GULF AFRICA Duty-Free & Travel

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 • MEDFA • VOL 20, NO 4

MEDFA 2010

Tourismin Egypt p.16 DDF: A winning

combination p.22 Swarovski – a cut above p.58 Recession-

busting 101 p.70

DARK VELVET

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fter a very strong year for manycountries in Africa, it is fitting thatthe region will play host to the 2010MEDFA conference.

The conference, themed “Real-ity and Opportunity,” will look at a number of keyissues during its two-day run.

On the agenda are thoughts on maintainingthe push that South Africa gained from the WorldCup this past summer. Also examined will be manyof the region’s success stories, including increasedpolitical stability and an escalating economy.

MEDFA’s President Anthony Chalhoub notes:“Development of tourism is attracting moreinvestors and more visitors. Africa is gettingricher and it has a stable and steady growth,which automatically boosts investments and trig-gers opportunities.”

The move to Cairo has long been anticipated by many of MEDFA’s regular attendees;in particular, North African buyers and suppliers are ecstatic with this decision. The con-ference will head back to Dubai in 2011.

Africa isn’t alone when it comes to change. There is also some rearranging taking placeat the MEDFA Board as one of its long-time members, John Sutcliffe, retires this comingDecember. He will also be stepping down from his Managing Director position at Aer RiantaInternational Middle East (ARI-ME). Philip Eckles, the current Regional Manager forNorth America & the Caribbean, will fill Sutcliffe's position starting in January.

On behalf of Gulf-Africa Duty Free I would like to send our best wishes to Sutcliffe, whohas been a key driver in the growth of Aer Rianta and Middle Eastern duty free. He helped tocreate ARI-ME in 1993 and was also a significant player at Dubai Duty Free in the early days.

We would also like to bid farewell to a popular duty free veteran, Stuart Bull. I metStuart five years ago and ever since have known that I can always go to him for a greatinterview, good insight into the industry or simply for a laugh! All of us at Gulf-AfricaDuty Free would like to wish him all the best in his future adventures.

I look forward to seeing you all in Egypt.

Kind regards,

Hibah [email protected]

Letter from the Editor

AIn with Cairo

Gulf-Africa Duty Free & Travel Retailing (ISSN

0954-0592) is published four times a year (Spring, Fall

and Winter) by Global Marketing Company Ltd., 26

Pearl Street, Mississuaga, Ontario L5M 1X2 Canada.

It is distributed to duty free operators and distribu-

tors in the following countries: Bahrain, Kuwait,

Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen, Algeria,

Azerbaijan, Benin, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Djibouti,

Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Iran, Ivory

Coast, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malawi,

Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nige-

ria, Namibia, Pakistan, Reunion, Senegal, Seychelles,

South Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia,

Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Zaire, as well

as to duty free suppliers worldwide.

Subscriptions: $200 for one year, $300 for two yearsand $400 for three years. Art and photographs will

not be returned unless accompanied by return postage.

The views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily

reflect the views and opinions of the publisher or editor.

November/December 2010, Vol. 20, No.4. Printed in

Canada. All rights reserved. Nothing may be reprinted

in whole or in part without written permission from

the publisher. © 2010 Global Marketing Company Ltd.

GULF-AFRICA FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING26 Pearl Street

Mississauga, Ontario L5M 1X2 CanadaTel: 1 905 821 3344; Fax: 1 905 821 2777

www.dutyfreemagazine.ca

PUBLISHER

Aijaz Khan

[email protected]

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

EDITOR

Hibah Noor

[email protected]

CONCESSIONS, LIQUOR & TOBACCO EDITOR

Ryan White

[email protected]

MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT

Faye Rowe

[email protected]

ART DIRECTOR

Patrick Balanquit

[email protected]

CONTRIBUTORS

Andrew Brooks

James Ross

ADVERTISING SALES

ADVERTISING & MARKETING MANAGER

Kim Carrera

[email protected]

SENIOR REGIONAL MANAGER

Neelma Hasan

[email protected]

CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER

Deepa J

[email protected]

www.dutyfreemagazine.ca GULF-AFRICA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING 3

6 GULF-AFRICA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

IN BRIEFIDFT&A plans new store openings and works with supplierson successful promotions � Man from Mars moves on �

Beasts step out into travel retail

TOURISM REPORT

Where it all beginsWith tourism booming this year and growth expected through2020, Egypt proves that it has the infrastructure to welcomean ever-increasing number of adventure seekers

TOP STORY: DUFRY SHARJAH

Evolving with the timesDufry Sharjah continues to transform itself according topassenger profiles and purchasing habits, with the latest stepin the operator’s evolution coming in the form of two newHudson News locations

OPERATOR NEWS: DUBAI DUTY FREE

A winning combination Amid numerous accolades for its retailing achievementsthis year, Dubai Duty Free takes time to give back bysupporting the Dubai Cares initiative

OPERATOR NEWS: CAIRO AIRPORTS DUTY FREE

Inside and outCairo Airports Duty Free keeps its thumb on the pulse of theindustry and as a result takes the next step in the evolutionof both its stores and products

OPERATOR NEWS: BAHRAIN DUTY FREE

A buoyant year Bahrain Duty Free maintains a big presence in the MiddleEast with continued initiatives relating to virtually everyfacet of its business

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 • VOL 20, NO 4

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OPERATOR NEWS: HAMILA DUTY FREE

Game face Hamila Duty Free battles a drop in passenger numbersacross its operations and comes out on top thanks to timelypromotions and new listings

OPERATOR NEWS: KREOL TRADING

A pioneering spiritKreol Trading finds its roots in a groundbreaking venture atCochin Airport, putting the same outside-the-box thinkingto use in-store much to the delight of its clientele

COMPANY NEWS: TOURVEST

Building on past successesAfter a very successful World Cup period, Tourvest—andindeed South Africa as a whole—looks forward to keepingthe good times rolling

OPERATOR NEWS: ALFARAG ADDIS ABABA

Back to basics Alfarag Addis Ababa focuses on staff training and productmix to discourage downtrading and keep high-end productsforemost in the minds of passengers

OPERATOR NEWS: FLEMINGO MAURITIUS

Off to a great startWhile Flemingo Mauritius has only been in operation for littlemore than two years, booming sales have led to strongnumbers and a highly anticipated new store opening

AVIATION REPORT

Positive ratesIn general, passenger traffic and revenues are climbing; it’sthe details that are a little complicated

TFWA WE REVIEW

TFWA World Exhibition endson a high noteOrganizers of this year’s TFWA World Exhibition enjoyeda successful show, reporting an increase in visitors aftera tough 2009

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COMPANY NEWS: LVMH MOËT HENNESSYLOUIS VUITTON

LVMH – a brand for allseasonsThe Middle East travel retail market offers rich picking forLVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton

COMPANY NEWS: NIVEA

Nivea: from the Middle Eastto the worldIt was in the Middle East where Nivea cut its travel retail teeth.Now the brand’s appetite for the channel is taking it global

COMPANY NEWS: PUIG MIDDLE EAST

The smell of successInnovative, exclusive fragrance promotions bring Puig MiddleEast dynamic growth

COMPANY NEWS: TRAVELLER LIMITED

Sky is the limitTraveller builds successful partnerships with leading airlinesacross the Middle East

COMPANY NEWS: AJMAL PERFUMES

The Lure of fragranceBuilding on a history of successful scents, Ajmal Perfumesintroduces its newest launch: Lure

BEAUTY BEAT: FRAGRANCES

Sweet smell of salesThe heady new fragrance launches being introduced thisseason are sure to fly off the shelves

BEAUTY BEAT: SKINCARE & COSMETICS

Beauty boostLuxurious creams and a vibrantcollection of new cosmetics promiseto appeal to women travelers lookingfor a bit of pampering

COMPANY NEWS: SWAROVSKI MIDDLE EAST

Swarovski – a cut aboveGrowth beckons for Swarovski in the Middle East as it widensits product portfolio

CONFECTIONERY NEWS

Confectionery highlights New products, redesigned packages and displays, and in-depth analysis of buying behavior

COMPANY NEWS - DIAGEO

A world of opportunitiesDiageo’s Jane Ewing asserts that the possibilities in the MiddleEast are limitless given Diageo’s ever-evolving portfolio and theregion’s recession-busting performance in 2010

FAST-GROWING LIQUOR BRANDS

Recession-busting 101Gulf-Africa Duty Free examines the explosive growth of threebrands in Middle Eastern travel retail, discovering that aboveall, quality is the key to success in tough times

COMPANY NEWS: FOSTERS

Selling up After some recessionary “trading down,” Fosters Groupsales through Dubai Duty Free are riding a new wave ofconsumer confidence

COMPANY NEWS: BELVÉDÈRE DUTY FREE

Star powerWith Bruce Willis as spokesperson for Sobieski, BelvédèreDuty Free prepares to take on the Middle East with a portfolioof brands that have proven to be stars in their own right

COMPANY NEWS: MONUS

Striking the perfect balanceMonus Tobacco Company continues to attract attention induty free with a wide range of new and classic brands that offerboth quality and value

COMPANY NEWS: IMPERIAL TOBACCO

Full steam aheadFollowing 2010’s new and limited edition packaging, ImperialTobacco is set to roll out impressive new furniture worldwideto continue strengthening its position in duty free

COMPANY NEWS: COMPANY NEWS - JTI

On the riseDespite increasing restrictions on the sale of tobacco productsin many regions, JTI sees shipment volume improve fromJanuary to September 2010

NEW AND NOTABLEChocolate shaped airplanes � Liberty by Tic Tac � AdidasTimepieces

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Association News: MEDFA


Maintainingthe momentum

Appropriately given NorthAfrica’s strong performancethroughout the past year interms of both duty free andtravel, the 2010 MEDFA con-

ference—themed “Reality and Opportu-nity”—will be taking place in Cairo Novem-ber 28–29. Gulf-Africa Duty Free recentlysat down with the organization’s President,Anthony Chalhoub, to discuss the oppor-tunities that abound in the MENA region.Also on the table during this year’s confer-ence are discussions toward maintainingthe momentum that South Africa has gainedfrom the World Cup, and Chalhoub framesthis topic in terms of the numerous other suc-cesses that South Africa has enjoyed of late,such as increased political stability and aburgeoning economy.

