.dutyfreemagazine.ca ASIA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING 17

Chinese government statistics, 38.6 million mainland Chinese trav-eled abroad in the first half of 2012, up almost 20% from the cor-responding period in 2011.

The spending power of Chinese travelers is also impressive, ataround US$1,000 per traveler, per trip, meaning that the Chinese travelmarket will soon be worth close to US$100 billion annually. In2009, mainland Chinese travelers spent an average of just underUS$900 per trip.

According to the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute,Chinese tourists abroad will represent more than 10% of the globaltourism market by 2020. And among their top destinations areHong Kong Macau, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

Wise to this, CDFG has already opened outlets on the Taiwaneseisland of Kinmen and in Taiwan's second city, Taichung, and it's setfor expansion on the island.

"We're looking at the possibility of expanding our operations inTaiwan," says Gu, "but it depends on many issues. The politicalproblem is only one of them."

CDFG owes much of its recent good fortune to the runawaysuccess of its major store in Sanya, on the southern Chinese islandof Hainan, which Beijing is developing as a resort destination, andwhich has served as a testing ground for the nation's first domesticduty-free retail.

But CDFG's duty-free dominance on Hainan is being challengedby new domestic retailers. Not long after CDFG opened its store inSanya, Hainan Province Duty Free Co. Ltd. (HNDF), owned by theprovincial government of the island, was granted a license to oper-ate a duty-free store. HNDF duly opened a 2,200 square meter storeat Haikou Meilan International Airport last December.

Gu concedes that CDFG will face increased competition indomestic-market duty-free, but says that CDFG's competitors aremore likely to increase the size of the pie rather than merely take abigger slice of it.

"The way we see this is that the overall duty-free market inChina – from the airside facilities to the services of the duty-free storeoperators – is still underdeveloped, so there is so much potential forall of us to grow together," he explains.

Gu points out that sales growth in CDFG's Sanya duty-free storehas outpaced the increase in the number of travelers, which he saysmay even have slowed down in the past few months. He says thatsales growth has come thanks to CDFG's efforts to offer in a widerrange of products through close partnerships with suppliers.

Gu says the average customer spend at CDFG's Sanya stores is 2,100yuan (US$330) and rising.

"I think [our sales growth] reflects the fact that the domesticmarket remains very strong," he says. "And my general feeling isthat the global economic slowdown will have a limited impact on theChinese consumer market. Compared to last year, we have enjoyedan extraordinary sales boom since the beginning of the second half."

Yet even as its monopoly power begins to fade, CDFG has not restedon its laurels, and it has a plan to build what it says will be the world's

biggest duty-free complex at Hai-tang Bay, also on Hainan, overthe next two to three years.

And CDFG's operations inHainan are likely to benefit froma relaxation of the regulations thatgovern the country's fledglingdomestic duty-free market. Accord-ing to state media sources, the

provincial government of Hainan is considering easing restrictionsin the island's duty-free stores to counter a possible downturn inlocal tourism. A recent report in the China Daily said the tax-freeallowance for domestic visitors to Hainan may be raised to 8,000-10,000yuan (US$1,250-$1,560), and be good for four visits annually. Underthe current rules, Chinese nationals can spend up to 5,000 yuan(US$584) per trip in duty free when traveling domestically to orfrom the island province.

"Such a relaxation will eventually take place and will be excitingnews for us," says Gu. "We may adjust our product mix by thattime, by offering more big-ticket items, as Chinese customers are wellknown for their strong appetite for luxury goods."

CDFG is bullish about the prospects for its domestic-marketduty-free business, but in some ways, its hands are tied. For instance,its downtown store in Beijing, which is due to open next year, willbe permitted to sell only to foreign visitors, as Chinese law bans down-town duty-free retailers from selling to domestic customers.

Gu isn't betting on a big sales boost from the Beijing downtownstore, saying its contribution to CDFG's overall sales revenues willbe "insignificant", as less than 5% of the company's sales are to for-eign visitors. But he believes the government will eventually relaxrestrictions on downtown duty free – at least in Beijing – followingthe precedent set on Hainan.

"We want to trial [downtown duty free] for foreign customers atthe moment," Gu explains, "but I think it won't be too long until suchrules are eased."

And there's plenty of money at stake. China is set to overtake Japanas the world's biggest luxury goods market this year, with Chinesespending on luxury goods reaching US$10.7 billion internally,according to a report by the World Luxury Association. And thatspending, bolstered by continuing appreciation of the Chinese cur-rency, is only half the story, as around 50% of luxury purchases byChinese nationals are made outside the Chinese mainland.

That's something the Chinese government is keen to reverse,and CDFG's expansion can be seen as part of a policy to bringsome of that money back into the domestic economy.

The same might also be said of China's duty-free market policy,which sees CDFG's foreign competitors firmly locked out of theworld's most coveted travel-retail market. There are some signs ofchange, although nothing on a scale that threatens CDFG's enviableposition as the Chinese mainland's pre-eminent duty-free retailer.

Gu says: "I think the direction is clear. China will eventuallyopen up the duty-free market to foreign operators, but for nowthere's no sign of any swift change in the policy, so we are not veryconcerned about that at the moment."

As the spending power of Chinese travelers continues its seem-ingly inexorable rise, and as Chinese travelers continue to fan outacross the globe, CDFG is uniquely well placed not only to capturetheir retail renminbi, but also to expand its ambitions beyond its homemarket. China is rising, and the country's top travel retailer is ris-ing along with it. c

CDFG's duty-free store in Sanya has enjoyed an unbroken run of sales success

The Nuance Group (India)


Eyes on the prize

ewer than 10 years have passedsince the first purely privateretailer set up in Indian dutyfree, breaking a state-run monop-oly and kick-starting a paradigm

shift in the local industry. The pace of change has since acceler-

ated, with the opening of India's first pub-lic-private-partnership (PPP) airport inBangalore in 2008, a development that hasproven so successful that it has spawned awave of similar projects, from the south-ern reaches of Kerala to the northerly set-ting of the capital.

The Nuance Group (India) has been at thecenter of the action in Bangalore duringthose four years, fine-tuning its businessmodel and waiting for the country's airportboom to reach critical mass before launch-ing a program of expansion. Now, NuanceGroup (India) Country Head AnirbanChowdhury believes the moment to strike hasfinally arrived.

"There are quite a number of tendersthat'll be out in the next six months," hesays. "Kolkata is expected and Mumbai's newterminal is nearly ready. That's something thewhole travel-retail world will have its eyes on."

It's something Nuance will certainly haveits eyes on, and Chowdhury is frank aboutthe company's ambitions in India's com-mercial capital.

"Everybody's looking at Mumbai, and so

Fare we," he says.

Closer to home, Nuance is already goingafter a contract at Hyderabad's Rajiv GandhiInternational Airport.

"They put out a notice in the press, andwe expressed our interest, but they haven'tmade a decision yet," he explains. "We putin a proposal, but the [retail operation] is stillbeing run by the airport. When [the tender]happens, though, we are ready."

Nuance used to operate the duty free atHyderabad, but pulled out following theglobal financial crisis of 2008, which Chowd-hury blames for the drop in passenger trafficthat prompted the retailer to depart and theairport's operator to take over the stores. Now,however, he's sanguine about returning there.

"For us there are a lot of synergies - interms of volumes, and it's near to Bangalore.That was the main reason we got interestedin Hyderabad in the first place," he says. "I don'tthink there would be a lot of difference in termsof the people who would be buying. Hyder-abad has a lot of laborers flying to the Mid-dle East [to work], but they also have a verygood share of very high-spending people –peo-ple who buy – and the people who buy would-n't be very different from Bangalore, andthat's something that could be leveraged."

And then, of course, there's Chennai,where a new terminal is expected to be upand running by September.

"We're expecting the Chennai tender to be

out any day now," Chowdhury says. "There'sbeen a delay, but the terminal is ready for itstest runs now, so I'm expecting the tender outvery shortly. I'd say that if the airport is goingto be operational by the end of September,I'll be looking forward to having at least therequest for proposals pretty soon.

"It's a new terminal that AAI [state-runAirports Authority of India] has built," hesays. "It seems as though it's going to be ahigh-class terminal compared to any of theother AAI airports in India, so I wouldexpect to make a proper travel-retail offer.It's also the fourth-largest airport in thecountry and a gateway to the southern partof India, so I would expect a larger retail spacethan they have in the current terminal, andI think there's an opportunity to make avery good retail offer."

But it's not just the low-hanging fruit thatinterests Chowdhury, and he makes no secretof his desire to set up not only in India's bighubs, but also elsewhere in the country.

Nuance has honed its business

model in India's first major PPP

airport and is now ready to

move onto even bigger things

Spirit of India is a concept Nuance has developed to give

cohesion and a string identity to its destination product offer

The Nuance Group (India) has been showing the wayforward in Bangalore for four years. Now it's poised tolead the field in other Indian airports BY P. CONVERY


alongside projects in the northern cities ofAmritsar and Ahmedabad.

"There are so many other airports, too,"he says. "There are 28 states in India, and asand when airports in all the state capitals[are built or upgraded], there will be a lot ofopportunities."

Amid all the buzz in India's airport sector,however, there are some clouds on the hori-zon. The country's economy, which had beengrowing at a rate of around 9% annually untilrelatively recently, has experienced a sustaineddeceleration, and is forecast to expand at itsslowest pace in a decade in 2012. And even asnew airports continue to be built, an eco-nomic slowdown could easily crimp retailrevenues at India's airports. But Chowdhuryisn't losing any sleep over that prospect.

He says: "Things are slowing, but I haveto ask, how bad is it? If the growth figure thatcomes out at the end of the year is 7% or6.5% or whatever, it's still very good com-pared to some of the developed economies.We haven't seen any fall in passenger traf-fic, so we're still optimistic. I'm a little bit cau-tious though. I fear that [Nuance] may slowdown in terms of our growth rate next year."

And what of the widely reported troublesof India's airlines? What effect will their cash-flow problems have on Nuance's business?

"Indian carriers have never had a bigshare of the market for international travel,"Chowdhury says. "Most of the internationaltravelers come in on foreign airlines, so onthat side of the business I don't think we'vebeen hit by any kind of traffic [slump]. We'veseen growth, month on month, all of this yearso far, and most Indian airlines don't have bigoperations and key routes out of Bangalore.It's not too much of a problem here at all.

Whatever happens in the wider econ-omy, Chowdhury says, Nuance has built a suf-ficiently robust business in India to adapt tochanges in the retail environment.

"Having been here for four years, we nowhave a very strong hold on the businessmodel," he explains. "We understand how torespond to the market, what does and does-n't sell and how the customer thinks. But themost important thing is that we have a very,very good knowledge of [Indian] logisticsmanagement and the regulatory environ-ment, which can make it difficult to succeedin India. That has been our strong point.

"There are so many opportunities coming,and we have a very, very stable business model.From our perspective, it's a great thing."

If Chowdhury's bullishness is any bell-wether for how India's travel-retail scene isset to develop, the future's bright. c

“There are quite a number of tendersthat'll be out in the next six months.Kolkata is expected and Mumbai'snew terminal is nearly ready. That'ssomething the whole travel-retailworld will have its eyes on.”Anirban Chowdhury, Country Head, Nuance Group (India)

Destination merchandise

is a key part of Nuance's

offer at Bangalore

"AAI is building a lot of new ter-minals in smaller airports, and that'sanother area of interest," he explains,adding that even the state-owned air-port operator has taken cues from thesuccess of PPP airport development.

"Some of the new airports thathave already come up are interest-ing," he says. "I think they offer a verygood service to the people and the

opportunity to put together a very goodretail offer. There are airports where there'sa lot of activity – where there are not nec-essarily concrete plans, but I've seen in thepress that there's activity in airports likeGoa [Vasco da Gama Airport] and otherairports up north. When these new termi-nals come up, I'm hopeful there'll be tendersand that'll be interesting and something tolook at businesswise.

"We have done a lot of research into that

market in the past few months, with all theupcoming tenders in mind," Chowdhuryexplains.

And he's already forming plans to adaptNuance's existing Indian business model tosuit the rather different operating environ-ments of non-metropolitan airports.

"What I believe is that the most impor-tant factor in a smaller airport is that the spaceis going to be smaller, and the biggest chal-lenge is to arrive at the right merchandisemix," he says. "I would assume – and now Ihave some data to support this supposi-tion – that a lot of the people traveling outof smaller airports are actually high-net-worth individuals who indulge in a lot of pre-mium, luxury brands. If you go and Google'BMW dealers in India', it'll throw up manyplaces that are difficult to find on a map. Butthey're there, and those car companies arenot setting up car dealerships to sell one ortwo cars a year. The manufacturing sectoris strong in smaller cities that have some ofthose smaller airports – there are a lot ofexporters and a lot of people who havebecome wealthy from agriculture.

"Obviously the number of people flyingout of smaller airports is less, so I would alignmy offer more towards premium products,"he says. "One thing is clear from the stud-ies we've done is that there is a strong appetite[in regional airports] for premium products."

Chowdhury may have the outlines ofhow to tap the market in India's smallerairports, but he says getting the details rightwill be an iterative process. And not only that;it'll also mean blazing a trail.

"You'll always have your 'bread and but-ter' in your basic whiskies and your basictobacco, but how do you give that a premiumfeel, customized to the area, which people arelooking for," he asks. "I think that's notsomething that already exists. You have tolearn as you go," adding that a key chal-lenge will be fielding an adequate range ofproducts in a limited amount of retail space.

He sees these airports as a key growth area,citing the development of Goa's new airport,

Nuance-Watson Asia

I am pleased to see that our teams cooperation is genuine, wellrooted and that there is vivid commitment to move on strength-ening, rebuilding and expanding in Asia.”

Nuance-Watson (Singapore) Managing Director, Ken Tse says:“We have studied the current, and soon-to-change terminal 2 pas-sengers profile and found Emporio Armani to be an excellent fit toexploit on the growing affluence of the Singapore young executives,and the new generation of luxury-conscious consumers. We areexcited about winning and operating this new unique concessionand believe it will enhance the total Changi Airport experience.”

Nuance-Watson (HK) General Manager, Clarice Au says: “As aresult of investigating the most updated passengers’ and consumers’movements and purchasing habits at HKIA West Hall, we are trulypleased to have won and soon be operating this unique multi-brand Fine Food standalone offer and to be able to broaden the cus-tomers’ reach to such a most-favored and performing Longchampbrand at our Airport.” c

Nuance-Watson Asia wins big

uance-Watson Asia (NW Asia) was awarded a luxurybrand name concession at Singapore’s Changi Airportas well as two specialty licenses at Hong Kong Inter-national Airport (HKIA). These achievements will seethe inclusion of an Emporio Armani boutique at Changi

Airport and a Longchamp boutique and fine food concept at HKIA.The new licenses will run for 3 years until 2015. The Emporio Armani boutique covers 104 square meters at ter-

minal 2 departure/transit lounge central, located on the immedi-ate right-hand side after the departure immigration gate.

The Longchamp boutique covers around 53 square meters at HKIAterminal 1 airside departures west hall, while the fine food boutiqueembraces 119 square meters of space in the same hall. The latterwill be the only multi-brand fine food standalone store at HKIA.

NW Asia is eager to invest and expand its general merchandiseoffers in Asian airports by leveraging Nuance-Watson (HK)(NWHK)’s skills and expertise in the related categories, as well asits strong vendor relations developed in the past 14 years, as a resultof managing 280 general merchandise brands at global generalmerchandise stores, boutiques and specialty shops at HKIA. Overthe years, NWHK has resourcefully provided 32 leading brands toHKIA’s East Hall Boutiques’ statement.

These latest successes in two major Asian hubs are solidlygrounded in NW Asia regional management team’s undivided part-nerships with brands and well-versed customer knowledge.

Securing the luxury brand name concession with EmporioArmani at Changi Airport is viewed internally as a major strategicstep to further expand and solidify Nuance-Watson (Singapore)(NWS)’s general merchandise brand business beyond perfumesand cosmetics in Changi Airport, after the preceding launches ofBally and MCM brands’ boutiques.