Chalhoub also touches on current andfuture challenges, from currency fluctua-tions to tobacco restrictions. He notes thatthe key to facing these challenges and con-tinuing on an upward path is constructivedialogue with the aim of developing proac-tive means to combat future obstacles.

Gulf-Africa Duty Free: By all accounts, NorthAfrica is performing well in duty free com-pared to many other regions throughoutthe world. Can you tell us where you feel the

opportunity lies for the future? What aresome ways that the industry in the regioncan take advantage of these opportunities?Anthony Chalhoub, President, MEDFA:Yes, North Africa is performing well. Devel-opment of tourism is attracting moreinvestors and more visitors. North Africa isgetting richer and has a stable and steadygrowth, which automatically boosts invest-ments and triggers opportunities.

GADF: The issue of currency fluctuationswill be discussed at the conference. How doyou feel currency fluctuations will affect theindustry? What programs are (or should be)in place to minimize any negative impactson the industry in the region?AC: Currency fluctuation is a general andrecurring issue, as some countries are based

on the Euro while others and based on theUS Dollar. Suppliers are invoicing tradi-tionally with one of these two main cur-rencies and therefore it is unavoidable tohave a currency issue when duty free pricesare compared to local markets during impor-tant fluctuations.

Economists are probably better preparedto answer this question, [but] I really thinkwe have to work closely with finance teamsand banks to hedge part of the purchases andbuild price structures accordingly.

GADF: Is coping with rapid growth animportant consideration for the industry inyour opinion? How do you feel this growthshould be managed in the mid to long term?AC: Of course, it is very important to copewith rapid growth, and adjusting extremelyrapidly to customers’ profiles is vital.

GADF: South Africa is also a topic at theconference. What are some ways you feelthat South Africa can continue to build onthe increase in sales/passengers broughtabout by the World Cup?AC: The World Cup was an important eventfor South Africa and football, but South Africaalso is a hugely important country. A lot is hap-pening there. The growth of the economy,political stability and the development of thetourism industry, [apart from] football, havebeen increasing at quite an important pace.

GADF: Can you comment on the changesin the MEDFA board of directors? AC: There will certainly be changes in thecoming months in the MEDFA board asJohn Sutcliffe will be retiring to take anadvisory role for Aer Rianta InternationalMiddle East at the end of the year. Hisreplacement will be Philip Eckles. A newboard will be elected in March or April 2011during the next annual general meeting.

GADF: Why do you feel conferences suchas MEDFA are more important now thanever before?AC: We encourage suppliers, operators andlandlords to attend the MEDFA conferenceand various events related to the trade. Withdialogue and networking, and various pre-sentations, we can help the travel retailindustry develop and grow smoothly andsteadily. It helps us also overcome various dif-ficulties such as airport security and tobaccorestrictions, as well as many other issues.c

Anthony Chalhoub discusses MENA and South Africa, indicating that the key to continued success inboth regions lies in keeping the already successful duty free industry on upward path BY RYAN WHITE

“It is very important tocope with rapid growth,and adjusting extremelyrapidly to customers’profiles is vital.”

Anthony Chalhoub, President, MEDFA


Man from Marsmoves onMany gathered at the Carlton Grand Salonduring the TFWA World Exhibition in Canneslast month to bid farewell to popular dutyfree veteran Stuart Bull.After a successful 40-year stint with

Mars, Bull has decided to move on. Thesalon was packed full of Bull’s well wisherswho listened intently while the Mars teampraised Bull’s contribution to the companyand the travel retail industry worldwide.Every person that has ever met Bull

would know about his deadpan sensehumor, which he demonstrated once againwhen sharing a little anecdote about hisearly days.“Selling Mars bars was a dream job for

a fat boy from the North of England,” jokedBull. “There have been a lot of ups anddowns, in fact quite a few downs, like thetime I was fired in 1996.”

Gulf-Africa Duty Freewishes Stuart Bullall the best in his future endeavors.

As a means of piquing the interest of travelers to Cairo Airport, IDFT&A recently ran a Lindor sampling event

IDFT&A recently worked with Kraft on a Buy 3 Get 1 Free promotion for Toblerone

In Brief

IDFT&A plans new store open-ings and works with supplierson successful promotionsInternational Duty Free Trading & Agencies (IDFT&A) currently has four duty free shopsin Cairo International’s Terminals 1 and 3: two Mont Blanc locations (one in each ter-minal), a Bijoux Terner store in Terminal 1 and a convenience store in Terminal 3. Thecompany will soon be opening a Hugo Boss store in Terminal 1 and a Mont Blanc shopat Hurghada Airport.

IDFT&A Marketing Executive Nermine Nassar notes that plans for more stores at Cairo’sTerminal 2 are also in the works: “We will be opening three more stores in Terminal 2departures once airport construction is finalized. The three stores will be Montblanc,Hugo Boss and Bijoux Terner.”

Nassar also says that one of the stores will contain a small shop-in-shop dedicatedto Godiva chocolates. Of course, as Cairo International’s Terminal 2 closed for renova-tions in March of this year for an estimated 36 months, the company will be focusingon building sales in its other airport shops for the time being.

And as a means of increasing spend in its existing locations, Nassar asserts that promo-tions are a very useful tool: “We’ve recently worked with Kraft on a Buy 3 Get 1 Free pro-motion for Toblerone and the response was very positive. Travelers at Cairo Airport alsoappreciated our Lindor sampling event. Both activations resulted in an increase in sales. We’llcertainly be planning more promotions for the rest of 2010 and into the new year as well.”

Beasts, the manufacturer of colorful rubber flip flops,is collaborating with The Wandering Monkey to intro-duce the ‘must have’ accessory for the upcoming hol-iday season. The Originals range has four distinctive collections

to choose from, including the rainforest, safari, marineand polar, directly reflecting some of the ecosystemsunder threat due to global warming and environmen-tal change. Each flip-flop design depicts the face ofan endangered animal common to the habitat, asclassified by the International Union for Conservationof Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN). With every pair of flip flops sold, £1 (US$1.60) will

be donated to the Born Free Foundation to supportits international animal conservation projects. Beasts is the brainchild of talented designer Melanie

Gwinnett based in Dorset. Gwinnett said: “I’m absolutelythrilled to be collaborating with Jonathan at The Wan-dering Monkey to introduce Beasts into such a dynamicmarket. Our range is one of a kind and I feel it will sitwell within their current range of high quality, uniqueproducts at great value for money.”Jonathan Corbett, Director of The Wandering Mon-

key, commented: “It’s exciting to bring another vibrantbrand into The Wandering Monkey mix that is so suit-able for the travel retail market with such a massivefeel good factor of knowing that the purchase of theproduct is going to a good cause. We look forwardto spreading the word of Beasts footwear with our dutyfree customers.”

The Wandering Monkey will be distributing Beasts flip flops

in travel retail worldwide

Beasts step outinto travel retail


In Brief

Tourism Report


Gulf-Africa Duty Free magazinecaught up with Samy Mah-moud of the EgyptianTourist Authority to discusshow the country has fared

in 2010 with regard to tourism. As opera-tors and airports throughout North Africahave reported traffic increases, it shouldcome as no surprise that the country as awhole is well above last year in terms vis-itors. Perhaps more importantly than thisyear’s performance, however, is the factthat this growth is forecast to continuethrough 2020.

From January to September of this year,10.5 million tourists visited Egypt. This rep-resents an increase of 18.2% over the sameperiod in 2009. The total number of touriststo Egypt in 2009 was 12.5 million, whilethe number of tourist nights was 126 mil-lion. Tourism-related revenues were justover US$10 billion.

“By the end of this year we expect towelcome about 15 million tourists,” saysMahmoud. “When all is said and done, we’reexpecting to be about 20% over 2009 interms of visitors to the country. Moreover,the increase that we’re experiencing at themoment is indicative of things to come. By2020, we expect about 25 million tourists.”

Mahmoud asserts that in addition to theimproving economy, travel to Egypt is

increasing for a number of reasons, not theleast of which is because of a boom in spasand wellness centers, a wide range of golf-ing options, safari and adventure packages,watersports in such tourist hotspots as Sharmel-Sheikh and of course the innumerablecultural and historical destinations that thecountry has to offer.

Business travel is another importantcontributor to Egypt’s economy, and thegovernment has invested considerably infacilities designed as MICE (meetings, incen-tives, conferences and exhibitions) desti-nations. Indeed, Egypt is an ideal choice

for corporate events as visitors have anynumber of options for doing business dur-ing the day and even more possibilities forentertainment at night or on weekends.

“It is also important to note the Egypt-ian Tourist Authority’s latest advertisingcampaign, which operates under the slo-gan ‘Egypt, where is all begins,’ says Mah-moud. “The initiative costs over US$40 mil-lion dollars annually and we cover 26 mar-kets in Europe, North America and Asia inaddition to seven Arab markets.”

Mahmoud further notes that since the endof the nineteenth century, Egypt has beenevolving quickly: “Egypt’s political, econom-ical and cultural life has undergone strikingchanges,” he explains. “From the inscription ofthe first hieroglyph to the construction of thenew hi-tech Smart Village, Egypt has alwaysbeen a pioneer on the frontier for emerginginformation technologies in the Arab world.From tradition to modernity, Egypt is a coun-try which has succeeded in creating a presentthat is as fascinating as its past.” c

No. of visitorsCountry (millions)Russia 1.9 UK 1.081 Germany 0.944Italy 0.891Poland 0.481 France 0.439Libya 0.351Saudi Arabia 0.291Ukraine 0.267Israel 0.184

Who’s visiting?According to the Egyptian Tourist Author-

ity’s data, the following countries round

out the top ten when it comes to visitors

to Egypt from January to September 2010:

Average lengthNationality of stay (days)European 10.6North American 17.0Asian 6.5Arabic 19.0African 8.1

With tourism booming this year and growth expectedthrough 2020, Egypt proves that it has the infrastructure towelcome an ever-increasing number of adventure seekers

Where it all begins BY RYAN WHITE

Timing is everythingThe Egyptian Tourist Authority’s records also

contain useful information on the average

length of stay for visitors to the country:

simply perfect.

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Top Story: Dufry Sharjah


In a recent interview with Erik van der Veen, Deputy COO of DufrySharjah, Gulf-Africa Duty Free learned that the company has a num-ber of initiatives planned for 2011, not the least of which is thenoteworthy rollout of Dufry-owned Hudson News stores begin-ning at Sharjah International Airport. Looking toward 2011, van

der Veen also discussed catering to passengers of various national-ities and ensuring that product mix and promotional activitieskeep the excitement strong throughout the year. Regardless of thetopic of conversation, it’s clear that van der Veen sees the contin-ued evolution of the business as a major contributor to DufrySharjah’s success.

Up to speedPassenger numbers at Sharjah International Airport have beenincreasing steadily over 2009, and Dufry Sharjah’s sales so far thisyear have been in line with these traffic increases. The company hastwo stores landside in departures, three shops airside in departuresand one arrivals shop. The main shop in departures, as well as theseparate luxury store in the same area of the airport, also caters toa small number of arriving passengers.

The main store measures nearly 2,000-square-meters, while thefashion location measures 320-square-meters. Dufry Sharjah’s last-minute store, which carries the most popular SKUs, is 45-square-meters, the arrivals shop is 110-square-meters and the two landsidestores—which are linked together—total 150-square-meters. It’s nodoubt that the company has a huge presence in the airport, and asa result Dufry places great emphasis on staying on top of passen-gers’ preferences when it comes to shopping duty free.

“As a major duty free operator, our offering needs to be as broadas possible,” explains van der Veen. “Of course, at the same time it’simportant to concentrate on key categories and brands. For exam-ple, we cater to many Russian passengers. These travelers tend tospend more than passengers from, say, Nepal, who also shop at ourstores. It’s very important to have detailed information about thepurchasing habits of a given group of consumers.”

And to that end, Dufry has a database that provides regional Dufry-owned stores with useful information on consumer trends through-out its worldwide operations. The folks at Dufry Sharjah regularlyconsult this information system as a means of tailoring the prod-uct mix and pricing to the passengers that are shopping in their stores.

“People tend to be very brand-loyal when purchasing categories

such as tobacco, but this type of information really comes in handyfor spirits and fashion items, for example, where consumers are opento trying new brands,” continues van der Veen. “The database helpsus in the sense that it takes some of the guessing out of whichbrands customers are open to buying.”

While European purchases fell slightly last year, van der Veen notesthat he’s starting to see spending from this group of passengers bounceback. He explains that tracking trends was very important at the heightof the recession as it allowed Dufry Sharjah to keep on top of whowas spending and who wasn’t.

“Our main customers are Indians, but European spending is onthe upswing, meaning that we have to keep a close eye on productmix,” van der Veen says. “Europeans tend to spend more when return-ing home, especially on cigarettes and spirits, because of the signif-icant tax savings they see from shopping at our stores. However,food and confectionery are also very popular with other passengers,so we’re always very cognizant of stocking the right products.”

Out with the old…Every April and October Dufry Sharjah switches up its assortmentat the stores. Of course, van der Veen notes that there are corebrands—perennial bestsellers such as Johnnie Walker to name butone—that remain year-round. All in all, however, about 15% of theproducts in store get changed out bi-annually based upon datacollected from the previous financial period.

“This keeps our assortment fresh and exciting, and we’re alwayswilling to try something new provided we feel the product is attrac-tive to our customers,” van der Veen says. “Although I can’t men-tion specific products at the moment, I can tell you that we’re cur-rently in the process of implementing a wide range of new prod-ucts in the stores for 2011.”

… and in with the new“Our landside departures convenience and luggage shop will be con-verted into a Hudson News location in Q1 2011,” van der Veenexplains. “Furthermore, the arrivals shop will also be convertedinto the same. These will be the first Hudson News locations in theregion and will serve as nice contact points in the Middle East forairports here that are considering a Hudson News in their facilities.”

In 2008, Hudson Group merged with Dufry. The transactionincluded an exchange of shares of Hudson Group's common stock

Dufry Sharjah makes use ofinformation on passengerprofiles and purchasing

habits taken from Dufry’sworldwide database in

order to tailor offerings toits specific clientele

Dufry Sharjah continues to transform itself according to passenger profiles and purchasing habits, withthe latest step in the operator’s evolution coming in the form of two new Hudson News locations

Evolvingwith the timesBY RYAN WHITE

to play a big role in Dufry Sharjah’s activities during the year to come.In addition to regular gift with purchase and 2-plus-1 deals inmany categories that run year-round, the operator has somethingbig planned for 2011.

“We’re planning on a scratch and win promotion in 2011, withthe grand prize being a new car,” explains van der Veen. “We’ve donethis type of activation in the past and have had a really goodresponse. Many of our Indian customers are really driven by pro-motions when it comes to purchasing, so again this is another wayto try to meet the needs of our specific passenger profile here at Shar-jah International.

“We’re looking forward to the new year and continuing to growsales,” concludes van der Veen. “Watch us in 2011!” c

into Dufry equity. In simple terms, Dufry now directly owns 100%of Hudson.

At the time of the merger, Hudson Group operated 540 duty-paid stores in 70 airports and transportation terminals throughoutthe United States and Canada. Of course, Dufry is set to give Hud-son News a new global presence, and the 2011 opening of the twostores in Sharjah Airport is essentially an early taste of what will even-tually be a wider rollout worldwide.

The new Hudson News locations will take up approximately 260-square-meters in Sharjah Airport and feature the same custom-devel-oped concession programs and trend-setting store concepts forwhich Hudson Group is known. Hudson News’ mix of nationallyrecognized brands and quality local products, in combination witha distinctly customer-centric business philosophy, are sure to provepopular in Sharjah.

Piquing interestsIn addition to the above developments, promotions will continue

Commenting in 2008 on the merger ofDufry and Hudson Group, CEO of DufryJulian Diaz said he was “delighted aboutthis transaction. Hudson sets the stan-dard in duty paid travel retailing. Thecombination of Hudson's retailing exper-tise and Dufry's know-how in internationalmarkets and global footprint are a per-fect match to create a duty paid newsand convenience store concept on aninternational scale. “Hudson even generates higher

returns in duty paid than the average dutyfree operation, thanks to its focus ontravelers' needs,” continued Diaz. “ForDufry, this transaction is a great opportunity to build up a strongposition in the duty paid convenience store segment, which com-plements Dufry's duty free business at a similar profitability.”

Two new Hudson News locations are set to open at Sharjah Airportin Q1 2011 (pictured is Dufry’s first Hudson News outside of the USand Canada, located in Puerto Rico)

Operator News: Dubai Duty Free


Dubai Duty Free recently pre-sented Dubai Cares with thefirst donation generated fromsales of Dubai Cares merchan-dise at Dubai International Air-

port. This joint initiative, which commencedin May 2010, was launched to raise funds forDubai Cares and to increase awareness of theDubai Cares brand around the world.

Commenting on the initiative, ColmMcLoughlin, Managing Director of DubaiDuty Free, said: “We are delighted to be partof this retail initiative, which is the start ofsomething exciting for both organizations.We are also happy to be presenting the firstcheque to Dubai Cares to aid them in theiraim of improving access to primary educa-tion for children in developing countries.”

Featuring the Dubai Cares logo, the rangeat Dubai Duty Free includes affordable itemswhich appeal to departing and transitingpassengers.

“This partnership with Dubai Duty Freeand the success that this joint initiative hasenjoyed to date highlights the rapidlyincreasing focus that corporate and gov-ernment entities are giving to corporatesocial responsibility,” said Tariq Al Gurg,CEO of Dubai Cares.

“Dubai Duty Free caters to millions oftravelers every year and we are confident thatthis is just the start of a long-term and mutu-ally beneficial relationship,” Al Gurg contin-ued. “We welcome and deeply appreciate thesupport of Dubai Duty Free and its cus-tomers who are helping us achieve our objec-tive of improving the lives of millions of chil-dren across the world by providing themwith access to quality primary education.”