While the winning of the specialty licenses at HKIA clearly dis-play NWHK’s unwavering commitment to adding value to theHong Kong International Airport, where it operates with 12 bou-tiques and specialty stores, two licenses of technology, namelysound and vision and fortress stores in both terminals, besides thecore licenses of perfumes and cosmetics and general merchandise.

Alessandra Piovesana, Regional Managing Director of Nuance-Watson Asia says: “The introduction of Emporio Armani bou-tique at Changi Airport is only one of the first steps where we com-mit to expand in such a strategic location, whereas our two newspecialty offers at HKIA see us embarking on a path of rebuildinga versatile business against challenges. Ultimately, these three newofferings are sure to enhance Asian passengers’ travel choices andappreciation.

NNuance-Watson Asia’s win will see the inclusion of an Emporio Armani boutique at Changi Airport and a Longchamp boutique and fine food concept at Hong Kong International Airport BY MELISSA SILVA

Alessandra Piovesana,

Regional Managing

Director of Nuance-

Watson Asia


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King Power (HK)


Bulking up

Singapore's Changi Airport is one of King

Power's key locations, with almost one in five of

the retailer's outlets, and it's planning more retail

pitches to airport operator Changi Airport Group

"We're going through a major refur-bishment process in Macau at the moment,"he says. "Half the airport stores are done.We're doubling the size of the shops and we'vegot new branding.

"Our business in Macau has doubledsince we renovated the shops [that are openthus far]," he says. "We've doubled the sizeand our turnover has gone up. Macau any-way is growing [as a travel retail market].They've got a population of 400,000 peopleand 39 million visitors [annually], so every-thing there is travel retail."

King Power's project in Macau is emblem-atic of the retailer's current approach tobusiness development, with a focus onexpansion in the locations where it alreadyoperates stores rather than launching forays

into new and untested markets. The com-pany operates more than duty-free andtravel-retail stores throughout the Asia-Pacific region, with a potential customerbase of 250 million travelers annually.

One of its stronger locations is Singa-pore's Changi Airport, where it runs 15 storesacross all three of the airport's full-service car-rier terminals, and recently won contractsto begin operating three more. King Power'sbrand portfolio at the city-state's much-praised airport includes such recognizablenames as Harrods and La Perla, and the com-pany is always on the lookout to add more.

"Changi is constantly holding tenders,"says Tuli, "and we continue to expand inSingapore."

King Power also set up a joint venture with

hen people in Hong Kongtalk about their city's sis-ter special administrativeregion and former Por-tuguese enclave, they often

say, "What happens in Macau stays in Macau",referring to some Hongkongers' propensityfor having just a little too much of a goodtime in the nearby gambling hub, and to theirdesire to keep their exploits quiet.

That expression certainly couldn't beapplied to King Power (HK), which is inthe midst of upgrading its stores at Macau'sinternational airport. On the contrary, KingPower's Managing Director of Duty Free &Travel Retail, Sunil Tuli, is keen to talk aboutthe project, and bullish about the retailer'sprospects in the city.

WKing Power (HK) may not be pushing into new markets for the time being, but it's keenly focused on boosting its merchandising muscle BY P. CONVERY

King Power has boosted Changi's fashion proposition with international

brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Harrods, La Perla and Paul & Shark


King Power brought Harrods to Changi in 2009, and is

expanding the the iconic brand's footprint at the airport

Yam Seng, a company owned by the Tulifamily, to operate a golf-themed cafe inChangi's T3. It's named Pitch 'n' Chips, andis King Power's first food & beverage outletat the airport.

Tuli says: "At the airport there wouldhave been a conflict of interest [if Yam Senghad set up on its own], so I did a joint ven-ture with King Power. It's a golfing cafe likea football-themed bar. We do all-day break-fasts, sandwiches, wraps, pies, coffee, all thatsort of thing - easy stuff for the airport cus-tomers. It's a 24-hour operation. It's a smallthing, but it's doing very well indeed."

He says the joint venture, King PowerYam Seng, has plans to build on the successof Pitch 'n' Chips at Changi.

"We have plans to roll the concept out else-where. It'll be a full cafe with a golf simula-tor," Tuli says referring to Greens on Screens,

the cafe/bar Yam Seng operates downtownin Singapore and which spawned the idea ofopening something similar at the airport.

He says one branch will open at an air-port and the other at "another travel-retaillocation", declining to be more specific asKing Power is in the midst of planning thetwo openings.

King Power also has retail outlets in HongKong, and bid for all three of the airport'score category concessions in the recentlyawarded tender, although Tuli describes theretailer's footprint at Hong Kong Interna-tional Airport as small. But on the Chinesemainland, King Power has more of a pres-ence - albeit not in duty free.

"We've got a lot of duty paid stores in air-ports in China," says Tuli. "We're at Shang-hai Pudong, Chongqing, Xian, Chengduand Harbin."

He says the retailer also looked at therecently opened international airport in thesouthern city of Kunming.

"It's a nice big building and there weregreat predictions about the numbers of trav-elers, but it just wasn't the right time for usto bid," he says. "However, we're looking atexpanding in China."

Opportunities for non-Chinese retail-ers to operate in the duty-free channel onthe Chinese mainland are scarce, thanks tolegal restrictions. But Tuli, in line withKing Power's strategy of building on itsstrengths, says the company will work withwhat it has.

"Duty paid is something we'll continueto look at," he says. "Where it's an option andwhere it makes sense, we'll go for it."

As Chinese aviation continues to grow,Tuli seems to have his work cut out. c

LS travel retail ASPAC


ith recent openings in Noumea Airport, the acqui-sition of Duty Free Stores Wellington’s business,a number of new tenders on the horizon and thecontinued growth of its existent locations, LStravel retail ASPAC certainly has a lot on its plate.

Below Asia Duty Free speaks with Emmanuel de Place, COO of LStravel retail ASPAC, about how the company is managing its growthand what’s on the drawing board for the rest of the year.

Asia Duty Free: What is LS travel retail ASPAC’s strategy for man-aging growth and growing the business further?Emmanuel de Place, COO, LS travel retail ASPAC: Lagardère Ser-vices’ global strategy perfectly translates into LS travel retail ASPAC’sambitions. We have a three-fold strategy. The first pillar of ourstrategy includes continuing to consolidate the News, Gifts, Con-venience and Specialty businesses.

Historically, we are very strong with regard to this in NorthAmerica and Europe. And of course, we started this implementationin the Asia-Pacific region more than 20 years ago; in Australia withthe Newslink brand and since then growing across Asia. In Singa-pore, our recent development has been with specialty stores such asPandora or Discover gift and souvenir stores and we are very proudto have renewed our Relay concessions for news, books and conve-nience across all of Changi Airport’s three terminals.

In Australia, we are actively developing new concepts in the giftingand accessories segment. The acquisition of The Purely Group last year(49% of the remaining shares) is a great opportunity to answer the needfor premium Australian-made gifting and apparel. With tech2go, wehave developed a brand new concept for technology accessories. It’s aconcept that is working very well and for sure will expand further inAsia soon. And we continue with successful expansion and localiza-tion in the Gifts and Souvenirs category with Discover Xi’an and Dis-cover Shanghai in China, giving one of the fastest growing economiesin Asia a tailored airport experience with a local sense of place.

ADF: Of course, the News, Gifts, Conve-nience and Specialty categories are just onepart of a very robust retailing platform...EDP: Yes, the second pillar of our strategy isduty free, including Luxury Fashion and Con-fectionery. In Asia-Pacific these categories areespecially very strong. Luxury is clearly theengine of growth in Asia travel retail. There aremany opportunities in airports throughout the

region’s growing economies, from China and Malaysia to Singapore. We are happy with the strong start and continued momentum

of our duty free growth, from the recent opening of Aelia Duty Free,a multi-store duty free concession in Noumea, New Caledonia, toour recent opening of a Hugo Boss mono-brand concession inChangi Airport.

Further exciting and upcoming developments in Asia Pacificinclude launching four major fashion houses in China; a new luxuryfashion development in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and an expansionon our award-winning concept store, called So Chocolate, in Changi.LS travel retail will also assume full responsibility for Duty Free StoresWellington’s (DFSWL) duty free operations at Gold Coast and Ade-laide Airports in Australia, and Queenstown, Dunedin, Hamiltonand Rotorua Airports in New Zealand. It also includes the company'ssuccessful online duty free business and downtown Hamilton store.

ADF: What is the third pillar of the group’s strategy?EDP: The third pillar of our group strategy is Food and Beverage. WithinEurope, for instance, we are already very active in relation to F&B intravel retail. We have also started in Australia with our own concept,Trib’s, which is opening in Cairns, as well as a new franchise agree-ment with Aroma coffee. We have plans to concentrate on this excit-ing category in Asia Pacific later this year or next.

The key element of success for this ambitious plan is definitelythe strong local teams we have in each country were we operate, inrelation of course to the worldwide expertise of our group. It is alsoabout operational excellence, customer service and innovation,which are at the heart of our strategy. Funda-mentally, it relies on our existing stronglevel of partnership with landlordsand brands, constant developmenton our customer insights and freshconcept developments in our dailyretail operations. c

WThree’s a charm

“Luxury is clearly the engineof growth in Asia travel retail.There are many opportunities

in airports throughout theregion’s growing economies.”

Emmanuel de Place, COO, LS travel retail ASPAC

The Fashion Gallery at Changi

Airport in Singapore; Luxury

retailing is a key pillar in LS travel

retail ASPAC’s overall strategy

COO of LS travel retail ASPAC Emmanuel de Place discusses the company’sthree-pronged strategy for continued growth in Asia Pacific travel retail

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Aviation News


he Centre for Aviation (CAPA)recently reported that British Air-ways (BA) appears to finally beconsidering entering into sec-ondary Chinese cities, which

would make it the last major European air-line to do so. CAPA notes that the movemay certainly be worth BA’s while as manyof these cities are secondary only by Chinesestandards and often have a greater popula-tion than major European cities. Reportsindicate that London Heathrow slots addedfrom BA’s acquisition of bmi combined withthe introduction of more long-haul aircraftare bringing metropolitan centers such asChengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou and X'ianinto sharper focus as possible destinations.

BA has also had its share of troubleswhen it comes to the important point offinding a carrier to be its mainland partner.However, local reports indicate that a code-share agreement with SkyTeam's ChinaSouthern has been reached, although CAPAnotes that the details of the agreement aren’tclear at this point.

According to CAPA, BA stands to gainfrom a partnership with China Southern:“China Southern's Australia/New Zealand net-work consists of Auckland, Brisbane, Mel-bourne, Perth and Sydney, with Cairns to beintroduced in late 2012,” a recent CAPA reportexplains. “The Chinese carrier is looking togrow its Australia/New Zealand network to55 return services a week—potentially greateraccess between Australia and Asia than BAcould hope to achieve with Qantas.”

CAPA says that British Airways plans onraising northern winter capacity on its Bei-jing and Shanghai routes while consider-ing using its forthcoming A380s for the Bei-jing, Johannesburg, Hong Kong and LosAngeles routes. While a final decision has-n’t been made yet in this regard, CAPA cites

a recent interview with former BA East AsiaRegional General Manager Kevin McQuil-lan where the information was provided.

For the most part, says CAPA, Beijingand Shanghai are now essentially closed toforeign carriers with the exception of mid-night hour timeslots, which are usuallypassed over by long-haul airlines as thesetimeslots tend to limit connections and con-venience. “Up-gauging of aircraft becomesthe primary growth mechanism and BA hasalready moved its Beijing service from a777-200 to 747-400 and Shanghai from 777-200 to 777-300ER. The A380 is BA's lastup-gauge option,” opines CAPA.

According to CAPA’s report, McQuillancited Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou andX'ian as cities BA would consider servic-ing, perhaps with the 787. Chengdu andX'ian do not currently have links to Europe,and Guangzhou's sheer size may allow it tosupport BA service, especially if the ChinaSouthern (Guangzhou's dominant airline)codeshare deal does in fact go through.

It has been reported that for BA, theprime objective in relation to any codeshareagreement in the region is to win greater feedfrom the mainland, which BA currentlylacks because of the absence of a mainlandpartner. China Eastern has been broughtup in the past, but CAPA reports that inter-

est in a codeshare partnership with BA onthe part of the airline has been relativelylow due to questionable reciprocity benefits.“China Eastern would be interested in poten-tially securing more London Heathrow slots,but that is outside of BA's jurisdiction (unlessBA, in an unlikely move, swapped slots),” saysCAPA. “SkyTeam, which China Eastern is amember of, has no hub at Heathrow butconnections to Europe via Heathrow areseen as too circuitous. China Eastern alsoserves Frankfurt, Hamburg, Moscow, ParisCDG and Rome, and has a continental Euro-pean codeshare deal with Air France fromParis CDG.”

China Southern, on the other hand, is saidto be considering deploying its A380 to Lon-don. However, CAPA says that this is moreof a last resort for China Southern; the air-line wanted to use its A380s on routes thatwere more profitable, but as a result of AirChina rebuffing the application, ChinaSouthern has limited options when it comesto its A380 service.

It appears, then, that a codeshare agree-ment between BA and China Southern maybenefit both carriers. The industry nowwaits for an official word on the depth andbreadth of the cooperation as a means ofdetermining just what benefits each party willreap from the proposed alliance. c

T

The devil’sin the detailsReports indicate that British Airways and China Southern have come to a codeshare agree-ment, but the depth and breadth of the cooperation has yet to be officially announced

Guangzhou, despite being

considered a secondary city in

China in terms of aviation, could

significantly impact BA’s business if

it were added as a destination

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Collistar


Bevegni says he’s noticed good growth incruise line business, a market the companyfirst entered five years ago, with passengernumbers on the rise in Europe and SouthAmerica.

Collistar entered the local markets inAsia five years ago, and is still taking its firststeps in cracking the travel retail side there.At the end of the year, Bevegni says, thecompany will be present in local markets inMalaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.Collistar will pursue Indonesia and Singa-pore in the near future.

“The last big step we’re making is inChina’s local market. We’re thinking aboutseriously expanding in duty free, but first wewanted to get into the local markets.” Asthe travel retail expansion unfolds, China willbe the first target.

Collistar’s bestsellers are cosmetics, bodyproducts, face products, sun care and men’sproducts, in that order. These star per-formers will have top billing in the pro-motional kit that’s being launched in Asia.The kit contains man and body products inspecial sizes. The hyper-protection collec-tion is definitely a top contender, Bevegni

Asian anglesiding atop the beauty categoryin the Italian market for theninth year running, Collistar issetting its sights on the bur-geoning Asian market. As of

July, Collistar’s products are being distrib-uted into the Chinese local market exclusivelythrough perfume, cosmetics and skincarechain Sephora.

While ambitious, this latest expansionsimply reflects Collistar’s determination tomaintain the pace of expansion it has estab-lished over the past decade, in Asia as wellas elsewhere, says Daniela Sacerdote, whohas been running the company since 1983.“Our company, which has today become asymbol of ‘made in Italy’ cosmetics, took thepath of internationalization many years

ago, beginning with Europeand continuing with theMiddle East. Our arrival inthe Far East dates back to 2007,when we began distributing toHong Kong, and this was sucha success that we decided tomove on to Taiwan and subse-quently to Malaysia.”

Collistar’s InternationalDirector Paolo Bevegni notesthat when it comes to travelretail, the pattern is set by what’shappening in local markets.

Europe right now is “so-so,” hesays. But local markets don’t tell thewhole story: while Collistar is post-ing healthy 8% growth rates overall,

the number in travel retail is animpressive 20%.

Most of Collistar’s businessis in Italy and the Mediterraneanregion, and Northern Europe.

says, having been studied beforehand againstthe needs of the Asian market. The prod-uct focuses solely on protection, and does-n’t add a tanning or bronzing componentas many products designed for westernmarkets do.

Collistar is also launching a new Biore-vitalizing Face Cream with massager.The press materials for this productstress the product’s technologicaladvancement inspired by revital-izing micro-injections of cosmeticmedicine.

“After extensive experimenting

RCollistar enters Asia travel retail, takes lead from local markets BY HIBAH NOOR

Collistar launches

new Biorevitalizing

Face Cream

with massager

and in-depth studies on the techniques of facebiostimulation, Collistar researchers createda completely innovative formula capable ofpenetrating into the ‘heart’ of skin cells to revi-talize the skin,” Bevegni says. “The effective-ness of the product is based on two factors:a superconcentrated cocktail of active prin-cipals and the revolutionary ‘Matrice Vettore,’which carries this cocktail directly into theskin tissues to stimulate the production of col-lagen and hyaluronic acid.”

New body products include shaping treat-ments and a night bust firming gel. Formen, in 2012 Collistar has launched a men’sfiller product, based on the same concept asfor women—Bevegni says that this is the firstfiller for men launched worldwide.

“Worldwide 3 to 5% of our business is formen. It’s not much, but men are lookingmore and more for skincare,” Bevegni says.“Obviously they’ll go to basics like shavingfoam, some basic body products, but littleby little we are educating them to morecomplicated products. Ladies arrived here 30years ago but this is wheremen are now. It’s likepioneering.” c

“Worldwide 3 to 5% of ourbusiness is for men. It’s notmuch, but men are lookingmore and more for skincare.”Paolo Bevegni, International Director, Collistar

http://www.yves-rocher.fr

Sekonda


ince its founding almost five decades ago, Sekonda has become the best sellingwatch brand in the UK, with an always expanding range of watches that the com-pany says provide “outstanding value for money.” Some notable extensions tothe brand line over the years include Xpose, Safari and, more recently, Seksy andPartytime. Sekonda describes its brand mandate as a commitment to produc-

ing “high quality watches by using top quality movements, strict manufacturing specifi-cations, rigorous testing, quality control and providing a two year guarantee.” The brandis always reviewing and expanding its range of offerings.

Asia Duty Free recently caught up with Sekonda’s Managing Director, David Merriman,who took time out of his busy schedule to tell us about the brand’s keys to success. He dis-cussed Sekonda’s developing Asian profile and introduced us to some of the top sellers.

S

Sekondaaims for firstTop UK watch brand targets Asian success as part of global travel retail push BY HIBAH NOOR

DM: The company is based in Leicesterwhich is in the central UK. We have 150staff and that includes three divisions:Sekonda and its sister brand called Seksy; acompany called Limit which makes fash-ion and low-price watches; and Apollo,which is straps, batteries, bracelets, spareparts for jewelry and watch making tools.

The entire Leicester operation is the divi-sion of a holding company which is TimeProducts. Time Products has two divisions.It is the volume watch division to which I havereferred. The other is a luxury division wherewe have the distribution in the UK forHublot, which is a luxury brand, and forFranck Muller. That division also has threeshops, two of which are on Bond Street –Marcus and Hublot and then there’s a smallershop dealing in vintage watches, which iscalled Almar. That’s on Burlington Arcade,a famous street in London.

ADF: How did you get into travel retail?DM: The main thrust of our entry into

Asia Duty Free: Can you give me somebackground on the company?David Merriman: The Sekonda brand startedin 1966, when the company was makingwatches in several factories in Russia. The fel-low that ran the company in the UK at thetime decided to bring all the different watchesthat were being imported from all these dif-ferent factories under one brand name. Hedecided on the name Sekonda because it’sthe Russian word for “second”—as in hours,minutes, seconds.

Production was in Russia until the early80s. Then it moved to Hong Kong and China.

We sell two million watches a year over-all worldwide. We bring all of them to theUK and we do 100% quality control. Wehave an enormous quality control depart-ment and as a result of this rigorous check-ing our return rate is less than half of 1%.

ADF: Where are you based? Can you giveme a breakdown of the different brands youcarry?

travel retail has been since 2004. In fact,Sekonda has done a fair amount of work withtravel retail from about 1990. With what isnow World Duty Free at Heathrow, we pio-neered a self select unit, and that has beenthe basis of our development. From 2004,we thought it was about time to go overseas.We started to approach various people in theindustry who we felt would understand ourconcept on the back of our self-select unit.

ADF: Tell me about your products. What’syour philosophy? DM: Our watches retail at between US$30and $200. It’s very much a volume product.There’s a very small percentage travelingthrough airports who can afford to spendthousands of dollars on a watch. We look atourselves being a little more ‘democratic.’ Ouraim is volume and to make it as easy as pos-sible for the consumer and the retailer.

ADF: How do you catch the eye of yourconsumer?

David Merriman, Managing

Director, Sekonda

Sekonda POS displays in World Duty Free


DM: In the self select unit there are dummysamples in a presentation box at the top: thecustomer will have a look at those and selectand find the watch that suits them. It’s agravity fed system, so when a customer takesone away another one drops down. It’s also easyfor sales staff and merchandisers. When theyreceive the stock from the warehouse all theyhave to do is look at the dummy sample, lookat where it is on the selection and put it in.

The other system is for lower priced watches

is the Euro hanger system. There’s a pricepoint mentioned at the top of the display andall the watches below it are under that price.There are pictures down the middle and thenon either side there are watches.

ADF: Your system seems practical andinviting. What’s your policy on workingwith new and existing partners? DM: When a new airport retailer decides tohave one of these displays, we supply it freeof charge. We obviously don’t know whatwatches sell in a particular country, but wedo know what our best-sellers are. So we dothe first selection and after six months we sendsomebody in who works with the buyer andthe merchandising team to decide whichwatches are selling. We take back the watcheswhich are not selling free of charge andreplace them with watches that we think willwork. We’ve got 150 of these units aroundthe world in 50 countries in travel retail.

ADF: What’s your travel retail and dutyfree distribution like?DM: We’re on about 60 airlines around theworld. We’re also on 70 cruise ships. We have121 locations in 50 countries on the ground.

We change the range twice a year. Everyyear about 40% of the range changes and themain change happens in September. If there’sa particular fashion or trend, we will veryquickly latch onto it and implement it.

It is difficult for operators like Sekondain the low to mid-price segment as opera-tors want the highest ticket price possible,but there’s a volume business out there andit’s huge.

We haven’t really targeted the Americasyet. We’re in Miami, Sanford, Orlando, oneterminal in JFK, and we’re in the Canadianand Mexican border stores. In the Middle Eastwe work with a company called Arabian

Marketing Corp. Their main business isMontblanc and they also do Monte Grappa.They work with us for Dubai Duty Free aswell as a number of airlines in the Middle East.

We decided about four years ago to usethe services of Consulting for Retail, in theperson of Liz Woodland-Griggs. Liz has beenin the travel retail business for 25 years andhas worked for DFS, Nuance, Weitnauerand many others. We decided to use Lizbecause she is well respected, she’s handleda lot of categories and is fizzing with ideason how to develop our travel retail business.

ADF: How’s business in Asia? DM: It’s only this year we started targetingAsia and Tony Daintry from French Gray inSingapore is helping us. Tony has 35 yearsof experience in travel retail primarily inthe liquor/tobacco category but his focus nowis on Sekonda. He looks after all our affairsin Asia, where we have significant businesson Asian airlines, the biggest one being ThaiAirways where we sell a good volume everymonth of our gent’s Rose Gold Chrono.

One of our biggest supporters in Asia hasbeen King Power in Thailand. They under-stood incredibly quickly how important selfselect was with the volume of traffic goingthrough Bangkok. They put six units aroundthe airport and sales have been fantastic.And Dufry in Basel: after three months of saleswe’re their number one brand by value aboveall others in that airport.

On the ground we’re in Delhi, Islamabad,Cambodia, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Bris-bane. We’d like to build relationships withKorean, Japanese and Chinese duty free oper-ators and Tony is working hard on this. Wehave meetings with China Duty Free, Dufryand Sunrise and have just appointed a Koreanagent called SE International. Fifty-two per-cent of departures from Korea are interna-tional passengers—50% of these are Chi-nese, 40% are Japanese and 10% others.

ADF: What are your best-sellers?DM: The best-selling gent’s watch is theRose Gold chronograph, which retails forUS$115-$159 depending on location. Bestselling on the ladies’ side is Twilight Pearl atUS$125. In Seksy the Hidden Hearts is avail-able on many airlines at US$130-$150. Theoriginal Seksy pieces have sold well over theyears and Partytime which is a fun collec-tion is very popular. Xpose watches have aplastic case and a Velcro strap specificallydesigned to splash around on holiday forUS$40-$50. It’s a holiday watch that’s beenon the market for 25 years. c

Sekonda’s

new circular

self serve unit

Best seller for

Seksy is the

Hidden Hearts

watch which is

available on

many airlines

Sekonda’s best-selling

gent’s watch is the Rose

Gold chronograph, which

retails for US$115-$159

Trendy and

affordable:

Electra watch

by Seksy

Swarovski

32 ASIA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING TFWA WE SEPTEMBER 2012

two years after Swarovski first made itsdebut in the men’s jewelry market.The new lines echo previouscollections, with whatSwarovski describes asedgy themes and con-temporary styles.Dark-toned crystal isused, worked in fili-gree and paired withmaterials such as leatherand metal. Heading up the range is the

“Sinous” leather bracelet shaped like a snake,featuring a cobra rendered in groovedmatt stainless steel with a head cov-ered in black pavé crystal. Thedesign is also available on a pen-dant, with the snake reworkedin a corkscrew shape. The crosssymbol dominates the “Somber”

line, suspended from a black PVD chain—theassociated ring in stainless steel features twosections of black pavé mini-crystals and a lilymotif outlined in pavé crystal on a black base. The “N the skull” pendant reappears from

previous collections, this time sporting ear-phones. And the “Sympathy” lucky charmbracelet offers a combination of strung beadsin dark brown wood and gray crystal ceramic,hand-applied using Swarovski’s “Pointiage”technique with a ruthenium finish. All linesare rounded out with associated key rings,bracelets or pendants in various sizes. A USBkey is also available.Swarovski has also introduced a line of

leather accessories in soft lambskin with abicolor ribbon in black and orange, whichties into the Octea Abyssal flagship piecefrom the new men’s watch collection launchedlast year.

“Men’s jewelry I think is a stable seg-ment of the market,” Zottl says.“This is new to us and we wantto tap into it—just like withcosmetics and skincare likeL’Oréal is doing. We’re alsotrying to open up the mar-ket to men.” Zottl says thatit will be interesting towatch how this new forayinto men’s jewelry and

watches develops, given thebrand’s strong footprint on thewomen’s side. Distribution is growing rapidly,

with branded stores appearing in thegrowing Asia market as well as in the

Americas. “As far as we observe, the Chinesetraveler prefers fine and delicate designs,”Zottl says. “Some like traditional designs.Anything in a circle goes well with these cus-

tomers as it’s part of the Chinese designlanguage.” More broadly, Zottl notesthe importance of the self-serviceoption in high-traffic travel retaillocations, where customers don’thave a lot of loiter time.Asia and the Americas are the top

performers for Swarovski, Zottl says,helping to underpin double-digitgrowth rates. He believes the remain-der of the year will continue on an

upbeat note and will weathersome of the insecuritiesmanifesting themselvesin European markets.Percentage-wise, LatinAmerica is showing thestrongest growth. c

warovski’s recently launched fash-ion jewelry brand lola&grace, tar-geted at teenage customers, pre-sented its Summer 2012 range inMay. The offering includes a sea-

sonal collection based on mixed fabrics,strong patterning and summer hues, offer-ing designs ranging from tribal to candystripes and hardware, with stacked bangles,layered necklaces and rings. The lola&grace “Festival Fever” range

features a laid back, eclectic look using mixedmaterials and clashing prints. Bold turquoiseis heavily employed in tribal elements andwishbone shapes, with Aztec designs, polkadots and Paisley prints teamed with pearlsand multiple chains. The look is highlightedwith Swarovski crystal in turquoise, deepblue, burnt orange, khaki and pastel accents.The “Global Friendship” line offers friend-

ship inspired bracelets intertwined with col-ors of burnt orange, yellow, deep blue andemerald green, utilizing mixed materials,rope details and Swarovski crystals.“Lola&grace is a brand on its own, which

we launched for the young market at entryvalue,” says Peter Zottl, Vice President TravelRetail, Swarovski. “It’s nice, modern jewelry.We’re starting to test with the first store in theUK offering a full assortment of the brand.”Swarovski has also premiered a new men’s

jewelry and accessories collection forFall/Winter 2012/2013. The collection appears

SSwarovski: new brands and new men’s products drive success in travel retail

Eclectic Earrings and cuff

from Swarovski’s new

lola&grace collection

Swarovski introduces

new men’s jewelry and

accessories collection

for Fall/Winter

Peter Zottl, Vice President

Travel Retail, Swarovski

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Pica LéLa


nown for keeping a close eye on markettrends by sending design teams to local jew-elry workshops and global trade fairs, Aus-tralian fashion jeweler Pica LéLa seems tobe reaping the benefits of such labor, as the

brand’s success in the Middle East continues to grow.The jewelry company has recently rolled out its

brand to eight department stores in Saudi Arabia withthe support of its partners, Hussein Gazzaz & Co., andhas also increased its product range within Iran Inter-national Airport. In addition, Pica LéLa is currently work-

ing with other partners for further growth in thenear future.

“The Middle Eastern market is reallyembracing our brand right now. We areconstantly growing within this region with

our products in demand,” saysPica LéLa’s Peggy Wu, Manag-ing Director. “The Aurora pen-dant has been the star of theshow so far, stealing all the focuswith listings in airlines such as

Etihad Airways, Kuwait Airways as well as a few others in the pipeline.”Wu says by focusing on the Middle East market over the past year—

as it experienced extreme growth in all categories—has allowed thebrand to achieve great success within the region. In addition, the newfashion-forward styles and designs Pica LéLa has introduced are beingwarmly embraced by the Middle East.

Although designing collections for the world market, Pica LéLamakes a conscious effort to incorporate unique elements to appealto consumers within the varying market spaces. With that said, thebrand is focusing on separating regions and styling pieces to suit respec-tive desires.

“Overall we believe that a combination of the right connectionsin partners combined with up to date fashion pieces has brought usto our double digit growth and this is only the first stage of our pres-ence within the Middle Eastern regions,” says Wu.

Undoubtedly contributing to the brand’s success is the extensiveprocess through which Pica LéLa operates to ensure it remains cur-rent with the latest fashion trends and styles. This process involves

a devoted team of specialists in both Sydney andShanghai researching and inventing the nextmarket demand. With such dedication, it is nowonder the jeweler is being embraced by theMiddle East market.

“We have different production teams special-izing in our products to ensure we offer the bestquality to the market, hence the reason we are con-fidently offering up to a five year international war-ranty on all our pieces,” Wu tells Asia Duty Free.

Pica LéLa’s success isn’t limited to just the Mid-dle East. The Asian duty free market has also beenquite promising for the brand.

Pica LéLa has enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Qan-tas, Malaysia Airlines, Air China, Eva Air and Eramanfor years. Therefore, the brand is in no doubt a famousicon in travel retail market of Australia, China and Tai-wan. Furthermore, in 2012 Pica LéLa also teamed upwith DFASS and King Power International to feature theirjewelry on board Air Asia Group, Peach Aviation(Japan), SilkAir, and Thai Airways.

“We are finding that business in the Asian duty

free market is shifting into two segmentations,” explains Wu. “Thereis a defined split from the traditional operations when it comes tothe offerings of the market. Premium carriers are now focusing onimproved revenue per space gaining better dollar margins, so thereis clear movement on higher price within their offerings. On the otherfront there are the low cost carriers who are more focused on valueand style, which have specific options to fill that created space.”

The duty free and travel retail business is an industry Pica LéLaknows quite well, having been first launched roughly 10 years ago.

“We consider the travel retail and duty free business an open doorway to gain a wider market coverage reaching travelers from allover the world at any time,” Wu says.

Speaking of coverage, Pica LéLa will be covering the TFWAWorld Exhibition in Cannes this October, where it plans to reveala lot of color.

“2012/13 is certainly the year of colors,” comments Wu. “InCannes we will be launching bright glistening pieces that sparkle andattract attention.”