In related news, Dubai Duty Free was recently presented with theRetailer of the Year award at the Retail City Awards held to coin-cide with the Cityscape exhibition at the Dubai InternationalConvention Centre. The award acknowledged Dubai Duty Free’s retail achievements

over the past year, in which its turnover reached US$1.14 billion(2009). The operation was once again named as the largest sin-gle airport retailer in the world.Commenting on this latest award, Managing Director of Dubai

Duty Free Colm McLoughlin said: “We thank the organizers of theRetail City Awards for recognizing our efforts at Dubai Duty Freeand those of the retail sector in the UAE as a whole. The retail sec-tor has come through a difficult period globally but this sector con-tinues to be dynamic and innovate here in the UAE and we aredelighted to be a part of it.”The accolade comes hot on the heels of another major award

win. Earlier in the year, Superbrands Middle East announced thatDubai Duty Free won the Brand of the Year honor at the sixth annual

Superbrands tribute event. Sixty-two top brands were awardedthe Superbrands status out of thousands available in the UAE. Thebrands that scored more than 80% of the total possible marks weredeclared Superbrands by the Brand Council. To win this accoladeis a powerful endorsement and evidence for existing customers,potential customers, the media, suppliers, investors and employ-ees of each brand’s exceptional status. Accepting the award on behalf of Dubai Duty Free, Managing

Director Colm McLoughlin said, “We are delighted to receive thetop Superbrands award and thank the council members and asso-ciates for voting for Dubai Duty Free. As a brand, we have alwaysunderstood the importance of marketing and in having a mean-ingful relationship with our customers, our suppliers and our ownemployees. This award reflects our efforts over the past 26 years.” “Even after 26 years of success, Dubai Duty Free is a brand

that continues to excel and grow—a perfect example of a Super-brand,” said Mike English, Director, Superbrands Middle East. “Theyare one of the most trusted and recognized brands internation-ally. We would like to congratulate them on this feat and wish themeven more success in their future endeavors.”

Respected in the trade

“We are… happy to be pre-senting the first cheque toDubai Cares to aid them intheir aim of improving accessto primary education for chil-dren in developing countries.”

Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director, Dubai Duty Free

(From left) Anne Smith, Manager-Corporate Responsibility of Dubai Duty Free; GeorgeHoran, Deputy Managing Director, Dubai Duty Free; Yasemin Kanan Saib, Senor FundDevelopment Manager of Dubai Cares; and Saba Tahir, Manger-Purchasing, Dubai Duty Free

A winning combinationSean Staunton, Manager-Operations at Dubai DutyFree, received the Retail City Awards on behalf ofDubai Duty Free from Peter Walichnowski, CEO ofMajid Al Futtaim Property

Amid numerous accolades for its retailing achievements thisyear, Dubai Duty Free takes time to give back by supportingthe Dubai Cares initiative BY RYAN WHITE

Shadow for Him now available at Select Duty Free outlets. For enquir ies, please cal l + 971 4 269 01 02 (Ext. 273), e-mai l [email protected] or v is i t www.ajmalper fume.com


In a move to distinguish itself from otherretailers in Cairo International Airport,Cairo Airports Duty Free (CADF) hasundertaken a new branding initiativethat will eventually see all of its stores

exhibiting a more homogeneous look. Thefacades of the Terminal 3 stores now featuregold-, turquoise-, coral- and lapis lazuli-colored stripes meant to evoke the hues oftraditional Egyptian jewelry.

“The new look premiered in August atour six stores in Terminal 3,” says CADF Man-aging Director Nadia Rashad. “We felt that wehad to stand out, and this was really the impe-tus for the new project. We’ll be extending thistheme to the six terminal 1 stores in 2011.”

The traditional elements of the new aes-thetics work extremely well given some ofthe stores that CADF opened recently inTerminal 3. Taste of Egypt and EgyptianTreasures were designed according to thenew theme and appropriately contain Egypt-ian products such as wine, olive oil, olives,cigarettes, herbal teas, coffee, honey, dates andmuch more.

“The stores really attract passenger atten-tion, and of course that’s what we’re look-ing to accomplish,” says Rashad. “In addition

to changing the look of the stores them-selves, we’ve also matched our shoppingbags and advertising accordingly. Once theTerminal 1 stores are updated next year,passengers will be able to immediately rec-ognize CADF’s stores, which is certainlyimportant from a branding perspective.”

Time to playIn addition to the new-look stores, the prod-ucts within—at least in terminal 1—have alsochanged considerably. Around the begin-ning of the year, CADF began to see a shiftin purchasing habits away from high-enditems. Magued Mounir, Operation Man-ager at CADF, explains: “From 2009 to 2010,

we’ve seen a gradual drop in sales of luxuryitems. Passengers are still buying items forgifting purposes, but are shifting from onecategory to another.”

Star Alliance and Egypt Air don’t have apresence in terminal 1 of Cairo Interna-tional Airport, meaning that CADF catersmostly to tourists in its stores there. Ofcourse, it’s no secret that the industry ingeneral has lately seen passengers tradingdown as customer confidence remains weak,and like many others operators CADF has

learned to roll with the punches. The com-pany has changed its product mix in one ofits terminal 1 stores to offer passengers moreof the products they want.

“Our top selling categories in terms ofsales are confectionery, toys and Egyptiansouvenirs,” says Mounir. “In 2010 we’reseeing a shift toward toys and confectionery.We’ve introduced a number of new toyand confectionery brands into our stores.Adaptation is key, so for that reason in oneof our terminal 1 stores toys take up about70% of the space, whereas before in thesame store, toys only occupied about 5% ofthe total space.”

With the increase in space dedicated totoys, CADF has necessarily begun workingwith a number of new toy suppliers such asCartoon Stores, Wizz and Russ, to name afew. “There’s really a huge variety of optionsfor passengers of all ages,” adds Rashad. “Westarted bringing in more toys and confec-tionery in March and since then the responsehas been great.”

Indeed, CADF has seen sales remain sta-ble this year in comparison to 2009, withsome obvious differences in average ticketvalue and the number of transactions giventhe fact that consumers are opting for lower-priced items. “At the end of the day, pas-sengers are still spending, so we’re pleased,”says Mounir.

In 2011, CADF will be focusing on the the-matic redesign of its terminal 1 stores inaddition to continuing to pay close attentionto ever-changing spending habits. “We’veshown this year that we have the ability toboth adapt successfully and proactively makechanges that need to be made in order toremain a key player in the airport,” con-cludes Rashad. “Our aim is to continueinnovating for a long time to come.” c

“We started bringing inmore toys and confectioneryin March and since then theresponse has been great.”

Nadia Rashad, Managing Director, CADF

Operator News: Cairo Airports Duty Free

Inside and outThe facades of CADF’s

terminal 3 stores now featuregold-, turquoise-, coral- and

lapis lazuli-colored stripes thatevoke the hues of traditional

Egyptian jewelry

Cairo Airports Duty Free keeps its thumb on the pulse of the industry and as a result takes the next step in theevolution of both its stores and products BY RYAN WHITE

Operator News: Bahrain Duty Free


Bahrain Duty Free Shops Com-plex has had a buoyant year todate. The operator reports thatsales results have been positivedespite the global recession,

indicating “tighter controls, improved effi-ciencies and the support of our loyal cus-tomers” as the keys to success.

Bahrain Duty Free reports that its airport,seaport, in-flight and training operationsall performed well and contributed stronglyto the overall business. The company notesthat the Hidd Port contract for the cruise lineterminal opens shortly and is expected to helpin the continued growth, adding value to theoverall business.

Bahrain Air’s business continues to growsteadily, largely as a result of the addition ofnew routes, and Bahrain Duty Free has justlaunched the third Bahrain Air in-flightmagazine. Furthermore, the operator’s retailtraining division company, Bahrain Inter-national Retail Development (BIRD), has alsoexpanded and won additional training con-tracts. BIRD has added both training mod-ules and partners to its portfolio this year tomeet the growing needs of Bahrain and thecountry’s 2030 objectives.

“Our main focus continues to be on cus-tomer service, customer care and innovationin products, promotions and service toensure a better experience for the customerat Bahrain Duty Free,” says Steve O’Conner,General Manager of Bahrain Duty Free.

The Bahrainization policy adopted bythe company since its inception has playeda major role in attracting many tourists tothe Bahrain Duty Free shops at the depar-tures area in Bahrain International Airport.The growth in Bahrainization has been con-sistent, having now reached a current rate of60%. By the end of the year, the rate isexpected to rise to 63% as the trainees

presently employed finish their studies.On the other hand, the training scheme

instills in the newly recruited trainees the factthat a successful salesperson does not nec-essarily have to be an expatriate individual.As result a number of the existing staff mem-bers have been promoted to supervisorypositions in a very short period of time afterjoining and completing training. Some ofthese trained staff members are being pre-pared to further assume higher positions.

This policy has had a significant impactin reducing the rate of resignations in com-parison to the past three years, the com-pany reports. Bahrain Duty Free investsaround BD180,000 (US$478,000) annuallyon training and development projects, witha tendency to increase its annual training anddevelopment budget to meet its continuingpolicy of Bahrainization.

The success of the operator’s HumanResources management was highlighted ear-lier this year by its winning the prestigiousaward as the best company in humanresources management and nationalizationin the region. Bahrain Duty Free’s CorporateHuman Resources Director was also honoredby the Supreme Council for Vocational Train-ing and the Ministry of Labor in the field oftraining and human resource development.