In living color

“The Middle Eastern market isreally embracing our brand rightnow. We are constantly growingwithin this region with our products in demand.”

Peggy Wu, Managing Director, Pica LéLa

“Aurora” 18K

Rose Gold Plated

Multicolor Crystal

Pendant, from the

Mosaic collectionKArmed with colorful collections and tailored visual merchandising, Pica LéLa is on its way to increasing brand awareness and connecting with promising new regions

BY MELISSA SILVA

“Hypnotic” 18K

Rose Gold Plated

Purple Crystal

Pendant, from the

Mosaic collection



Taking center stage will be Pica LéLa’s Mosaic collec-tion—exclusive to travel retail— and the introduction ofsome standout new feature pieces, both of which feature amplecolor, since for Wu, this season is all about creating colorfulfashion.

Pica LéLa’s main goal at the TFWA WE Cannes show is to focuson meeting new clients and creating long-standing partnerships,

in addition to connecting with existing clients.Wu feels the show provides an oppor-

tunity for growth, specifically regardingregional awareness.

“At TFWA we strive for brand aware-ness and it gives us the opportunity toexplore new regions that are normallyharder to connect to. The TFWA WorldExhibition is a great platform for everyone tohave full experience of our brand which issometimes hard to portray through generalcommunication. Our clients are able to see thelatest and greatest pieces and we are able to

discuss business opportunities in a morepersonalized way. We are also excited tobe meeting management teams and shar-ing our visions to achieve mutual suc-

cesses,” Wu says.In regards to current success, Wu

shares that within only a month of

launching its top-selling Aurora pendant—inspired by theaurora display in the night sky—Pica LéLa confirmed twomajor listings on Etihad Airways and Kuwait Airways. Dueto a continuous and over-whelming response from the launch,the jeweler has now introduced new, unique styles to complimentthis show-stopping piece in the Mosaic collection. As the brand continues to become stronger, it plans to expand

its product lines to offer more and more to the market. Wu alsoreveals plans to introduce a selection of watches within their port-folio to meet customer demand, all of which will keep with the

current theme and latest colors of the season.Color isn’t the brand’s only attractive force at the

moment, as Pica LéLa has recreated its point of sale (POS)material to reflect both current fashion trends and the

growth experienced by the brand. “Being that we have had extreme growth

within the market we have now tailored ourPOS to be suitable for any stage and plat-form. With new inter-changeable standsand more space for visual image this willhelp gain the impact from our brand to theend consumer,” explains Wu. c

For more information, email: Candice HicksonBusiness Development [email protected]

The Glamour

pieces are from an

earlier collection

which mark a

change from

traditional pearl

jewelry and signal

a renewed desire

to depict natural

beauty

Want more? Visit us online to catch upon regional industry developments in oure.Newsletters and read recent print issues.

w

http://www.dutyfreemagazine.ca/asia


Perfetti Van Melle (PVM) will be exhibitinga new range of travel exclusive products atthe forthcoming TFWA World Exhibitionincluding a new Chupa Chups license forpopular cartoon characters The Smurfs(N11, Mediterranean Village).New to the Chupa Chups selection is

the Chupa Chups Smurfs Markers, a travelpack containing eight markers, seven lollipopsand one Smurf coloring book which will behitting duty free shops in April 2013. Also newin the Chupa Chups range is the ChupaChups Pouch Bag Exotic Tropic, consistingof 25 lollipops in Banana & Strawberry andCoconut & Pineapple flavors. The lollipops

are covered with little spots that give the lollya different outlook, feeling and flavor sen-sation. New as well are the Chupa ChupsBackpacks, a red monkey backback and ablue crocodile backpack with yellow strapsfor children.The Mentos brand sees some new arrivals

with the Mentos Jumborolls Tutti Frutti,each Jumboroll contains six single rolls ofBubblegum flavored candy. Also new from PVM is the Mix of Minis

Bag; a combination bag of Perfetti's best sell-ing sweets: Mentos Mini rolls (Strawberry/Orange/Lemon and Cola flavors), ChupaChups Mini Lollipops (Strawberry/Orange/

Cherry and Cola flavors) and Fruit-tella pixels. Each Mix of Minis bag contains36 pieces in total.PVM will also be showcasing a new

product by Russian brand Meller calledMeller White Jumboroll, a delicious combi-nation of chewy caramel with a soft whitechocolate filling on the inside. Each Jum-boroll contains six single rolls.Mark Laros, Travel Retail Director, PVM

says: “This has been a successful year for PVMwith business growing globally with significantincreases in the Asia Pacific and Americasregions with new distributors, as well asgrowth with our existing distributors. We are

excited to display our newproducts this year atTFWA World Exhibition.”

Ferrero Travel Market is gearing up for itsfall offerings in Asia and elsewhere: a port-folio based around the world-famous TicTac collection with four flavors and evena specially designed travel pack aimed atsouvenir hunters. The new products will bepresented to buyers at the TFWA WorldExhibition from October 22 to 26 on standJ35, the Green Village.

“These travel retail exclusive items aredesigned to appeal to all ages and cul-tures,” says Marketing Manager AlbertoDonnini. “The Tic Tac collection will be a majorfocus for us in the years to come and willdrive the growth not just for Ferrero but forthe whole sugar category in confectionery.”

In keeping with its marketing strategyin past years, the new offerings are backedby stylish point-of-sale material designedfor maximum visibility. For instance, to getimmediate visibility from consumers, theentire selection will be presented in astand shaped like the original Tic Tac packwith a flip-top lid.

Travelers at airports, ferries and borderstores can look forward to four innova-tive Tic Tac formats.

■ A large 234g Tic Tac flip-top boxcontaining 60 cute mini boxesinside feature all four flavors setto be launched: freshmint,spearmint, orange and acerola cherry.Only travelers will be able to pur-chase this large box, which will retailfor €8.90 (US$10.90).

■ A 98g bottle shaped like an ultra-large Tic Tac and housing 200 pills inthe orange or freshmint flavor – easyto carry and fun to share, says Ferrero.Retail price: €3.90 (US$4.80).

■ Souvenir box collectors can reach forthe new Tic Tac T100 49g travel packagain in orange or freshmint flavorfor €2.50 (US$3). A departures/arrivalssleeve to house these boxes willensure that this fits in with airportstores around the world.

■ And last, and again for €2.50 (US$3)you can pick up the sugar-free 25gLiberty mouth freshener in coolmintand wildberries mint flavors– pocket sized tins fortreats as you head towardsyour destination.

Ferrero’s latest Tic Tacs have something for all travelers

Confectionery News

Ferrero’s Tic Tac

collection

Perfetti Van Melle brings Smurfs to Cannes as part of increased product portfolio

Mentos Jumboroll Tutti Frutti

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Confectionery News


Macadamia Truffles, which were introduced tothe world of duty free during Christmas 2011 in alimited edition by Hawaiian Host and then sharedwith the company’s Asian distributors at TFAP inMay 2012, will now be widely available at duty freestores in Asia and around the world because ofthe huge popularity they generated.Read a description of the product with a sug-

gested RRP for travel retail of US$10 and one canunderstand why. Here is how Rosalie Char, Direc-tor of Marketing, describes this offering: “Each care-fully crafted Macadamia Truffle features a perfectblend of creamy Macadamia butter, groundedfrom roasted Macadamias, and dark chocolate,enrobed in a layer of Hawaiian Host's legendary

premium milk chocolate.”The company sells 12 pieces of Macadamia

Truffles in boxes suited to be placed as tabletoptreats at parties or gifts for lucky recipients. Or,says Char, “simply devour them as an afternoonindulgence for yourself.”But that is not all in store for Asia from this com-

pany. Hawaiian Host is also offering an exclusiveto travel retail called Aloha Mix, which comprisesan assortment of individually wrapped macadamiafavorites including Hawaiian Host Signature Choco-late Macadamias, hand-selected macadamiascovered in Hawaiian Host’s secret milk chocolaterecipe, and MacNut Crunch, a combination ofdiced macadamias, crisp rice and milk chocolate.

Char says: “Presentation is inan easy to carry bag with a con-venient handle that’s perfect asa gift. Each bag weighs 227g,all individually wrapped andfreshness sealed.”

If you found Australia’s macadamia-basedconfectionery offered by Paton’s irresistible,think of what it will mean to nut confectioneryaficionados when the same offering is lacedwith Cointreau. Yes, Paton’s has announceda partnership with one of the world’s mostfamous liqueur brands, Cointreau of France.

The deal will see the 35-year-old Aus-tralian confectioner dipping its well-knowntoffee-coated whole macadamia nuts insmooth milk chocolate laced with every-body’s favorite liqueur, Cointreau. The Frenchliqueur is made entirely from natural ingre-dients, blending sweet oranges and bitterorange peel, a combination that has madeit a sought-after cocktail base and an after-dinner drink for 160 years.

Paton’s Macadamia Royals in Cointreauflavored Milk Chocolate is set to make itsappearance in 15-piece gift boxes at Asia’sduty free stores. The addition of Paton’sCointreau Royals to the portfolio follows

the successful launch in May 2012 of Paton’sSalted Milk Macadamia Royals and Paton’sSalted Milk Almond Royals (170g).

These new offerings join the hugelypopular Paton’s Royals collection, whichalready features Macadamia and AlmondRoyals in Milk or Dark Chocolate in 170g and110g boxes and 150g oval tins.

The Paton’s Royals collection also boaststwo new formats: a large 330g Paton’sMacadamia Royals inMilk Chocolate con-taining 30 pieces foran extra-special giftand a two-piece flowwrap Macadamia Roy-als pack in either Milkor Dark Chocolate(22g). The flow wrapsare presented in 20-piece counter displayboxes as a perfect

impulse purchase for the traveling consumer.Melbourne-based Paton’s boasts the

largest range of macadamia products nowavailable in duty free and domestic marketsin more than 40 countries.

Macadamia is indigenous to Australia,whose natives have relied on what theycall “kindal kindal” as a source of food forthousands of years. Often, the macadamia-based confectionery is given alternate fla-vors to suit the tastes of different markets.

Hawaiian Host’s Macadamia Truffles to take on Asia

Nut Alert: France’s Cointreau joins Australia’s Macadamia magic

Paton’s Macadamia Royals in Cointreau flavored Milk Chocolate

Hawaiian

Host’s

Macadamia

Truffles

The Aloha Mix is

exclusive to travel retail

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6 different-Collect

them all!

http://www.fazer.com/angrybirds

Underberg


atch out Asia, Under-berg is starting topush its herbal rem-edy that brings asmile to the face of

Germans: Little portion-sized bottlescontaining a tasty brew that can be hadwith beer or wine, or any alcohol forthat matter, generally as an after-din-ner digestive aid. The good news forconsumers is that in addition to its tasteit actually works.

“Underberg is a famous duty freeitem and a natural herbal digestiveand this is what travelers like becauseit helps all travelers to digest foreignfood and to create well-being,” ExplainsJürgen Scholz, Deputy Sales Directorin charge of the duty free businessfor the company. “In Asia we are insome duty free outlets but we areworking hard to get more listings.”

As travelers from Asia come of ageand begin their forays to the West andother parts of the world, Underberghas decided that this large marketneeds to be exploited to its fullest.And it has the kind of product historythat lends itself to unique marketing.

Its herbal digestive remedy isapplauded in many countries. It hasa long history—five generations tobe exact—starting in 1846, and haswon numerous awards. The recipe, ablend of aromatic herbs from severalcountries, is kept secret by the Under-berg family, which again adds to themystery and cache of the product.

Says Scholz: “Two things contributeto the Underberg’s distinctive char-acter: its unique soothing effect andthe unmistakable portion-sized bot-tle wrapped in straw-colored paper,giving drinkers just the right amountfor well-being. In fact, Underberg hasbecome a symbol of well-beingthroughout the world.”

Marketing literature provided by

the company emphasizes that thedrink is a fit in any situation, whetherit be a beer garden, a pub or as an after-dinner digestif. The drink is largelysugar free and gluten free and containsnatural anti-oxidants. And it is soldin bottles that contain the exactamount of Underberg the companybelieves is needed to promote diges-tion and well-being.

The second most popular drinkthat Underberg is pushing in Asia isthe renowned XUXU, which has morethan made its mark in Russia, Turkeyand of course in Germany. XUXUhas a freshness guaranty of 12 monthsand is fast becoming the preferreddrink of young women. Necessarily,this means that it is fast becomingthe preferred present that young menbuy for young women.

XUXU is a unique drink that con-tains at least 55% strawberries, and “theonly one with real strawberry seeds,”says the company’s literature. It issweetened with fruit juices ratherthan sugar and Scholzdescribes it as a “Vodka Straw-berry Cocktail with only 15%ABV,” unlike some of the moreheavy vodka-laden drinks soldin North America. “Russiansreally like the taste of straw-berry,” says Scholz, “and thefreshness date is as long as 12months.”

Some of the other com-pany brands are Asbach, themost famous German Brandy;Grasovka, the premium bisongrass vodka from Poland;Amarula, a cream liqueurfrom Africa that recentlybrought home a gold medalfrom the International Wine& Spirits Challenge; andSchlumberger, the famoussparkling wine from Austria.

The latter is produced usingsome very traditional methods.

While in Asia the companyhas still to obtain proper samples tofigure out its buyer age groups, Scholzsays that in Scandinavia, for instance,its brands are most popular among the30-something age group, far youngerthan its German buyers.

Clearly the brand’s popularity is duein large part to the family historybehind Underberg, the secrecy withwhich the current generation ofUnderbergs guards the recipe of itsdecades-old digestif and the warmfamily portraits of the Underbergsthat continue to grace the media andkeep the company’s products mov-ing at a constant pace. c

W

Underberg targets Asiaafter European successUnderberg, makers of a fifth generation digestif from Germany thattastes good and targets indigestion, is pushing its product in Asia

Amarula, a cream

liqueur from Africa,

recently brought home

a gold medal from the

International Wine &

Spirits Challenge

As travelers from Asia come of age and begin

their forays to the West and other parts of the

world, Underberg has decided that this large

market needs to be exploited to its fullest

Visit us on stand J24 (Red Village) from October 21-24 at TFWA WE

http://www.clworldbrands.com

Beluga Vodka


uty Free Manager for Beluga Noble Russ-ian Vodka Victoria Naumenko tells AsiaDuty Free that Beluga is actually thenumber one super premium vodka in

Russia—no mean feat considering Russians cer-tainly know their vodka. Produced by Synergy, anopen joint-stock company based in Russia, Bel-uga is set on expanding its duty free footprint inAsia and other markets around the world. Thebrand has already increased its visibility dramat-ically in European markets over the last couple ofyears and has also secured a respectable footholdin the US market. Synergy itself also solidified itspresence on its home turf with the March 2012signing of a five-year agreement to distributeCamus Cognac in Russia.

Eastern promise“Asia is a new market for us,” says Naumenko.“We're negotiating with companies now regard-ing listings.” Beluga is already distributed intoAsian retail markets by Singapore Straits WineCompany Private Limited in Singapore and PT.Pantja Artha Niaga in Indonesia.

Domestically in Asia, Naumenko tells us thatBeluga has already gained some traction in Vietnam,Thailand and Indonesia, and the company is hop-ing for more positive results after having exhibitedthe entire Beluga range at TFWA AP, held this pastMay at the iconic Suntec Centre in Singapore.

“The negotiation process and organizing thelogistics takes some time and at the moment we’renot in a position to announce any listings,” says Nau-menko. “We can’t give details yet but we werepleased with our participation in the show.”

In addition to being the number one superpremium vodka in Russia, it’s clear that Beluga isa brand that can succeed in the highly competitivetravel retail market. In Moscow’s Sheremetyevo,Domodedovo and Vnukovo Airports the one-litersize is a bestseller and at these airports alone an aver-age of 220 bottles are sold a day to travelers. Giventhe fact that these are three of Russia’s busiestinternational airports, it’s clear that Beluga appealsto consumers hailing from all corners of the globe.

Quality and luxuryNaumenko says the brand’s universal appeal hasa lot to do with flavor profile. “Beluga has a softand harmonious flavor that doesn’t burn and hasa sweet aftertaste,” she explains. In fact, the unique-

ness of Beluga’s flavor gives itsome distinct malty notes, whichis a rarity for a vodka to say theleast.

Other than Beluga Noble,Naumenko tells us that the Bel-uga Gold line, which represents5-10% of the company’s vol-ume and up to 50% in terms ofvalue depending on the mar-ket, is also doing well, espe-cially in the Middle East. Thequality of the liquid and thehigh-end packaging is cited asthe main reason for the Goldrange’s success in the luxury-driven Middle Eastern market.

Focusing on travel retail"The duty free market is growing by30% for us every year,” Naumenko says. To main-tain the growth pace the brand relies on strong POSmaterials, solid sales training for local staff and thepreparation of gift pack promotions in any newmarkets that it enters,” she adds.

Beluga often develops on-pack promo prod-ucts, gifts and decorations exclusively for opera-tors. Naumenko tells Asia Duty Free that the Bel-uga Travel Pack, currently sold in duty free shopsthroughout the Commonwealth of IndependentStates (CIS) and Europe, has helped to signif-icantly raise awareness of the product. Shealso notes that the Transatlantic Racing giftpack, which was inspired by the successesof the Russian sailing team, was originallyreleased in Russia but has gone on to seehealthy sales in Turkey and Beirut as well.

Finally, in addition to possible future dutyfree exclusives, Naumenko explains that Bel-uga is planning on releasing a new variantcalled Allure by the end of this year. “Allurewas inspired by the numerous victories of Rus-sia’s Beluga Polo Team in international com-petitions,” she explains. “For many years Bel-uga has professed the principles of crafts-manship, tradition and dignity, and for thisseries a special recipe was developed thatincludes maple syrup and fig extract. Theseingredients give Beluga Allure its inimitableflavor and outstanding aroma.” c

D

Beluga Vodka’s strong performance in Moscow’s biggestairports and a concentration on duty free exclusives bodewell for the brand’s future in travel retail

The Transatlantic

Racing gift pack

was inspired by

the successes of

the Russian

sailing team

The Beluga Gold line is

doing especially well in

the Middle East

The flagship brand

Beluga Noble

Visit us on stand J24 (Red Village) from October 21-24 at TFWA WE

http://www.clworldbrands.com

The Edrington Group


from Elgin, just a few miles away from The MacallanDistillery on Speyside where he even worked as a youngman, making him an authentic choice for the role. He says:“This project is very special to me. Having worked atThe Macallan distillery in my youth I remain a Macallandrinker to this day so to be asked by The Macallan to bepart of this campaign was a huge honor. Annie Leibovitzis a living legend so to be photographed by her is a oncein a lifetime experience.”

A further four individually customized bottles of TheMacallan 1949 from its exquisite and highly collectableFine and Rare Collection and celebrating the year AnnieLeibovitz was born will also be released. Accompaniedby a signed one-off gallery-sized print, they will be avail-able with a reserve price of US$25,000 following a worldexhibition tour which will take place in Hong Kong,Moscow and New York.

Ken Grier, Director of Malts, The Edrington Group, said:“Working with one of the world’s most influential pho-tographers has exceeded all expectations. The Masters ofPhotography series is hugely important to The Macallanbrand and Annie Leibovitz has captured The Macallanmoment in her own unique way. The fact that our leadingactor, Kevin McKidd, is not only afervent Macallan drinker but actu-ally worked at the distillery is awonderful and authentic story. Hisevolution from an Elgin boy tointernationally famous actormirrors the success TheMacallan has enjoyed fromits Speyside roots to globalfame, making him perfectfor the brand.” c

he Edrington Group’s profile in duty free continuesto rise, and while the company has any numberof sought after brands, arguably none is morelauded than The Macallan. A high-end whiskylover’s dream, The Macallan’s presence in travel

retail has been staccatoed this year with limited editions andtravel retail exclusives.

Most recently, The Macallan commissioned the world’smost famous photographer, Annie Leibovitz, for the thirdedition of its award-winning Masters of Photographyseries, which went on shelf in August at Paris Charles deGaulle, the first listing in travel retail.

The Masters of Photography: Annie Leibovitz Editionsees Leibovitz bring to life the essence of the brand throughher unique photographer’s eye, with renowned Scottish actorKevin McKidd cast in the role of leading man.

The Macallan Masters of Photography series featuresexclusive collaborations, conjoining the art of whisky-making with the artist’s interpretation of the world ofThe Macallan. Previous editions were authored by iconicphotographers Rankin and Albert Watson.

This year, Annie Leibovitz, chosen for her exceptional skilland inimitable style, has interpreted four single cask vari-ants released for the first time, resulting in four powerfulimages. Shot against dramatic backdrops in and around NewYork City, Annie Leibovitz captures the brilliance of amoment where everything comes together, showcasing thestature of whisky as an icon of taste and masculinity andconfirming The Macallan as “The Last Word” in luxury.

“I am the first color photographer chosen by TheMacallan for its Master of Photography series. Prior to thisI hadn’t realized how complicated and deep the distillingprocess is,” comments Leibovitz. “That warmth and rich-ness is what I tried to bring to the photographs. Kevin McK-idd drove the imagery. Where Kevin comes from and hisrugged good looks are what the photographs are all about.It wasn’t casting, it’s authentic.”

The Macallan Masters of Photography: Annie Lei-bovitz Edition comprises 1,000 limited edition bottles, ofwhich there are four different versions. Each bottle con-tains one of four unique single malts, crafted to reflect themood of the signed Annie Leibovitz print that it is pairedwith. The four single cask whiskies have been maturedin different cask types to be completely unique and orig-inal. The bottle and print are presented in a bespokephoto-archival box, stamped with The Macallan brandand Annie Leibovitz’s name.

Charismatic actor Kevin McKidd, acclaimed star of USTV drama Grey’s Anatomy and cult film Trainspotting, hails

T

An eyefor exclusives

The latest Masters of Photography limited edition from TheMacallan proves that The Edrington Group has an eye forstunning art in addition to a passion for rarified drams

For this edition, charismatic

actor Kevin McKidd

is photographed by

Annie Leibovitz against

dramatic backdrops

in and around

New York City

The Macallan

Masters of

Photography: Annie

Leibovitz Edition

comprises 1,000

limited edition

bottles, of which

there are four

different versions

DISCOVERPATRIA INSIGNISOur exceptional collection of award-winning spirits

Visit us at Stand G13, Blue Village at TFWA World Exhibitionworldofpatria.com +44 (0)1892 890202 It’s all in the mix

We search the world to bring travellers extraordinary products to discover. Each innovative brand has its own unique personality and all embrace values of quality and exclusivity, differentiated by small batch and limited release production.

http://www.worldofpatria.com

Liquor News


Asia Duty Free recently had the opportunity to speakwith Matthew Hodges, Marketing and BusinessDevelopment Director for Remy Cointreau GTR,about what the company has planned for this year’sTFWA WE in Cannes. He tells us that as usual,Rémy Cointreau is constantly innovating and will havea number of new products this year.A limited edition Rémy Martin bottle with a pop

culture theme that will appeal to the younger Cognacdrinker is set to make its debut at TFWA WE, andthe most recent upmarket treatment of Cointreau,called Mabille, will be showcased at the show as well.Additionally, Russian Standard continues makingwaves in duty free with a new design for Russian Stan-dard Gold, and champagne fans can find the PiperHeidsieck range on Rémy Cointreau’s stand as well.On the shop floor, Hodges tells us that Rémy Coin-

treau makes an effort to stay in front of the travelerin key locations. “Rémy Martin goes from strengthto strength in Asia and we have invested in high vis-ibility, high quality promotional displays, some withscreened presentations of the brand’s heritage andconsumption proposals,” he explains. “These encour-age Asian consumers to explore new ways to enjoyRémy Martin and also to trade up to the more pre-mium expressions.”

Of course, another great way to makesure that consumers are keeping an eye onyour brand is to have a brand ambassadorlike Dita von Teese. In support of Cointreauvon Teese will be making appearances in var-ious parts of Asia in the autumn as a meansof putting the brand in the spotlight. Shehas also worked with Cointreau to design anelegant and sophisticated fashion item whichwill create a real stir among the brand’sfemale consumers, says Hodges. Unfortu-nately, details on this development are underwraps until later in the year.We finished our conversation by asking

Hodges about Rémy Cointreau’s perfor-mance in the region over the first half of theyear. He told us in no uncertain terms that thecompany’s brands, especially Rémy Martin, are inhigh demand. “Asia is a very important market for Cognac and

Rémy Martin has an excellent reputation there,”Hodges says. “Sales are phenomenal, especially ofthose expressions at the top end including Centaurede Diamant, the travel retail exclusive Premier Crucollection and of course Louis XIII, the pinnacle ofthe collection.”

Premier Italian Sparkling wine producer Follador has taken theflagship of its most superior varietals—Valdobbiadene Pros-ecco Superiore D.O.C.G Cuvee “Torri di Credazz”’ Extra Dry—and launched it as a travel retail exclusive variant. This top-of-the-range premium Prosecco will only be retailed throughtravel retail from immediate effect, and will carry a specialneck label declaring its unique positioning, whilst sold exclu-sively gift packed.

“We have chosen Torri di Credazzo as a travel exclusive vari-ant because, apart from its superb quality, this Prosecco hasa particularly interesting story which we believe will be of inter-est to travelers,” says Follador Marketing Director Cristina Fol-lador. “The small vineyard area that this Prosecco exclusivelycomes from has a history that dates back to the 9th and 10thcenturies when Credazzo castle in Treviso played a vital defenserole against the Hungarian invasion.

“Credazzo comes from the local term ‘creda,’ which means‘clay’ and refers to the type of soil in the area,” continues Fol-lador. “Over the years the strategic position of the area, com-bined with the composition of the subsoil and shape of the land,have led to exceptional developments in vine growing and it hasnow become a key area in the Valdobbiadene D.O.C.G. zone.The Follador family has the great privilege of owning the vine-

yards directly below the castle towers and it is from here thatthe handpicked grapes of outstanding quality are used to pro-duce our very fruity, exquisite Cuvée Torri di Credazzo.”

Each bottle will carry a story tag, adding interest to thebrand. Pricing in travel retail will be €23 (US$28). Alongside Torridi Credazzo Extra Dry, Follador offers three other SuperioreProsecco varieties from the Conegliano-Valdobbiadeneregion—Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Di CartizzeD.O.C.G, a fine sparkling wine named after the areawhere the grapes are cultivated; Valdobbiadene ProseccoSuperiore D.O.C.G Millesimato Brut, a refined and noblequality wine boasting a very fine perlage amidst a splen-did combination of bouquet and flavors; and Valdob-biadene Prosecco Superiore D.O.C.G Millesimato ExtraDry, an elegant extra dry wine with a balance of flavors.

For travel retail the wines are presented in a seriesof collectable and elegant monochrome printed tubeswith a unique illustration designed to convey thebrand’s understated, premium Italian credentials—perfect for gifting.

Follador notes that it will be pleased to share aglass or two of Prosecco on the World of Patria standat TFWA WE (Blue G13) daily from 5 pm.

Rémy Cointreau plans a number of new innovations for TFWA WE

Cointreau Mabille is a

limited edition bottle

designed by French

haute couture

fashion designer

Alexis Mabille

Follador Prosecco launches travel retail exclusive

This top-of-the-range

Prosecco will only be

retailed in a special gift

pack through travel retail

and will carry a special

neck label declaring its

unique positioning

Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky has been awardeda trio of gold medals at the International Spirits Challenge.Impressing judges with its exceptional whisky making andagainst tough global competition, the premium whiskybrand has won a staggering eleven awards in total. In whatis becoming an extra special year for the Speyside dis-tiller, the latest medals means that Glenfiddich has trulycemented its credentials as the world’s favorite and mostawarded single malt Scotch whisky.The highly prized gold medals were awarded to the

Glenfiddich Age of Discovery Bourbon Cask 19 Year

Old, Glenfiddich Malt Master’s Edition and Glenfiddich12 Year Old.Brian Kinsman, Glenfiddich’s Malt Master, com-

mented: “This is a special year for the Glenfiddich Dis-tillery as we celebrate our 125th anniversary. The out-standing awards are a testament to all the hard work andpioneering spirit from all our craftsmen who are dedicatedto creating ‘the best dram in the valley.’”This year, Glenfiddich celebrates its 125-year anniver-

sary since founder William Grant built the Glenfiddich Dis-tillery in 1887.

Glenfiddich winstriple gold medals

Jameson, the world’s number one Irish whiskey,

has launched a new innovative limited edition bot-

tle that captures urban iconography from some

of the world’s most exciting cities while also high-

lighting some of the best bars to visit while in

these cities. The Jameson Great Urban Escapes

bottle is available exclusively through travel retail

channels for a limited period starting this month.

The new bottle is aimed at urban explorers

who choose adventurous city breaks over beach

holidays. The contemporary bottle is adorned with

logos and emblems from the top districts of

seven cities across the world, including Dublin,

the home of Jameson; London; New York; and

Stockholm. It also highlights 11 top bars in these

cities that locals would recommend you visit and

where Jameson is a whiskey of choice.

To support the launch, a city guide app has

been created that will provide travelers with

an insider’s guide on what to see and do in

four of the chosen cities. To access the app con-

sumers will be directed to a QR code that will

feature on supporting POS material. For those

without access to smart technology, a tra-

ditional printed city guide will also be avail-

able alongside the bottle, which will fur-

ther extend the reach of the campaign.


Tequilera Corralejo will be highlighting its latest spiritslines at the forthcoming TFWA World Exhibition (StandE1, Blue Village), including a new ready-made MargaritaMix: Quita Penas.No artificial flavors are used in the mix to make

it as close as possible to a freshly prepared Mar-garita cocktail. Each 750ml bottle is 10% abvand is decorated with a bright pink and yellow flo-ral motif. Simply serve over crushed ice for the per-fect Margarita.Says Tequilera Corralejo Managing Director

Raffaele Berardi: “This is a really top quality cock-tail mix with a very authentic, natural flavor. Thefirst in a series of tequila-based cocktail drinks,we are delighted to say that we will be serving QuitaPenas at this year's TFWA WE golf tournamentorganized by Heinemann and Estée Lauder.”Also new to the show is Vodka Boker, a unique

Mexican corn vodka presented in a highly attrac-tive deep blue bottle with a twisting glass effect.Initially launched to travel retail markets in India,Central America, Mexico and Canada, VodkaBoker is now available in New Zealand and Africaas well. Vodka Boker is now also listed in Man-nah Duty free stores in Paraguay and in selectedduty free stores on the Canadian Border.Also on display at TFWA World Exhibition will

be Tequilera Corralejo’s special commemorativeedition premium tequila: 99,000 Hours. 99,000Hours is aged in single Kentucky oak barrels (nobigger than 200 liters) for 18 months and doubledistilled in the traditional Corralejo Charente method using cop-per and column stills. This premium tequila is presented in arounded carafe style bottle and is designed for drinking neat onthe rocks or in cocktails. On September 1, the brand will openthe doors to its new warehouse, a 600-meter-long buildingwhich will be dedicated to the maturation of 99,000 Hours.Sales have been growing steadily in the 74 countries where

Corralejo is exported, with a 12% uplift in the last year alone.The brand has been enjoying particular success in London's high-end bars, the company says.

Tequilera Corralejo mixes it up in Cannes

The new Jameson

Great Urban Escapes

bottle is aimed at

urban explorers who

choose adventurous

city breaks over

beach holidays

No artificial flavors are used in the mix to

make Quita Penas as close as possible to

a freshly prepared Margarita cocktail

Glenfiddich’s Age of Discovery, among other Glenfiddich expressions, won a gold medal at this year’s International Spirits Challenge

Jameson releases limited edition Great

Urban Escapes bottleexclusively in duty free


Tobacco News Tonino Lamborghini cigarettes

were designed to be premium in

every way and will be released this

month at select airports throughout

the Asia Pacific region

JTI re-imagines iconic Mild Seven brandOn the heels of solid first half numbers, JapanTobacco recently announced a complete redesignand name change for global flagship brand(GFB) Mild Seven. The brand will now be calledMevius and have a globally unified design. Withactive investment to strengthen brand equityand a greater presence around the world,Mevius is aiming to become the number oneglobal premium brand.