Of course, Bahrain Duty Free has notskimped on airport investment, as it com-pleted an upgrade to the perfume area, a newZummerod shop, the introduction of aBijoux Terner shop, the refit of the souvenirarea, a move to a larger location for sun-glasses, moves for luggage and travel,expanded space for the book shop, theupgrading of the A-Z shop with food areaand the addition of shopping trolleys.

Bahrain Duty Free notes that furtherplanned upgrades for its duty free operationsduring the rest of this year and into 2011 arefor pillar lightboxes to be installed, a Mont-blanc premium shop, a major refit of the elec-tronics area and an upgrade of promotionaland car sites.

“We’re aiming to have the Montblancstore opened around the beginning ofDecember so that we can have it finishedbefore our peak period,” notes O’Conner.“The store will measure 40-square-metersand it will be located beside our Givenchy-and Hugo Boss-branded departures stores.”

Finally, O’Conner notes that there’s plentyto be optimistic about for the rest of theyear: “We’re going into a period of the yearthat is generally busy for duty free in thisregion, so we expect a lot more airport travel,which should in turn generate sales.” c

Bahrain Duty Free recently opened anew Bijoux Terner-branded shopmeasuring 15-square-meters atBahrain International Airport

Bahrain Duty Free has increased thesunglasses department by 10-square-meters in its main departures store

A buoyant yearBahrain Duty Free maintains a big presence in the Middle East with continued initiatives relating to virtually every facet of its business BY RYAN WHITE


While operators generally try tokeep their sales well ahead ofpassenger numbers, it can besaid that this is a feat muchmore easily accomplished

when traffic is on the rise—increased travelgenerally corresponds with an increase indisposable income, after all. However, HamilaDuty Free put on its game face in 2010, devel-oping promotions and securing new listingsthat have captured the interests of shoppers.

“In general we’re 3% above the sameperiod last year in terms of sales,” says

Mariem Ben Cheikh, Managing Director ofHamila Duty Free. “We’re very pleased withthese results because across all of our oper-ations we saw a drop in passenger numbersof about 12%.”

Ben Cheikh notes that the Islamic holymonth of Ramadan—the timing of whichvaries from year to year on the Gregorian cal-endar—was during the summer in 2010.As a result, sales at La Goulette Harbor tookless of a hit than they normally would have(liquor sales generally dip during Ramadan)because summer is high season in Tunisia.

For Eid, the period marking the end ofRamadan, the operator ran a 25% off pro-motion on all accessories.

“During this period, people usually by alot of presents,” says Ben Cheikh. “The 25%off promotion really helped sales and gavepeople the extra incentive they needed tospend a little more at our stores. Furthermore,if you look at sales only during Ramadan,of course there is decrease in liquor purchases.However, liquor sales doubled both beforeand after Ramadan this year, which reallyhelped business.”

Specific products that are currently sellingwell are Paco Rabanne’s 1 Million, Dior per-fumes, Guerlain makeup, L’Oriel France prod-ucts and Revlon cosmetics. In spirits, GreyGoose Vodka and Absolut are continuing tosell well. Finally, Hello Kitty products areproving to be extremely popular with children.

Earlier in the year, Ghofrane Zitouni, Salesand Development Director of Hamila’s par-ent company YKH Holding, noted that thecompany is “just starting out” at EnfidhaAirport, and for that reason sales haven’tbeen quite as robust as at the seaport locations.

Ben Cheikh confirms that low passenger traf-fic due largely to a lack of routes to and fromthe airport is still a cause for concern, butmaintains that the company is planning apromotional calendar for 2011 that will nodoubt generate better results.

Apart from promotional activities, a sureway to pique the interest of shoppers is newlistings. With that in mind, Hamila has addeda number of interesting products to its stores.

“We’re currently increasing the numberof brands in our jewelry category, and we’veadded some really nice products from Scor-pio and Pierre Cardin,” says Ben Cheikh.“We’ve also noticed a shift in the passengerprofile and as a result we’re rounding out ourskincare and makeup with brands such asMaybelline, Body Shop and L’Oriel Paris.Again, travelers are really responding well tothese additions.”

The company’s in-flight duty free sales arealso impressive. As can be expected, cigarettes,fragrances and spirits make up the bulk ofpurchases. However, Ben Cheikh asserts thatwatches and accessories have come to theforefront in 2010.

In 2011, Ben Cheikh plans on concentrat-ing on Hamila’s ferry business as it representsa sizeable 25% of overall revenue: “We’re goingto be renovating our shops to make them lookmore modern and trendy,” she says.

While Hamila doesn’t plan on openingany new duty free stores in 2011, Ben Cheikhdid confirm that a new store dedicated to per-fumes will open next year in the domesticmarket. While details are still under wraps,she notes that the concept is unique andshould garner a lot of attention.

“For the moment in duty free we’re con-centrating on our existing stores,” she con-cludes. “Considering the drop in passengernumbers this year, we’ve performed extremelywell. In 2011 we’ll be looking at how we cancontinue this strong performance in the storeswe’re currently operating through contin-ued promotions and product listings.” c

“Considering the drop inpassenger numbers thisyear, we’ve performedextremely well. In 2011we’ll be looking at howwe can continue thisstrong performance.”

Mariem Ben Cheikh, Managing Director, Hamila Duty Free

Game faceHamila Duty Free battles a drop in passenger numbersacross its operations and comes out on top thanks totimely promotions and new listings BY RYAN WHITE

Operator News: Hamila Duty Free

Hamila’s two stores at Enfidha Airport in Tunisia measure atotal of 272-square-meters and offer Tunisian duty freeproducts such as souvenirs, wines, tobacco and more

Operator News: Kreol Trading


UAE-based Kreol Trading Estab-lishment runs an extensiveduty free operation at CochinAirport in Kerala, India inpartnership with Aldeasa. The

airport boasts the fourth-largest passengertraffic in India with 450 flights per week. Thefacilities are spread over 526 hectares ofland. Of this, 323 hectares are currently inuse for the airport activities while 200 hectareshave been earmarked for aviation mainte-nance, a convention center, hotels and anInformation Technology Zone.

While the airport is owned by the Keralastate government and Indian financial insti-tutions, the major shareholders are 11,000expatriate Indians living in 30 countries.Indeed, Cochin International Airport marksthe first ever public-private-government ven-ture of its kind, and Kreol Trading and Aldeasaare committed to extending this pioneeringspirit to their duty free operations at Cochin.

“Kreol Trading is delighted about theirpartnership with the global duty free giantAldeasa, as this has taken their joint-ventureoperations to a higher level,” says A.S. Lal,Chief Executive at Kreol Trading. “Our jointventure is also grateful to Cochin Interna-tional Airport for giving us the opportu-nity to be a part of this unique venture.”

One of Kreol Trading’s many strong suitsis that it has an extensive knowledge of localclientele and a product mix to match pas-senger tastes. This, combined with a business

plan that consists of year-round promo-tions highlighted by special raffles and drawsat various times of the year to increase perpassenger spend, means that Alpha-Kreol iswell positioned to handle the airport’s risein traffic over 2009.

Last year, 1.9 million passengers were ser-viced by Cochin Airport. By the end of 2010,a projected 2.2 million passengers are expectedto be processed. The operator has kept wellahead of this trend, with sales this year thatare about 30% higher than last year. Averagecustomer spend is at a respectable US$46while the penetration rate stands at 25%.

Not surprisingly, liquor is the number onecategory in terms of sales, accounting for 57%of Alpha-Kreol’s revenue. Confectioneryaccounts for about 17% of sales, with cus-tomers particularly fond of Mars products.Also representing 17% of sales are groceryitems. Within this last category Nido pow-dered milk is the most popular product.

“I would put the rise in sales down in partto more tourists heading to affordable India,particularly for the natural beauty of Ker-ala state and its mix of spices, Ayurveda [asystem of traditional medicine practiced inIndia] and breathtaking wildlife,” says Lal.

While the rise in passenger numbers canbe explained by an influx of tourists, spend-ing by vacationers is only a part of the rea-son for Alpha-Kreol’s sales increases. In fact,natives of Kerala state make up the major-ity of shoppers at the store, and as men-

tioned, a keen eye for consumer preferenceshas resulted in sales that far exceed theincrease in passenger numbers.

“The natives who visit the store live andwork all over the world,” explains Lal. “Withinthis category lies the large segment of thosewho work in the Middle East, usually return-ing to visit their families every year. Ourknowledge of the local trends in Kerala, aswell as an understanding of the aspirationsof the migrant workers, has guided us in cre-ating a product mix that fits the needs andbudgets of our target customers.”

Alpha-Kreol has literally lightened theload for these passengers, understanding thatmany of them are already carrying bags ladenwith gifts and supplies from abroad for fam-ily members. Thus, the arrivals store carriesconfectionery, groceries, cosmetics and toi-letries as it has become clear that these are thetypes of products that returning expats desire.

Of course, nothing increases spend fromall demographics like promotions, and KreolTrading has developed year-round offerspunctuated with special raffles for somevery special prizes, including gold, an apart-ment and various cars. Regular promotionsinclude gift with purchase offers and 2-for-1 deals. For the upcoming Christmas sea-son, the operator will offer special pricingon Diageo’s portfolio of spirits (incidentallythe best selling spirits in Alpha-Kreol’sliquor category) and confectionery productsfrom Nestlé, Mars, Ferrero, Cadbury andKraft products.