Mild Seven, known for its smooth cigaretteswith a clean finish, has been the best selling brandin Japan since 1978, a year after it was launched.JTI plans to roll out the new name and designacross Japan, introducing the globally unifieddesign in November 2012 while retaining the MildSeven name, followed by the launch of theMevius brand name in February 2013.

Internationally, Mild Seven enjoys consumerpopularity in markets including Taiwan, Korea,Malaysia and Russia. In markets where the newpackage design has been introduced, it alreadyenjoys consumer popularity. The company plans geographic expansion after completing

introductions of the new brand in existing inter-national markets over the next 12 months.

“The JT Group targets sustainable profitgrowth in the mid to long term, based on the‘4S’ management principle of satisfying andfulfilling our responsibilities towards consumers,shareholders, employees and wider society,”said Mitsuomi Koizumi, President and ChiefExecutive Officer of JTI. “Tobacco is our corebusiness and profit growth engine. By prioritiz-ing investment in this business for quality topline growth and stronger business sustainabil-ity, we are targeting our tobacco business to growEBITDA by mid to high single digits per year overthe medium to long term.

“Mevius is moving forward with a new nameacross the world, a unified global design and anexpanded product portfolio in order to com-mand a greater international presence by enhanc-ing brand equity, aiming to become the numberone global premium brand,” Koizumi concluded.

JTI says Mild Seven is “moving forward with a new name across the world, a unified global design

and an expanded product portfolio in order to command a greater international presence”

This month sees the launch of a new cigarette brandfrom KT&G developed as the result of a collaborationwith the well known Italian luxury brand. The world’sfirst Tonino Lamborghini cigarettes contain premiumsmoking leaf tobacco—which represents only about2% of the leaves grown in the world—and SouthEuropean Orient leaves. KT&G says that the cigarettes offer “a soft throat and

enriched taste,” and are designed to retain the optimallevel of moisture for an improved smoking experience.Other high-end features include what KT&G calls anembossed “lip release filter.” The product features thefamiliar Toro emblem on the top of the package, the charis-matic symbol of the Lamborghini family, to expressstrength, progressiveness and exclusivity. Two variantsof Tonino Lamborghini have been released—L6 (6.0 mgof tar) and L8 (8.0mg of tar). Tonino Lamborghini will beavailable at China, Singapore and Hong Kong Airportsfrom September 2012.Also new this year from KT&G is Bohem Mojito Dou-

ble. Bohem is made of 30% premium cigar leaves, giv-ing the brand a unique taste and aroma. Showcasing a vintagepackage design, KT&G says that Bohem Mojito Double is targetedtoward stylish professionals who prefer a refined smoke.Lastly, Asia Duty Free spoke recently with In-Sun Hwang, KT&G’s

General Manager, about the company’s performance so far thisyear. “We are doing quite well in the Asia Pacific region,” he said.

“Our top brand Esse is doing very well with Asian customers andhas become a clear leader among the world’s superslim cigarettes.”Hwang notes that Chinese and Korean nationalities make up the

lion’s share of KT&G’s customers. While the company has enjoyedsuccess throughout the Asia Pacific region, its brands are particu-larly popular in airports in China, Hong Kong and Japan.

KT&G releases Tonino Lamborghini cigarettes

New for 2013, �� presents an exclusive Whisky Sup-plement that will have bonus distribution at the 2013 TFWA WE ex-hibition in Cannes. Whisky is the spirit to watch in duty free given itswide popularity with high-spending travelers like the Chinese and theemerging Indian middle class.

The Whisky Supplement is designed as the most comprehensivewhisky source for the travel retail industry in Asia Pacific. With in-depth reports on the biggest brands and up-and-comers alike, aswell as unparalleled coverage on innovation and trends, there is nodoubt that the Whisky Supplement will provide both buyers and sup-pliers with an inside perspective on the iconic spirit.

Editorial Highlights:• Feature Report on Asian retailers and top selling whiskies• Trend Report: An in-depth overview of the year ahead in the whiskycategory

• Whisky News: What’s new and noteworthy• Tasting Notes: All the seasons must haves from some of the topwhisky brands

• Company Profiles: Highlighting the industry’s heavy hitters

��

� ��

Diageo GTME

92 ASIA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING TFWA AP MAY 2012

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.

��Just 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 and

blended 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, Diageo

GTME, 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 precious

metal 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 in

75cl 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. �

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onsumer preferences aren’t static, and thankfully for globetrotters the travel retailindustry is especially good at staying ahead of trends and treating duty free shop-pers to new and exciting experiences. Gulf-Africa Duty Free recently spoke with Inter-national Beverage Holdings, Bacardi Global Travel Retail and Brown-Forman

about how they’re going about pleasing discerning spirits lovers in the Middle East. Among the latest developments from these suppliers are new liveries for two iconic

whisky brands, the introduction of a new spiced rum with a big heart and a collabo-ration between two American legends.

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Liquor Report: Standout Spirits

iddle Eastern travelers are known fortheir love of whisky, and Interna-tional Beverage Holdings (Interbev)is breathing new life into some

promising brands with package redesigns andspecial editions that were introduced at thisyear’s TFWA WE in Cannes in September.The standout Old Pulteney single malt whiskyand Hankey Bannister blended Scotch whiskyhave been boldly redesigned. In addition, a spe-cial two-pack of Hankey Bannister Original and12 Year Old was recently introduced and hasbeen performing well in the Middle East.

Old Pulteney, which is one of the fastestgrowing malts in the industry, has revealeda vibrant new design with a bolder logo todrive a premium message and improve retail

display while at the same time retaining OldPulteney’s distinctive bottle shape and “Mar-itime Malt” positioning.

“Old Pulteney is distilled in Wick, Scot-land,” says James Bateman, Global Travel RetailManager at Interbev. “In fact, there are noother Scotch whisky distilleries there, so we’vecommunicated Old Pulteney’s unique originson the bottle. We’ve also taken the boat and putit to the back so that it can be seen through thefront of the bottle. These changes, combinedwith the redesign of the words ‘Old Pulteney,’have resulted in much more shelf standout.”

Hankey Bannister blended Scotch whiskyhas unveiled a striking, super-premium pre-sentation pack of its 21 year old “Partner’sReserve” that features an elegant black box, pro-

prietary bottle and gold embossedlabel. The new limited edition Han-key Bannister 25 year old “Partner-ship Blend” was also previewed inCannes. It comes beautifully encasedin a Lochinver decanter and luxuri-ous bordeaux-red presentation box.

This new expression has beenspecially selected by MasterBlender Stuart Harvey usingthe very finest non-peatedsingle malts, resulting in adistinctively delicate andsmooth flavor.

Interbev is banking onincreased traction in Asiaduty free with the abovesuper-premium HankeyBannister offerings. Bate-man told Gulf-Africa DutyFree that in the Middle East,

Hankey Bannister Original and 12 Year Oldexpressions are very popular, particularlywith Indian travelers.

“For the Gulf we’ve introduced a gift packfeaturing two one-liter bottles—Hankey Ban-nister Original and 12 Year Old,” Batemanexplains. “It offers a savings to shoppers andhas already been launched in airports inDubai and Sharjah to great effect.

“Duty free is a great channel for us togenerate awareness of these brands,” Batemancontinues. “Hankey Bannister is a very regionalbrand that is popular in India. As such, it’salso popular with Indians living and work-ing in Dubai, which helps us develop in theMiddle East.”

�� BY RYAN WHITE

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The new presentation ofHankey Bannister 21 yearold “Partner’s Reserve”features an elegant blackbox, proprietary bottle and

gold embossed label

Old Pulteney has revealed a vibrant newdesign with a bolder logo to drive a premium

message and improve retail display

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Company News: Pernod Ricard


Asia Duty Free recently sat downwith John O’Sullivan, Market-ing Director at Pernod RicardAsia Duty Free, to discuss thenumerous new launches in the

region that coincide with the TFWA AP exhi-bition in Singapore. We also took the oppor-tunity to ask him about business in generalin the region and get an update on last year’sbig news during the exhibition, the MartellExperience Boutique.

Adding excitement to duty freeAbsolut Watkins, a limited edition exclusiveto travel retail, was launched to the Asianmarket at Changi Airport in February 2011 andwas then rolled out in Hong Kong, Thailand,Malaysia and Korea throughout March. Absolut Watkins offers the distinct qual-

ities of freshly ground coffee with notes of

almond, caramel and warm chili. The detailedimage on the limited edition bottle is cre-ated by celebrated Swedish fashion illustra-tor and artist Liselotte Watkins, famous for herdesigns for fashion brands such as Miu Miu,Anna Sui and Barney’s, as well as for maga-zines such as Vogue and The New Yorker.In addition, Pernod Ricard Travel Retail

launched its limited edition Chivas Regal 18Year Old by Christian Lacroix in key Asianairports in March to showcase the new mas-terpiece and bring to life the brand values ofluxury, craftsmanship and excellence. Only3,000 bottles of this striking limited editiondesign were produced, of which a select num-ber will be sold in Asia duty free. The activity kicked off at Hong Kong

International Airport and Singapore ChangiAirport where elaborate displays were posi-tioned in high traffic locations to generateimpact. The product was rolled out in Aprilto Incheon International Airport and KualaLumpur International Airport.Also early this year, Royal Salute 62 Gun

Salute was rolled out in Asia at Hong KongInternational Airport, Taiwan Taoyuan Air-port, Singapore Changi Airport and KoreaIncheon Airport. The product was positionedon premium display units in the first class andbusiness lounges of Korean Air.“Innovation is a key driver for Pernod

Ricard and we have had some very success-ful recent launches,” says O’Sullivan. “Asmany have come to expect, Absolut has ledthe way with Glimmer and the travel retailexclusive Absolut Watkins. “The Chivas 18 Year Old by Christian

Lacroix, the latest release in the Chivas 18designer series, was a huge success,” he con-tinues. “The product is very limited and willonly be in store for a short time before it is soldout. Probably the most high profile launch wehad this year was for Royal Salute 62 GunSalute, which was supported with luxurious

displays in key airports.”

Luxury leaningsAt this time last year, the Martell ExperienceBoutique concept at HKIA and KualaLumpur—designed to showcase Martell’sunique combination of traditional, culturaland modern attributes—was making head-lines for its high-end, educational offering.O’Sullivan tells Asia Duty Free that over thelast year Pernod Ricard’s expectations havebeen exceeded, both in terms of sales andmaking quality connections with travelers.“Selling was never a primary objective for

the Martell Experience Boutique as this isthe role of main duty free shops in the air-ports,” he explains. “Having said that, we havehad some good sales, mainly to Chinese andMalaysian travelers. More importantly froma sales perspective our overall performance inHong Kong and Kuala Lumpur InternationalAirports has been very positive since the bou-tiques opened. The growth has been drivenby our Prestige range, which consists of MartellCordon Bleu, Martell XO, Martell Creation andL’Or de Jean Martell.”Given the popularity of both brown spir-

its and luxury offerings in Asia, Pernod Ricardis certainly in a good position going into thesecond half of the year with brands such asChivas Regal, Royal Salute, Ballantine’s, TheGlenlivet, Jameson and Martell. O’Sullivanasserts that outside this subcategory, vodkacontinues to show growth on a smaller scale,and Pernod couldn’t be happier with theinnovations coming from the team at TheAbsolut Company. “All of these brands appeal to Asian cus-

tomers because they are leading brands, if notthe leading brands, in the categories,” O’Sul-livan concludes. “They are also all premiumbrands, most of which fall into the superpremium and above categories, which isimportant to the Asian customer.” �

Asian travelers are known for having a keen eye for luxury offerings and brown spirits, and Pernod Ricard caters to both tastes with a wide range of new releases BY RYAN WHITE

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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 to

the 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 with

Chinese 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 added

sales, 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 Master

Distiller’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 eau

de 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. �

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

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Whisky Report

78 GULF-AFRICA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011

a year with these organizations, the sessionsare hosted by the Dewar’s Global Ambas-sador and consist of a tutorial on Scotchwhisky production as well as a Dewar’scomparison tasting.“Training provides Dewar’s with a

unique opportunity to create brandadvocates in each of its core mar-

kets,” Golikeri says. “As the Scotchmarket continues to grow in theMiddle East, we want to ensurethat our key partners areequipped with the tools and infor-mation they need to help drivesales in their outlets.”“Of our brands there is one

standout product across the Gulfand Africa as a wider region:Hankey Bannister Blended Scotchwhisky,” says James Bateman,Global Travel Retail Manager forInternational Beverage Holdings(Interbev). Bateman’s focus rightnow is on improving the prod-uct’s distribution and visual dis-plays. He says that premiumexpressions will be introduced,

and the process is already underway with thelaunch this year of a new Hankey Bannisterexpression, 12 Years Old Regency. This product constitutes an entry into the

premium blended Scotch category and retailsfor about US$25 for 100cl. Bateman saysthat Interbev will aim to launch the HankeyBannister 21 YO and 25 YO super-deluxeblends at Cannes this year. New twin packs(2 X 100cl) specifically for travel retail willalso be premiered.

The majority of duty free consumers of Han-key Bannister in the Gulf are residents originallyfrom the Indian subcontinent, Bateman says. Interms of the travel retail trade, the main buyers inthe Gulf are Dubai Duty Free, Dufry at Sharjahand Aer Rianta International’s regional network.Africa is a complex picture, but Bateman saysGebr Heinemann, Dufry and Flemingo are impor-tant network partners. “Egyptian airports are veryimportant, and will be again once the touristsreturn in confidence. Big Five Duty Free in SouthAfrica and Mauritius Duty Free are very impor-tant retailers of our products, and the expansionof Flemingo Duty Free has made it a real retail forceon the continent.”In addition to Han-

key Bannister, which hasbeen available in the Gulfand parts of Africa formany years, in the lastfew years single maltScotch has been devel-oping a presence withretailers that want tobuild the category, forexample Qatar DutyFree and Muscat DutyFree. “The developmentpotential for our port-folio in Sub-SaharanAfrica is also of greatinterest,” Bateman adds.2011 so far has been

very good, Bateman says.At press time, Interbevreceived some very wel-come news that certainlywon’t hurt its globalpresence. The companycarried off no fewer than16 awards at the 2011

he Middle East con-tinues to be animportant marketfor Dewar's ScotchWhisky,” says Vinay

Golikeri, Marketing Director forthe Bacardi Global Travel RetailDivision. The growth in the Mid-dle East reflects a similar experiencein Asia. Bacardi Global Travel Retailhas employed strategic brandpromotions to strengthenrelationships with exist-ing Dewar’s customers andcreate new ones, in theprocess helping to fosterbrand loyalty, Golikeri says. In June, Bacardi Global

Travel Retail announced apartnership betweenDewar’s and the interna-tionally renowned NationalGeographic Society. Thenew promotion, called“Dewar’s World of Dis-covery,” gives entrants ina prize draw the chance towin six travel experiencescreated by National Geo-graphic Expeditions: CostaRica; a New York photography trip; aninsider’s tour of Italy; the Amazon; NewZealand; and the home of Dewar’s, the High-lands of Scotland. Depending on the mar-ket, entry may require the purchase ofDewar’s 12 Years Old.Part of Bacardi Global Travel Retail’s strat-

egy to grow Dewar’s in the Middle East sawthe launch last year of a training program withDubai Duty Free, Middle East Airlines andBeirut Duty Free. Conducted once or twice

“TThe Dewar’s brand has seen great success in theMiddle East, largely as a result of creativepromotional activity from brandowner Bacardi

The“Dewar’sWorld ofDiscovery”promotion

�� Promotions, messaging and experience keep thesewhisky leaders on top in arising market BY ANDREW BROOKS

The new travel retail displayfor Hankey Bannister

Whisky Report

80 GULF-AFRICA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011

International Wine & Spirits Competition.Hankey Bannister was well represented withfour awards, including a Gold for HankeyBannister 40 YO.The brands represented by the Edrington