Kreol Trading is also focusing on the travelretail distribution side of its business in Asiaand the Arabian Gulf Region while contin-uing to list new items. “Cadillac perfume isthe latest addition to our distribution port-folio and we’re very pleased with the reactionto the brand,” explains Lal. “We’re also nego-tiating for a number of new food and con-fectionery items to be included in store as ameans of continuing to offer passengers theproducts they want and need.” c

“Kreol Trading is delightedabout their partnership withthe global duty free giantAldeasa, as this has takentheir joint-venture opera-tions to a higher level.”

A.S. Lal, Chief Executive, Kreol Trading

A pioneering spiritKreol Trading finds its roots in a groundbreaking venture at Cochin Airport, putting the sameoutside-the-box thinking to use in store much to the delight of its clientele BY RYAN WHITE

Alpha-Kreol India Limitedmanages two stores in CochinAirport in India, one in arrivalsmeasuring 790-square-meters

and one in departures measuring465-square-meters

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Operator News: Tourvest


G ulf-Africa Duty Free recentlyspoke to Eric De Jager, Tour-vest’s CEO Retail Merchan-dising, to get a sense of thecompany’s successes through-

out 2010, and especially during the WorldCup. His words reveal that while Spain mayhave taken home the trophy, it certainlywasn’t the only winner this summer. Appro-priately at this year’s MEDFA conference, Sel-wyn Grimsley, CEO of Tourvest Duty Free,will take the stage to discuss the next step inextending sales in South Africa in the longterm. As for De Jager, he sees the popular-ity of the World Cup boding well for tourismin South Africa well into 2011.

Perhaps the most exciting developmentfor the company in H1 2010 was that justprior to the World Cup, Tourvest was awardedthe tender for a new souvenir shop at O.R.Tambo. Not being a company to pass up anopportunity, they opened a temporary storewithin a week of being allocated the space andpatiently waited for the influx of soccer fans.

Indeed, the company’s decision to open thetemporary shop paid off in spades. The loca-tion was originally stocked with US$105,000worth of goods, and in just 19 days the com-pany did US$263,000 in sales. Of course, thisis only one of the stores at O.R. Tambo. Alsolocated in the airport is the company’s biggestshop, Out of Africa, which measures 450-square-meters. Add to the above stores inCape Town and in well-known destinationssuch as Robben Island, the V&A Waterfrontand Kruger National Park, and a bigger pic-ture in relation to the company’s sales dur-ing the World Cup begins to emerge.

“In terms of souvenirs, we sold 1.2 mil-lion individual items,” says De Jager. “Top sell-ers included vuvuzelas and what has becomea local icon—the Zuma scarf. Our PresidentJacob Zuma wore the scarf to an officialfunction and it became a bestseller overnight.”

Gulf-Africa Duty Free obtained the hardnumbers on Tourvest’s sales during this peakperiod: Over the four weeks of the tourna-ment the company sold 48,310 vuvuzelas;

57,152 African animal plush toys; 49,768 t-shirts, the most popular of which waschocolate-colored and featured the Africancontinent on the front; 125,025 pieces ofcostume jewelry, mostly ethnic in style andcomposition; and 44,559 fridge magnets,the most popular being the South African flag.

Tourvest also sold an impressive amountof decorated ostrich eggs— 6,705 in total, tobe exact. Of these, 75% were decoupage eggsretailing at R380 (US$50), meaning that thecompany sold over US$250,000 worth ofthis item alone during the World Cup.

“Trading patterns changed over the timeof the World Cup,” notes De Jager. “Thepurchasing was male-driven and sales at thesouvenir stores grew by over 80% year-on-year. In terms of traditional duty free mer-chandise, the focus was on ‘guilt purchases’such as jewelry and ladies’ watches.”

As an in-flight promotional item dur-ing the World Cup, Tourvest launched theTelefunken tv-enabled mobile phone, whichproved very popular with African customers.Other items that sold well during the tour-nament were cosmetics and liquor, withsunglasses performing beyond expectation.

For the rest of the year, Tourvest willremain busy with the opening of a “Madein South Africa” store at O.R. Tambo. Thestore will measure 70-square-meters andwill be designed to promote established andemerging craftspeople in the country.

Apart from the company’s iconic Outof Africa store at O.R. Tambo, most of its air-port outlets were built in just the last twoyears in preparation for the World Cup.

However, Tourvest does plan to upgradestores at Sun City, the Palace of the Lost Cityand in Kruger National Park.

Historically, World Cuphost countries experiencedouble-digit growth for atleast three years after theevent. This, combined withTourvest’s already suc-cessful business,gives De Jager adistinctly posi-tive outlook forthe near futurethat hints at the

tone that SouthAfrica-related dis-cussions at MEDFAmay take: “The spec-tacular success achievedby South Africa as the host nation bodeswell for the future of our tourism industry,” heconcludes. c

“The spectacular suc-cess achieved by SouthAfrica as the host nationbodes well for the futureof our tourism industry.”Eric De Jager, CEO Retail Merchandising, Tourvest

Building on past successesAfter a very successful World Cup period, Tourvest—and indeed South Africa as a whole—looks forward to keeping the good times rolling BY RYAN WHITE

Tourvest sold 6,705 decorated ostrich eggs duringthe World Cup, and sales in the four-week period for

this item alone topped US$250,000

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

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Operator News: Alfarag Addis Ababa

Just as operators have been affectedby the economic downturn in anynumber of ways, there are alsonumerous avenues toward combat-ing the decrease in customer spend,

from running large-scale promotions andinvesting in advertising to renovating or chang-ing product mix. Alfarag Addis Ababa DutyFree, located in Ethiopia, has gotten back tobasics by concentrating on staff training andensuring the correct product mix this year, andas a result the operator has seen a significantsales increase over 2009.

The company operates two stores mea-suring 600-square-meters and 470-squaremeters in Addis Ababa Airport’s departures area.The stores carry a range of high-end brandsin a number of categories such as confec-tionery products (e.g., Nestlé, Mars, Ferrero,Goldkenn, Toblerone); tobacco (e.g., PhilipMorris, JTI, Imperial Tobacco, Villiger); watches(e.g., Rado, Tissot, Longines, Calvin Klein,Cartier); writing instruments (e.g., Mont-blanc, Parker, Waterman); cosmetics and per-fumes (e.g., Christian Dior, Chanel, YSL,Givenchy, Kenzo, Paco Rabanne and premiumL’Oreal brands such as Lancome, GiorgioArmani, Cacharel, Diesel, Guy Laroche andmore); sunglasses (e.g., Ray-Ban, Oakley, YSL,Guess, Giorgio Armani, Bvlgari); luggage fromSamsonite; electronics (e.g., Sony, Panasonic,Nokia, Canon); jewelry (e.g., Swarovski, Calvin

Klein) and sports clothing and accessories With so many high-end products in the

stores, downtrading may have been a seri-ous issue this year. However, the passengermake up at Addis Ababa Airport includes anumber of demographics that have tradi-tionally been seen as ready to buy if giventhe proper attention.

“We have many Chinese and Indian pas-sengers coming through our stores,” saysAnwar Farag, Managing Director at AlfaragAddis Ababa. “Of course, as Ethiopia is thehub for Ethiopian Airlines flights flyingfrom all across Africa to the rest of the world,we have a significant portion of travelersfrom West Africa followed by passages fromEast and Central Africa.”

The purchasing power of Chinese travel-ers is legendary, and the upper middle classof India has emerged as a segment of theworld’s population that also has disposableincome to spend when traveling. As a result,Alfarag Addis Ababa has concentrated ontraining staff to ensure that the virtues of allthe products in the stores are properly com-municated to passengers. The operator has seengreat success in categories that often suffer theworst from downtrading during recession.

“Cosmetics and perfumes is our numberone selling category, and within that Chris-tian Dior, Chanel and the L’Oriel range ofproducts are the top sellers,” says Farag.

Quite remarkably, electronics is tied forthird place in sales with confectionery, a fit-ting testament to both the purchasing powerof Alfarag Addis Ababa’s customers and theoperator’s concentration on going aboveand beyond when it comes to staff training.Sony, Canon and Nikon cameras, as well asNokia mobile phones are particularly pop-ular items in the category. In addition tothe above products, Farag notes that pas-sengers are also consistently buying high-endwatches and sunglasses.

The results speak for themselves. Theoperator has seen a 15% increase in sales overlast year. The product mix also seems to besuited perfectly to the clientele; while dutyfree customers are traditionally viewed aspressed for time, passengers that enter AlfaragAddis Ababa’s stores generally spend 20 to30 minutes inside. As one would expectgiven the high-end products the store offers,average customer spend is relatively high, cur-rently hovering between US$50 and $80.

Despite Alfarag Addis Ababa’s success sofar this year, Farag is quick to point out thatthe increased sales are actually the end resultof efforts from various parties. Indeed, as hasbeen proven time and again in travel retail,cooperation between operators, airportauthorities and even governmental bodies iskey to the continued growth of the industry.

“The government has made an exten-sive effort to support this business category,and this goes hand in hand with the workbeing done by the Ethiopian Airport Author-ity and Ethiopian Airlines to increase thenumber of passengers flying through theairport,” Farag explains. “Given the coop-erative effort that is being put into growingthe tourism industry, the future of theEthiopian duty free—and of course AlfaragAddis Ababa—certainly is bright.” c


Back to basicsAlfarag Addis Ababa focuses on staff training and product mix to discourage downtrading and keep high-end products foremost in the minds of passengers BY RYAN WHITE

Despite the recession, Alfarag Addis Ababa DutyFree’s top selling categories include P&C and

electronics, in addition to confectionery and tobacco

The operator has seen a 15%increase in sales over last

year, with average customerspend currently hoveringbetween US$50 and $80

Operator News: Flemingo Mauritius


Flemingo Mauritius operates three dutyfree stores on the island nation off thesoutheast coast of the continent ofAfrica. The company runs two down-

town duty free shops measuring 50-squaremeters and 40-square-meters at Grand Baie andthe Caudan Waterfront, as well as one duty freeseaport store (a joint venture with state-ownedMauritius Shipping Corporation) measuring110-square-meters. Flemingo Mauritius willalso be opening a fourth store in the heart ofGrand Baie before the end of the year.