Group are well liked in the Middle East andNorth Africa, says Keith Bonnington, AreaDirector, Africa and Middle East. However,the leading brand is Johnnie Walker, althoughBonnington says the evidence points tofuture growth in the deluxe range—BlackLabel and above. “Many of the major Scotch brands—

including Johnnie Walker and Chivas, whichtogether hold around 60% Scotch volumeshare—suffered significant volume lossesin 2009 and into 2010,” he says. Other cat-egories, such as vodka and cognac, also suf-fered. “The Edrington Group portfolio onthe other hand performed very well with TheFamous Grouse and The Macallan dining atthe top table in their respective categories.”The market has been buoyed by a more

stable economic outlook after a tough 2010,Bonnington believes. Generally, travelersare returning, and one indication Bon-nington takes some comfort in is the recentannouncement that Dubai Duty Free hasexceeded last year’s growth by 16%.Standard Scotch remains the volume

leader, driven by its traditional blue-collarcustomer base, largely from the Indian sub-continent. A decline in this category over thepast year could be a result of the sudden anddramatic shutdown of construction in theregion following the global slump, Bon-nington believes. The other backbone demo-graphic shopping at the super-premiumlevel is likely to be Asian or Russian andfavors destinations such as Dubai and AbuDhabi for business andleisure travel.“Our portfolio has

shown stunning growthin recent years,” Bon-nington says. TheFamous Grouse family,which now includesBlack Grouse andSnow Grouse, isnumber three interms of totalblended Scotch vol-umes, with a 6.5%market share. TheMacallan, mean-while, commandsfully 15% of themalt Scotch cate-gory. Bonnington

notes the brand’s huge franchise in Asia,Russia and the US. “In the next few years I believe consumers

will see some very exciting developmentsacross our malt whisky range,” Bonningtonsays. In particular, The Macallan will seethe introduction of new super-premiumconcepts. At Cannes, Edrington Group will focus

heavily on its super premium offerings, withthe presentation of the latest Macallan inLalique decanter and attention on rein-forcing the travel retail exclusive 1824 range,Bonnington says. “We also have some inter-esting developments in The Famous Grouse,”he says. “And Cutty Sark is waiting in thewings.” Bonnington considers the latter a“sleeping giant,” destined to become a keyplayer once again.“The key message from us is that 2010 was

a ‘signature’ year for Jameson,” says DonaghMcHenry, Regional Director Asia Pacific,Travel Retail and Africa/ME. “We’re up 16%in the calendar year, and we broke the 3million case threshold. That’s overall, butthere’s the same momentum in duty free—we’re up 14% there.”Within the Gulf-Africa catchment area,

there are some markets that stand out forJameson. South Africa is one such, McHenrysays, with a high recognition level for thebrand: sales into the domestic market totaledover 180,000 cases in 2010. On the duty freeside, McHenry commends the ranging anddistribution work done on Jameson, fromClassic to Reserve, by Big Five Duty Free inJohannesburg and Cape Town. Jameson Sig-nature Reserve, exclusive to travel retail, is

also selling well in Big Five outlets.The consumer streams in South

Africa are threefold:South Africans, inter-national travelers andthose traveling within

Africa. While South Africa is Jameson’sstandard bearer in Africa’s southern cone,McHenry sees signs that Angola andMozambique are approachingcritical mass in the region too.In the Middle East the

strongest market is Israel withdomestic strength reflected inhealthy duty free presenceand sales. Lebanon is nowbenefiting from initial mar-keting and promotions.Other emerging marketsrecently showing poten-tial for Jameson in theregion are Egypt andMorocco. No one willbe too surprised tohear that Dubai is thekey Gulf market,posting a muscular24% growth in2010—a trenddriven by interna-tional travelers whoplay a significant role inJameson's current global momentum.On Jameson promotional activity, “we’ll

do new global promotions every 18 to 24months or so, as a rule,” McHenry says,highlighting the recent “Experience OurWorld” promotion, which has run globallyfrom 2010 through mid 2011. On special edi-tions for the Travel Retail channel, McHenrypoints to the Jameson St. Patrick’s Day lim-ited edition bottle that was introduced inEurope this spring as a notable success.For Cannes, Jameson will be focusing

on its successes in 2010 and its ongoing pro-motions, including some new promotionalconcepts and special editions that will hit in2012. “We’re still working out the details,”McHenry says, “but we’ll have a bit moredetail on those plans at Cannes.” �

South Africa is astandout market for

Jameson Irish Whiskey

The core offerings in The Famous Grouse range(left) and The Macallan 1824


THE SUCCESSFULSPIRIT

For more information on how to participate, please contact:

Hibah NoorEditor-In-ChiefT: +1 905 821 3344 x. 29F: +1 905 821 2777E: [email protected]

Ryan WhiteConcessions, Liquor & Tobacco EditorT: +1 905 821 3344 x. 25F: +1 905 821 2777E: [email protected]

Melissa SilvaAssociate EditorT: +1 905 821 3344 x. 23 F: +1 905 821 2777E: [email protected]

Kim CarreraAdvertising & Marketing ManagerT: +1 905 821 3344 x. 30F: +1 905 821 2777E: [email protected]

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Botran ReservaCompany: Ron Añejo BotranDescription: Botran Reserva is acomplex blend of rums that havebeen aged between five and 14years where flavors of freshnessand aging are masterfullyharmonised. With the aroma ofoak and slight note of vanilla,Botran Reserva is best enjoyedas the main ingredient in themost sophisticated list of

cocktails Booth: Yellow VillageG45

The Macallan Masters of Photography: Annie Leibovitz Edition Company: EdringtonDescription: Each bottle containsone of four unique The Macallansingle malts, crafted to reflect

the mood of the signedAnnie Leibovitz print withwhich it is paired. Thewhiskies have beenmatured in different casktypes to be completelyoriginalBooth: Green Village M53

Copia de BokaCompany: Tequilera CorralejoFraternity Spirits WorldDescription: An unusualMexican corn vodka presentedin an attractive and unusualdeep blue bottle, which has atwisted effect. Made of cornthat was discovered in Mexicofrom the SpanishconquistadorsBooth: Blue Village E1

New & NotableLIQUOR

Butlers 125g Jameson TrufflesCompany: Butlers Chocolate Description: Creamy milk chocolate trufflesdelicately flavored with thedistinctive flavor of JamesonIrish WhiskeyBooth: Green Village L73

Levi’s Range Company: Scorpio DistributorsDescription: The globallyrenowned original and authenticjeans brand now has a stylishrange of watches, designed toreflect the brand’s values ofinnovation and reinvention, whileretaining its heritage roots. TheLTHO5 timepiece features a simpledesign in white, black or purpleenhanced with Swarovski crystalsBooth: Mediterranean Village P8

Set Clarisse Company: Secret WishDescription: This new setincludes a chain, threependants and a pair ofmatching earrings. Ideallypriced without compromisingon quality, each piece isrhodium-plated, hand-polished and incrusted withthe best quality crystalsBooth: Ambassador Village U6

Ted Baker Squintessential Company: MondotticaDescription: Squintessentialis a recollection of vintageeyewear styles with acontemporary twist. Thetemple tips feature the newSquitessential symbol anda seven-pin barrel hinge thatfurther adds to the vintage feeland look of the designsBooth: Red Village K30

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New for 2013, �� pres-ents an exclusive Skincare & Cosmet-ics Supplement that will have bonusdistribution at the 2013 TFWA AP ex-hibition in Singapore.

The Skincare & Cosmetics Supplementis dedicated to bringing readers themost current news for all things beauty-related. With in-depth reports on thebiggest brands and up-and-comersalike, as well as unparalleled cover-age on innovation and trends, there isno doubt that the 2013 Skincare &Cosmetics Supplement will provideboth buyers and suppliers with an in-side perspective on the shimmeringcategory.

Editorial Highlights:• Feature Report: Asian retailers and

the skincare category• Trend Report: An in-depth overview

of the year ahead in cosmetics• Beauty News: What’s new and

noteworthy• Cosmetic Guide: Seasonal must

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For more information on how to participate, please contact:

62 GULF-AFRICA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011

Traveller Limited, a renowned in-flight ser-vices company within the well-established50-year-old Chalhoub Group, has two impor-tant announcements to make: it has begunproviding its services to Pakistan InternationalAirways (PIA) and has signed a distributiondeal with Shiseido, the Japaneseskincare and cosmetics companythat is a fixture in the most exclusiveskincare establishments.Although Traveller is geared to air-

lines in Middle East, it also dealswith non-Middle Eastern but regionalbased airlines. Traveller Limited’sGeneral Manager, Rami Madi, saysthat two years ago it began servic-ing airlines based in Iran, both MahanAir and Iran Air, followed by PIA thisyear. Part of Traveller’s strategy is to ana-lyze the passenger profile of airlines beforeoffering it specific products anyway. “We are open to working with all the air-

lines in the Middle East and the Near East,”Madi says. “Doing business with PIA was justanother step for us… we are confident ournew associations will flourish.”The Shiseido deal is pegged to distrib-

uting the well-known skincare and cos-metics company’s products on airlines in theMideast. Shiseido, which is publicly listed,

started in Japan in 1872, and today oper-ates worldwide, with centers in severalEuropean cities as well. It was born inTokyo’s Ginza district as Japan’s first West-ern-style pharmacy, at a time when herbal

medicine was the norm, founded by the23-year-old chief pharmacist of a navy hos-pital, Arinobu Kukuhara. He picked thename from the famous Chinese book offortune telling Yi Ching.The addition of Shiseido to Traveller’s

coterie of renowned products is anotherfeather in its cap, as it continues to strengthenits reputation of being the preferred and

reliable choice for airlines in the Mideastregion. It provides brands with support interms of implementing a marketing calen-dar for the supplier and only offers productsto airlines after identifying and analyzingpassenger profiles. It also helps in design-ing and implementing onboard sales pro-cedures and then monitors the performanceof the product.

Clinique introduces a new foundation that cre-ates a flawless complexion, softening theappearance of lines and wrinkles immediatelyand over time, and working to prevent thevisible signs of aging.

The new Clinique Repairwear Laser FocusAll-Smooth Makeup SPF 15 incorporatesClinique's advanced patented technologyfrom its powerhouse de-aging serum, Repair-wear Laser Focus Wrinkle & UV DamageCorrector. The result is an ultimate de-agingfoundation that softens lines and coversimperfections.

Repairwear Laser Focus All-SmoothMakeup SPF 15 is also formulated withingredients that prevent and repair visible UVdamage, one of the leading culprits of linesand wrinkles. This foundation addressespast UV damage, with Ultrasomes that grad-

ually and visibly help repair damage result-ing from direct UV exposure.

A cocktail of ingredients works to minimizethe appearance of damage. Whey Proteinhelps minimize the appearance of lines andwrinkles, while Siegesbeckia Orientalis Extractand Palimitoyl Oligopeptide help to plump upand fill in lines.

Supporting ingredients to protect the skininclude Vitamin E to provide antioxidant pro-tection and SPF 15 to help protect skin fromfuture UV damage.

Taking a 360° approach to age preven-tion, Repairwear Laser Focus All-SmoothMakeup SPF 15 will improve the texture ofthe skin while working to prevent futuredamage. The foundation is available at Clin-ique travel retail locations in Europe, theMiddle East and Africa.

Traveller signs PIA, Shiseido deals

Estée Lauder introduces Clinique RepairwearLaser Focus All-Smooth Makeup SPF 15

Skincare News

Shiseido Benefiance Wrinkle Resist 24 Day Cream SPF 15

Shiseido Bio-PerformanceSuper CorrectiveSerum

Company News: Estée Lauder

From left: Toni Lakis, Vice President of Creative atMAC Cosmetics, James Gager, Senior Vice President,

Group Creative Director for MAC, La Mer and JoMalone Worldwide and Jennifer Balbier, Senior VicePresident, Global Product Development, Artistry

Brands, The Estée Lauder Companies

MAC’s Pop-Upstore in Soho,New York

Americas Duty Free joins MAC at its Pop-UpStore in Soho to feel the power of its newWonder Woman collection BY HIBAH NOOR

86 THE AMERICAS DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING MARCH/APRIL 2011

MAC has unveiled an exciting new limited edi-tion collection inspired by the legendary hero-ine Wonder Woman. The highly anticipated col-lection was recently presented to journalists invited

to a special launch at the brand’s popular location in Soho, New York.“The iconic super heroine reminds us that within every woman

there’s the mighty Aphrodite full of courage, confidence andgreat charisma,” said James Gager, Senior Vice President, GroupCreative Director for MAC, La Mer and Jo Malone Worldwide.

With its legendary new line up, MAC takes us on an exotictrip to Wonder Woman’s home of Paradise Island. Includedin the collection is super-sized Mineralize Skinfinish, bold Eye Shadowquads, Pigment, Opulash, Lipsticks and oversized Lipglass, jumbo-big Pow-der Blush and Penultimate Eye Liner, Nail Lacquer and Lash inspired bythe larger-than-life bold babe.

Channelling the iconic heroine’s beautiful Paradise Island, MAC’s Pop-Up shop was transformed with bright red furniture, Wonder Woman look-alike models for makeup demonstrations, Wonder Woman comic books andother bold, eccentric decor.

Giving journalists a peek into the behind-the-scenes development of thenew line were representatives of MAC’s Senior Creative Team, including Gager,Jennifer Balbier, Senior Vice President, Global Product Development,Artistry Brands, The Estée Lauder Companies; and Toni Lakis, Vice Presi-dent of Creative at MAC Cosmetics.

The super-size makeup, combined with red, blue, yellow and gold outerpackaging, symbolizes the strength of the Amazon princess. As Gagerexplained, “The collection shows you the power and force of a woman. That’sone of the reasons that we feel this collection is even more relevant today.We have this amazing powerful woman Michelle Obama who is changingstyle... the women of Estée Lauder, women who run iconic companies.”

“In this collection we were lucky enough to release our own comic,”continued Gager. “We worked with an outside illustrator and a writer andwrote a little story on Wonder Woman. The whole story line is thatWonder Woman arrives in her little jet and sees all these gray looking ladiesand she’s really disturbed by this. She learns that Medusa has begun tocapture all these ladies and is turning them into “plain Janes.” WonderWoman arrives with her full collection of MAC Wonder Woman and usesher powers to make the world and women beautiful again.”

The collection works with every skin tone and can go from‘uber’ intense to really sheer.

Accessories such as makeup bags comein red and bulletproof blue.