The operator is a fledgling arm of largerFlemingo International, having opened thedoors to its first store in mid-2008. Despitethe challenges faced by any new operation,A. Roland Maurel, Director of FlemingoMauritius, asserts that the stores have per-formed extremely well this year, with liquorand tobacco accounting for an impressive72% of sales. The three most popular brandsamong shoppers are Marlboro cigarettes,

Johnnie Walker Red Label blended Scotchwhisky and Paco Rabanne perfumes.

“In addition to the very popular liquorand tobacco categories, perfume makes up15% of our total sales and confectionery13%,” says Maurel. “Although we’re rela-tively new to the duty free channel in the areaand starting from a small base, the last 12months have been considerably better than2009 from the standpoint of sales. We’veseen a 50% increase in sales in 2010 over lastyear, despite the lagging tourism marketand worldwide economic concerns.”

As a whole, Flemingo International isknown throughout the region as a strongforce in duty free. While the Mauritius ven-ture certainly could have burst onto thescene on a much grander scale, Maurel notesthat starting slowly was part of the planright from the beginning.

“We could certainly have opened morestores but have chosen to limit our presence

to centers with a high amount of tourist traf-fic,” he says. “Likewise, we were also very care-ful to choose high profile locations whereinternational and luxury brands would liketo be listed.”

As mentioned earlier, Flemingo Mauri-tius has actually just completed a deal for anew location in the heart of Grand Baie onSunset Boulevard. The store will measure 85-square-meters and will open at the end ofthis year. Of course, given the care thatFlemingo takes to ensure that it associatesitself with the right projects, it goes withoutsaying that both the shop and the productscontained within will be impressive.

Given the recession, the last couple ofyears have been difficult to say the least forduty free operators who cater largely toEuropean travelers. However, Maurel says thatboth travel and spending on the part ofFlemingo Mauritius’ largely European con-sumer base has been steadily increasing, asis evidenced by the company’s double-digitsales growth over last year. He notes that hestores also attract a fair number of shoppersfrom South Africa, India, China and Australia.

“We make a real effort to tailor our prod-uct mix so that regardless of nationality,shoppers will find any number of productsthat satisfy their preferences,” explains Mau-rel. “In our current shops, and of course inour new Sunset Boulevard location, we’relooking forward to further success in 2011as we continue to offer shoppers both lux-ury and value on their visit to Mauritius.”c

Jack of all tradesIn addition to its downtown and seaport duty free stores, Flemingo Mauritiushas been busy with the distribution side of its business in the region. FlemingoDuty Free Services Ltd. distributes a range of duty free goods to Indian Oceanoperators, while General Distribution Ocean Indien Ltée is the exclusive dis-tributor of Philip Morris cigarettes to duty free operators in the same region.Finally, Flemingo Distribution Ltd handles distribution of Philip Morris productsin the Mauritius duty paid market. In short, Flemingo covers a vast area whenit comes to duty free distribution, from Mauritius, Reunion and Madagascar toMayotte, Comoros and Seychelles.

Johnnie Walker Red Label, Marlborocigarettes and Paco Rabanne fragrancesare among the bestsellers in FlemingoMauritius’ duty free catalogue

Flemingo Mauritius runs two downtownduty free shops at Grand Baie and theCaudan Waterfront (pictured here), aswell as one duty free seaport store

Off to a great startWhile Flemingo Mauritius has only been in operation for little more than two years, boomingsales have led to strong numbers and a highly anticipated new store opening BY RYAN WHITE

Aviation Report


The first decade of the new century has been one that mostairline executives would probably rather forget. It startedwith the catastrophe of the 9/11 terror attacks—theaftershocks of which were felt throughout the aviationindustry for years—and ended with the global recession

that hit in 2008.Globally, airlines lost some $50 billion over the decade, accord-

ing to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Fortu-nately, IATA sees the beginning of a global rebound as the decadeends. However, prospects remain uncertain.

“The upturn has been stronger than anticipated,” noted GiovanniBisignani, Director General and CEO of IATA, in his address to theannual general assembly of the Arab Air Carriers Organization(AACO). The meeting was held at the end of October in Cairo andprovided an opportunity for Bisignani to reflect on the year, the decade,and the outlook for the future.

Traffic is already 2 to 3% above pre-crisis levels. Overall capacityincreases have been well managed – in this context this means thatcapacity increases don’t match the pace of growth in demand, becausewhen the rate of capacity increase outstrips the growth in demand,profitability takes a hit. Overall, capacity has increased 7% whiledemand has improved by 11%. Yields have risen between 7 and 8%in 2010, which is providing the impetus for increased profitability.

“However, 2011 will be different,” Bisignani warned. “The inven-tory re-stocking cycle that drove growth this year is completed andwe must now rely on consumer demand to achieve a sustainable recov-ery. With little improvement in employment levels around theworld, this seems unlikely. We see global capacity growing by 6%ahead of a 5% demand improvement.” This means that yields willstop growing and profitability will fall to $5.3 billion. Aviation willremain a “fragile” industry, considering that there is still a cumu-lative total of US$210 billion in debt on the books.

At the beginning of October, Airports Council International(ACI) released figures that showed a global increase of 6.3% in inter-national passengers in August 2010 compared with the same monthin 2009. The comparable increase for domestic passengers was4.9%. The top performers were Asia-Pacific and Latin America-Caribbean: international passenger traffic was up 11.6% for Asia-Pacific and 17.4% for Latin America-Caribbean. Global domestictraffic growth was even stronger at 19.2%.

In the Asia-Pacific region, only Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Air-port recorded a drop in passengers—a mild –0.5%—while theother 36 airports in the sample all reported growth, led by Chinaand India. The 11.6% increase in international traffic was supple-mented by 9% growth in domestic passengers, for 9.9% overall growth.

IATA’s September 2010 figures were released at the end of Octo-ber. International passenger traffic increased 10.5% year over year,much better than the 6.5% rise in August. According to the bench-mark, which compares figures from September 2010 with the samemonth in 2009, traffic for North American carriers has regained pre-recession levels, growing 11.1% compared to September 2009.Capacity increases trailed, coming in at 7.2%.

European carriers boosted capacity by 5.9%, backstopping an 8.4%increase in demand. The region is 2% ahead of pre-recession lev-els, unlike Asia-Pacific, which saw traffic grow 8.6%, and which nowsits at 2% below pre-recession levels.

Latin American carriers saw the slowest growth in the world, at6.6%, followed by a 0.5% increase in capacity. IATA noted that thefolding of Mexicana had a big negative impact. African carriers, onthe other hand, saw a 16% growth in demand, far ahead of capacity,which declined 10.1%. Africa is 7% ahead of pre-recession levels.

Middle Eastern carriers topped the charts with a 23.9% increaseover September 2009. “The earlier occurrence of Ramadan dampeneddemand in August, but boosted September’s traffic,” IATA noted. “This

“The inventory re-stocking cyclethat drove growth this year iscompleted and we must now relyon consumer demand to achievea sustainable recovery.”

Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO, IATA

Positive Rates In general, passenger traffic and revenues are climbing; it’s the details that are a little complicated BY ANDREW BROOKS


outstripped capacity growth of 15.3%. Nonetheless, load factors of76.8% were below the industry’s 80% performance.”

Growing painsACI noted the same idiosyncratic September decline, but the Mid-dle East and North Africa (MENA) region has proven to be anexception to many of the rules that apply elsewhere. Indeed, in astatement on October 10, IATA called attention to the challengesposed by the remarkable growth of airline traffic in the region. “Overthe last decade, the carriers of the Middle East and North Africanregion have grown from 5% of global traffic to 11%,” said Bisignani.“Planned aircraft purchases of US$200 billion over the next decadewill support this growth into the foreseeable future. This expand-ing global presence brings with it the challenge of playing a largerrole in the global aviation community.”

According to IATA estimates, MENA carriers will make a US$400billion profit in 2010, a sharp turnaround from a loss of US$600 bil-lion in 2009. One reason is that in spite of an expected 21% rise intraffic over 2009, regional carriers have held their capacity increasesto 15.9%. So if the 10.6% capacity expansion predicted for 2011 out-strips expected growth—which is 10.4%—the US$400 billion in 2010profit will accordingly fall in 2011 to a predicted US$300 billion.Though predictions are always uncertain, MENA carriers would befollowing a global trend: For 2011, IATA expects global profitabil-ity to fall to US$5.3 billion from the US$8.9 billion expected this year.

Speaking at the Asociación Sudamericana de Tiendas Libres Con-ference in Puerto Rico on September 2, ACI’s Director GeneralAngela Gittens noted that the global aviation industry is under-going “significant structural change.” Gittens was commenting onACI’s just-released survey of aviation in 2009 as well as the orga-nization’s take on the first half of 2010. Broadly speaking, theresults showed a bottoming out of global passenger traffic in Feb-ruary 2009 and an uneven rebound since then. The rebound was-n’t enough to stem the 1.8% overall reduction in global passen-

ger traffic for 2009, however.The H1N1 virus scare combined with the recession to dampen

passenger traffic in the US and Europe particularly. MENA ruled theroost over the whole year, with the exception of December, and infact was the only region to post no negative figures for any month.The Middle East was also the only region that showed growth in inter-national passenger traffic, which was down 3.9% overall.