The range was being sold exclusively atthe New York City Spring Street Pop-Upstore from January 27 through Febru-ary 10, when it debuted at all MAC loca-tions in North America. On March 1, thecollection was launchedinternationally, includingtravel retail. �

A glimpse of MAC’slimited edition WonderWoman collection

Hibah NoorEditor-In-ChiefT: +1 905 821 3344 x. 29F: +1 905 821 2777E: [email protected]

Ryan WhiteConcessions, Liquor & Tobacco EditorT: +1 905 821 3344 x. 25F: +1 905 821 2777E: [email protected]

Melissa SilvaAssociate EditorT: +1 905 821 3344 x. 23 F: +1 905 821 2777E: [email protected]

Kim CarreraAdvertising & Marketing ManagerT: +1 905 821 3344 x. 30F: +1 905 821 2777E: [email protected]

Beauty Beat: Skincare & Cosmetics

92 THE AMERICAS DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING MARCH/APRIL 2011

Sun Care Milk-LotionSpray SPF50+ and SunWrinkle Control Cream forFace SPF50+ by ClarinsCompany: Essence Corp.Description: Achieving a goldentan while preserving the long-termhealth and beauty of skin hasalways been the Clarins sun carephilosophy. Clarins goes furtherwith two new, high protection (SPF50+) products for face and body,formulated to protect the mostdelicate skin in intense sunlight.Launches spring 2011 in travelretail the Americas and theCaribbean

Extra-Firming BodyCream and Lotion byClarinsCompany : Essence Corp.Description: A complete skincare action to ensure youthful-looking body contours thanksto firming and replenishing benefits. Skin is soft,firm, hydrated and visibly younger-looking, witha choice of two different textures to satisfy allwomen whatever their preference, skin type orseason. Launches in spring 2011 in travel retailin the Americas and the Caribbean

Facial Fuel Age CombatCompany: Kiehl’s, ParbelDescription: Facial Fuel Age Combat is arevitalizing oil-free moisture gel in an easily-absorbed, lightweight formula made from ablend of active, naturally-derived ingredientsthat help to visibly firm skin under the neck anddiminish the appearance of fine lines, whileimproving skin’s tonicity for a firmer, brighterand smoother appearance

Belvada Mascara NoirCompany: Belvada CosmeticsDescription: Unlike conventionalmascaras, with the new Belvadapackage the reserve product isnever exposed to the elements,only the brush and the producton the brush are exposed. Thebottle remains closed and thereservoir material is kept fresh.The mascara is also pushed on tothe brush via a plunger, thisensures that virtually all themascara is used

Source Defense SerumCompany: BvlgariDescription: This cell-energybooster is designed toneutralize the effects ofaging at its source bypreserving mitochondria,the sole source of cellenergy. Combined witha powerful anti-oxidant,this high-performanceanti-aging weaponpreserves skin’syouthfulness capital

Rouge Pur CoutureCompany: Yves Saint Laurent, ParbelDescription: A new-generation lipstickinspired by Monsieur Saint Laurent’s iconiccolor palette – red, fuchsia and orange – in acollection of captivating couture shades thatoffer each complexion a customized look.Lips are saturated with intense, stay-truecolor, thanks to the Coloreveal Technology,while natural extracts provide comfortingmoisture that lasts all day

New Absolu Voyage Rose paletteCompany: Lancôme, ParbelDescription: The black lacqueredcollectible box decorated with a rosecarries a concealer, powder compact,blusher, six eye shadows, a blackkhôl eyeliner and the Virtuôsemascara. For the lips the setcontains three lipsticks and amini lip pencil. To complete thecompact there’s an extra-largemirror and four professional-sizedaccessories (a lip brush, an eyeshadow brush, a powder brush anda powder puff)

Phyto Star Eyes PaletteCompany: Sisley ParisDescription: The new “gun metal” versionoffers four luminous and dazzling shadesthat can be used alone or combined for anatural or more sophisticated look. The

colors include white pearl, black star,silver moon and blue lagoon

Company News: L’Oréal Consumer Products

66 GULF-AFRICA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011

ur major development in the Middle East has been get-ting The Body Shop brand into the airport stores,”says Jacques Berger, Travel Retail Marketing Director,L’Oréal Consumer Products. “In the Middle East we haveintroduced The Body Shop brand in some new coun-

tries like Jordan and Egypt and will introduce it in Lebanon very soon.“The Body Shop is available worldwide in 150 countries.” The

brand is also in the local market in 66 countries and in 2,500 stand-alone stores worldwide, Berger adds.“We hesitated a little bit about what to put on the shelves at first,”

Berger says, “but after a while we discovered that the retailers preferthe body butters and all the body products. This is the way to hookthe consumers.”The Body Shop brand is especially well suited for gifting, Berger says.

The “Create Your Own” concept, introduced last October, allows theconsumer to create their own tailored gift set by picking two Body Shopproducts and then receiving a third complimentary product. Thecomplimentary item can be a mini shower gel or mini body butter.In addition to The Body Shop, L’Oréal Consumer Products han-

dles Roger Gallet, Maybelline and L’Oréal Paris. The latter is a goodpartner for The Body Shop, according to Berger: in fact The Body Shopwas first introduced to the Middle East market following on the suc-cess that the L’Oréal Paris brand enjoyed there. “The link between The Body Shop and L’Oréal Paris lies in the fact

that they are two affordable brands which are in the airports to attractnew consumers,” he says. “The idea is to bring additional business to theoperators.” Travel retail remains an ideal market for luxury products, andBerger believes that because more and more people are traveling, oper-ators continue to need brands like The Body Shop and L’Oréal Paris toattract new categories of buyers and increase revenue.L’Oréal Paris is number one in Jordan, but Dubai is definitely one

of the most important Middle Eastern markets for the brand. It’s inall the terminals at the airport, and is backed up by 16 on-site beautyadvisors. “We have huge promotions,” Berger says. “Most of the timeit’s skincare because skincare is more successful than makeup at thisairport.” There are a lot of Chinese travelers who transit through

Dubai, and they favor whitening products, and a lot of routineslike toners and cleaners. Revitalift is one of the top sellers, and its market momentum

was reinforced with the recent introduction of Revitalift Repair10, which combats 10 signs of aging, including UV damage. TheRevitalift line also includes Revitalift Program, which Berger saysis the number one SKU worldwide. In addition to anti-aging products, mascaras are one of the

strong suits for L’Oréal Paris, and the brand introduced two newsets at TFWA WE this year. Mega Volume Collagene 24 Hourintroduced new collagen biospheres for added lash volume,boasting an expansion factor of nine in addition to its 24-houreffectiveness. False Lash Telescopic delivers lengthening in addi-tion to a false lash effect, based on the linking and binding of1.2mm microfibers to create a telescopic ladder.At TFWA WE L’Oréal also introduced a new promotional tool

for retailers that leverages digital technology and the Internet.It features a large-screen monitor and enables digital marketingcontent to be controlled over the Internet. “We can change advertising from our office in all the air-

ports around the world,” Berger says. “We can adapt to the typeof travelers coming through the airport: for example, for DubaiAirport if there’s a flight coming from China we can make surethat the advertising is in Chinese with subtitles.” The unit isalready in use in Paris, with French, English, Chinese and Russ-ian options. Germany will follow soon, and L’Oréal is already siz-ing up other promising venues. �

“The link between The BodyShop and L’Oréal Paris lies in thefact that they are two affordablebrands which are in the airports

to attract new consumers.”Jacques Berger, Travel Retail Marketing

Director, L’Oréal Consumer Products

“ORevitalift Repair 10 combats 10

signs of aging, including UV damage

L’Oréal Consumer Products makesinroads in the Middle East with avaried portfolio BY HIBAH NOOR

The right mix

Beauty Beat: Skincare & Cosmetics

��Creative cosmetics and revolutionaryskincare: traveling consumers willhave plenty of options to choosefrom this seasonBY HIBAH NOOR

Cellular Radiance Emulsion SPF 30Company: .�$?.6?62Description: ��9645A��@86;�/?645A2;6;4�:<6@AB?2�?2=92;6@56;4�9<A6<;�D6A5�.�564592C29�<3�'$��=?<A20A6<;�.;1�:B9A6=92.;A6�.46;4�/2;236A@��299B9.?�&.16.;02�:B9@6<;�'$��6@�12@64;21�A<�529=?2@A<?2�F<BA53B9�@86;�.;1�C6A.96AF Rouge Pur Couture

Company: ,C2@�'.6;A� .B?2;A�� R#?I.9Description: ��;2D�42;2?.A6<;96=@A608�6;@=6?21�/F�!<;@62B?�'.6;A .B?2;AR@�60<;60�0<9<?�=.92AA2�N?21��3B05@6.�.;1�<?.;42�N�6;�.0<9920A6<;�<3�0.=A6C.A6;4�0<[email protected]@�A5.A�<332?�2.05�0<:=92E6<;.�0B@A<:6G21�9<<8�� 6=@�[email protected]?.A21�D6A5�6;A2;@2��@A.F�A?B20<9<?��A5.;8@�A<�A52��<9<?2C2.9(205;<9<4F��D5692�;.AB?.9�2EA?.0A@=?<C612�0<:3<?A6;4�:<6@AB?2�A5.A9.@A@�.99�1.F

Colour DefinitionOmbre Minérale 4couleursCompany: �9.?6;@�?<B=��@@2;02��<?=�Description: �6459F0<;02;A?.A21�6;�:6;2?.9=64:2;A@��A52@2�[email protected]<D@�?2.99F�9645A�B=A52�2F2@��(52�@2A6;09B12@�3<B?�@.A6;�.;16?612@02;A�@5.12@�.;1AD<�3<.:�.==960.A<?@

Cellular Eye Cream Platinum RareCompany: .�$?.6?62Description: �<:/6;2@�A52�6;A2;@2�.;1�6::216.A2�.0A6<;<3�.�5645�=2?3<?:.;02�@2?B:�D6A5�A52�@B=2?/�5F1?.A6;4=<D2?@�<3�.�?605�F2A�9645A�:<6@AB?6G2?�A5.A�:29A@�6;A<�A52@86;��(52�82F�6;4?2162;A�6@�$B?2��<99<61.9�$9.A6;B:��D5605529=@�?2<?4.;6G2�.;1�?2/.9.;02�A52�@86;R@�;.AB?.9�/B332?G<;2��@562916;4�6A�3?<:�A52�1.:.46;4�23320A@�<3�2EA2?;.93.0A<?@�.;1�=?2C2;A6;4�B;;202@@.?F�:<6@AB?2�9<@@

Cellular Energizing BodycareCompany: .�$?.6?62Description: (52�0<9920A6<;�6;09B12@��299B9.?��;2?46G6;4�.A5�.;1�'5<D2?��2922�.;1��<1F� <A6<;��(52�<;2�=.?A@86;0.?2��<;2�=.?A�3?.4?.;02�@2A ;<A�<;9F�5F1?.A2@�@:<<A52@�.;1�36?:@�A52�/<1F��6A�.9@<�6;C64<?.A2@�A52�=@F052D6A5�.;�6;A?64B6;4�<93.0A<?F�/92;1�<3�/B<F.;A�3?B6AF�.;1�@=60F;<A2@�D6A5�.�/2.BA63B9�39<?.9�52.?A

Double Strength Deep Wrinkle Filler�<:=.;F��6259R@�� R#?I.9�2@0?6=A6<;��/?2.8A5?<B45D?6;892�A?2.A:2;A�A5.A�<332?@6;@A.;A�.;1�9<;4�A2?:�?2@B9A@��D6A5<BA�A52�B@2�<3�@6960<;2@��A�6@�096;60.99F�12:<;@A?.A21�A<16:6;6@5�A52�9<<8�<3�96;2@�.;1D?6;892@�.;1�5.@�/22;�@5<D;A<�:6;6:6G2�A52�;B:/2?�<33.06.9�96;2@�<C2?�A6:2��6;�.@96AA92�.@�3<B?�D228@

42 ASIA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011

The core of the L’Oréal Group’s

Lancôme brand is skincare, and

at the moment the most im-

portant news in that line is the

release of Visionnaire [LR 4212

4%] Corrector Serum. Based on molecular re-

search that has uncovered what L’Oréal calls “a

miraculous new molecule” – the LR 4212 in

the product’s name – Visionnaire promises to

rejuvenate skin, imparting finer texture, eras-

ing wrinkles, reducing pigmentary and vascu-

lar irregularities and tightening pores.

“There is a reason, why we call it the ‘Fun-

damental Corrector’ – for a ‘New Vision of

skin perfection.’ Upon application, one can

immediately see the skin being transformed,”

explains Stefan Lehner, Brand Director

Lancôme for Travel Retail Worldwide, L’Oréal

Luxe. “Such major scientific breakthrough in

skincare does not happen every three months.

We are particularly excited about this skincare

launch and are putting all our energy, creativ-

ity and excitement in this successful launch.

We are convinced that we can recreate a simi-

lar success story as we continue building with

Génifique Youth Activator.”

The “miracle molecule” in Visionnaire

'self-propels' through the layers of the epider-

mis, to set off what Lancôme calls a series of

tissular micro-transformations. The result, the

company says, is that “skin becomes finer,

wrinkles are erased, pigmentary and vascular

irregularities are reduced and pores are tight-

ened.”

The company’s researchers have always paid

attention to the processes that plants use to re-

pair themselves. When damaged, plants pro-

duce a “signal molecule” called jasmonic acid,

which activates healing processes in damaged

tissues and makes them more resistant.

The performance of the new Visionnaire LR

2412 4% product has been tested on Hispanic,

Caucasian, Asian and Afro-American complex-

ions. Lancôme says that the product can be

used on all skin types, including sensitive skin,

and on the eye contour regardless of the time

of year or time of day. Besides the uniqueness

and newness of the new molecule, Visionnaire

LR2412 4% is proven to be effective on every

type of skin and on all different skin carnations.

“We have tested the product on four differ-

ent ethnicities, always with outstanding re-

sults. Visionnaire LR2412 4% truly is a

transversal skincare innovation for each and

every woman on this planet – particularly

those who are currently not Lancôme skin

care users. Third, the powerful molecule

LR2412 has 100% tolerance – even around the

eye contour – and is active on 100% of the

subjects tested, which makes it perfectly suit-

able even for sensitive skin types,” says Lehner.

He continues: “Test results on Asian

women are just amazing. They especially love

the visible skin perfecting properties of Vi-

sionnaire LR2412 4%. This product integrates

itself perfectly in the Lancôme skincare rou-

tine. One starts with Génifique to activate,

then applies Visionnaire LR2412 4% to cor-

rect, before using one’s skin care cream(s).

“Exclusively for the Asian clientele we have

developed in addition a Visionnaire Emulsion

and Lotion, to offer a complete ‘Skin Perfec-

tion’ Routine,’” says Lehner.

The bottle design is inspired by a high-

technology mix of glass and metal, centred on

a fusion of silver and malachite green.

The company’s skincare focus for Septem-

ber and October will be on Visionnaire. Apart

from the regular POS and animation pro-

grams, it will use different visuals, i.e., testi-

monials with different ethnicities at the same

POS in order to communicate that Vision-

naire LR2412 4% truly is a product for every

woman.

Lancôme releases Visionnairebased on LR 2412 moleculeL'Oréal breaks new ground with a revolutionary skincare product

Visionnaire [LR 4212 4%] Corrector Serum

L’Oréal GroupCompany News:

For the first time, New York skinand hair care products makerKiehl’s is offering a collection ofFAA-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 availableexclusively at Kiehl’s airport shops, down-town duty-free shops and onboard withAsiana Airlines, Air China, Air Hainan,China Southern and China Eastern airlinesfrom May of this year.

Seasoned and infrequent travelers noticethe direct effects travel can have on skinincluding dehydration and skin sensitivity.These stresses start during travel and canaffect skin for days afterward. “Preventinghydration loss during a flight is only half ofthe battle,” says Cammie Canella, Kiehl’s

Vice President Education and CustomerRelations. “Just as jet lag must be tended tofor days following travel, travelers shouldactively nurture aggravated skin two to fourdays post-travel to restore their skin’s nat-ural balance.”

Extended exposure to confined envi-ronments such as trains and planes oftenleaves passengers feeling psychological andphysiological effects on their skin. Travelersface conditions that include low humidity,low air pressure and recycled air, whichcause severely parched skin. The typical rel-ative 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-TestedSolutions employs soothing and anti-micro-bial properties to help defend skin imme-diately against these adverse environmental

conditions. The collec-tion also contains cactusflower extract, which is

known to deliver 24/7 hydration, and Tibetanginseng, a mountain plant that increasesskin-cell respiration at high altitudes. Incombination with the blend of essential oils(lavender, geranium and rosemary), theproducts help to protect against dehydration.Kiehl’s says that all four products in the col-lection have been tested in-flight by pilotsand crew members of Air China, Air Hainan,China Eastern and China Southern.

The In-Flight Refreshing Facial Mist isdesigned to restore complexions irritatedby severe in-flight cabin conditions. Themist is 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 Treatmentis designed to help protect hands from impu-rities commonly encountered during travel.The Eucalyptus Lip Relief Class has been for-mulated with eucalyptus, along with cactusflower and Tibetan ginseng.

Each product is available for individ-ual purchase or they can all

be bought together as a travel set, which includes acomplimentarylimited edition luggage tag.


Unisex skin collection offers remediation for physical and psychological impact of travelBY HIBAH NOOR

Kiehl’s

KIEHL’S ANNOUNCES “Travel-Tested Solutions”


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. “While

five 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

�� 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

��

� ��



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