Gittens noted that a revival of domestic traffic in the second halfof 2009 “saved the industry” and helped keep the overall traffic declineto 2%—the product of flat domestic traffic and a 3.9% decline ininternational traffic. The Middle East was the only region to avoida decline in the international category. However, internationalnumbers surged strongly through the second half of the year, a surgethat continued into 2010, with international traffic overtakingdomestic in January.

To determine how much of the improvement represents newgrowth as opposed to the recovery of lost ground, ACI’s analysis com-pared traffic numbers for the first half of 2010 with the first half of2008, before the economic crisis. The organization made somenotable conclusions:� For the six-month period in 2008, North America and Europehad larger total traffic volumes than other regions, but both reportedabout 7.5% fewer passengers for the same period in 2010.� Using the same two time periods as a comparison, Asia-Pacifictraffic rose 11.5%, Latin America-Caribbean figures were up 7%,Africa was slightly higher and Middle East traffic boomed by 19%.

“In short, the established markets of North America and Europeremain well behind their respective 2008 pre-crisis levels, whereas theother regions are experiencing new growth,” Gittens emphasized.Aside from the stellar performance of the Middle East, Gittens pointedout that the Asia-Pacific region had more passengers per semester thanEurope or North America for the first time ever. This developmenthad been predicted, but wasn’t expected to happen until 2015, mean-ing that the recession brought it about sooner than expected. c

“The established markets of NorthAmerica and Europe remain wellbehind their respective 2008 pre-crisislevels, whereas the other regions areexperiencing new growth.”

Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI

TFWA WE Review


Last month’s TFWA World Exhibition inCannes was a success on both abusiness and a networking level andmet the high expectations of visitorsand organizers alike.

“We are very happy with the outcome ofTFWA World Exhibition this year,” commentedErik Juul-Mortensen, President of TFWA.Speaking at the closing press conference in

Cannes, Juul-Mortensen continued, “We all rec-ognize that 2009 was not easy. The show reflectsthe very positive start we have made to this yearand the positive state of the industry.”TFWA World Exhibition 2010 which ran from

Monday October 18 to Friday 22 in the Palais desFestivals, was visited by a total of 5,398 people

C O N T I N U E O N PA G E 4 2

TFWAWorld Exhibitionends on a high noteOrganizers of this year’s TFWA World Exhibition enjoyed a successfulshow, reporting an increase in visitors after a tough 2009 BY HIBAH NOOR

Last month ’s TFWA Wor ldExh ib i t ion was v is i ted bya to ta l o f 5 ,398 peop lef rom 2,570 compan ies ,

up 8% f rom 2009

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TFWA WE Review


from 2,570 companies. This represents an 8%increase in visitors on 2009.Of that total 3,852 (71%) were duty free oper-

ators, retailers, landlords, agents and distributors.The visitors found spread out before them thou-

sands of the latest and most innovative productsof the 457 exhibiting companies present, includ-ing 51 companies which were new to the showor returning after a short absence.This event, the 26th TFWA World Exhibition, got

off to a flying start with a selection of leisure activ-ities on Sunday – golf, tennis, jogging, hiking,pétanque and a cookery class – which gave over220 delegates an enjoyable start to the week. Inthe evening more than 1,550 people caught up withfriends old and new at the delightful opening cock-tail at the Carlton Hotel. Unfortunately the usual fire-works were cancelled because of heavy rain.The Conference on Monday was attended by

over 820 people – a record attendance – attractedby the strong line up of speakers: Jean-PaulAgon, CEO L’Oréal, Lord Alan Watson, ChairmanHavas Media UK, branding expert Martin Lind-strom and TFWA President Erik Juul-Mortensen.Three business workshops provided food for

thought for delegates. Over 160 people turned outearly on Tuesday for the Airline Workshop with ChrisTarry, Senior Associate Nyras Capital, presentingthe revenue potential of low cost carriers. There were 165 people that attended the

Asia Pacific Workshop on Wednesday to hearPaul Husband, MD Husband Retail Consulting,Sunil Tuli, President APTRA, and Matthieu Van-halst, International Sales Manager TFWA discussretail opportunities in the region.The TFWA Industry Association Workshop on

Wednesday afternoon provided an update onissues facing the industry and was chaired byMichael Payne, Executive Director IAADFS andFrank O’Connell, President ETRC.The social highlight of the week was Le Pre-

mium Evening which started with a dinner cock-tail in the Riviera Beach followed by a private con-cert by Mika and continuing into the early hourswith dancing at The Scene.In addition to the business and social activities,

the delegates at the TFWA World Exhibition par-ticipated in several charitable events including theWomen in Travel auction and raffle in aid of Handin Hand for Haiti which raised almost €19,000.TFWA Care and Caritas coordinated a col-

lection of gifts for underprivileged people andImperial Tobacco donated over €10,000 to floodvictims in India and Pakistan.Announcing the total raised by these charita-

ble initiatives, Juul-Mortensen said, “This is a verygenerous industry and as such I am very proud tobe part of it.” The TFWA World Exhibition will return to

Cannes in September 2011. c

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 4 1

820 de legates k icked o f f the week w i th aconfe rence, wh ich o f fe red an impress ive

l ine-up o f speakers


The busy t radeshow c losed i t ’sdoors on F r iday October 22

Severa l compan ies used the busy week to thefu l les t by host ing e labora te even ing cockta i l s

and d inners fo r c l ien ts and f r iends

Conference pictures courtesy of TFWA/Jacques Gavard

Company News: LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton


LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuit-ton has been on a roll this year –the company has seen improvingresults and its Chairman, BernardArnault, has been extremely

upbeat about the momentum for the luxurysegment for the rest of the year and into 2011.

Sales in the nine months to Septemberreached € 14.2 billion (US$19.7 billion), anincrease of 19% compared to the sameperiod in 2009 with strength being reportedin several regions including Asia, Europeand the US. In a statement the companysays: “The excellent performance of LVMHin the first nine months has confirmed itsconfidence for 2010. The Group will continueits targeted geographical expansion in themost promising markets. LVMH will rely onthe power of its brands … to strengthen itsglobal leadership in luxury products.”

The Middle East is one of those promis-ing markets where luxury is in demand.Through its DFS travel retailing operationfor example, LVMH’s selective retailing divi-

sion now has a presence in the region atAbu Dhabi’s Terminal 3 in what is widelyregarded as one of the most luxury-focusedtravel retail concepts anywhere. On openinglast year, the list of branded boutiques wasimpressive, ranging from Jimmy Choo withits first ever airport shop, and Hermès withits first dedicated presence at a Middle Eastairport, to Chloé, Burberry, Coach, HugoBoss, Cartier, Bvlgari, Polo Ralph Lauren,Rolex, TAG Heuer, Montblanc and Swarovski.

That luxury mix is doing well. Duty freeturnover at Abu Dhabi International grew by19% during the first half of 2010 to US$75million, outperforming the airport’s pas-senger growth of 11.7% over the same period.And spend per passenger increased by 7.2%to US$14.47. Huraiz Almur bin Huraiz, AbuDhabi Airports Company’s Chief Commer-cial Officer, says: “Retail spending is signif-icantly stronger than passenger growth, aclear sign that we are succeeding in encour-aging travelers to spend more. Two key trendsare at play: consumer confidence is return-ing; and ADAC’s investment program inTerminal 1 and the upgraded retailing inTerminal 3 are delivering results.”

That is good news for LVMH which isseeing strength in the region. Under the com-pany’s geographical breakdown, the MiddleEast is included in the non-Japan Asia mar-ket which at mid-year 2010 had a 26% shareof sales, up significantly by 2% from the 24%it had at the same time in 2009. That 2% rep-resents € 341 million (US$475 million) basedon the company’s € 17,053 million (US$23.7million) turnover in 2009 and it looks as

though this share will continue to increase aseconomies in Asia and the Middle East out-pace LVMH’s other key markets of France, Restof Europe and the US. The latter was, this year,eclipsed by non-Japan Asia as the luxury con-glomerate’s most important market.

In travel retail, beauty is the core prod-uct category for the company and the newly-formed LVMH Fragrance Brands– whichhandles Kenzo perfumes and Kenzo ki skin-care, Givenchy perfumes and cosmetics andEmilio Pucci and Fendi fragrances – oper-ates direct from Dubai supplying the chan-nel. Globally, perfumes and cosmetics hasbeen the slowest growing division of LVMHin the first nine months of 2010 at 14%,but in the Middle East one travel retailerreports that “the Kenzo marketing plan for2011 is very promising” while ChristianDior Parfums, LVMH’s biggest beauty brandin travel retail has consistently high rankingsat leading duty free stores in the region; atDubai Duty Free for example it is ranked sec-ond for perfumes and third for cosmetics.

Dior has benefited from the worldwidesuccess of a number of its perfumes and its lip-stick, Rouge Dior has been a strong performer.Other initiatives from the beauty division thathave taken place in the third quarter includethe launch of Abeille Royale, Guerlain’s newskincare range and the feminine version ofGivenchy’s Play, while Fendi will return to theperfume segment with Fan di Fendi and anew fragrance will be added to the recentlydesigned line of perfumes from Pucci, all ofwhich are likely to eventually roll out into theMiddle East region in the coming months.c

Wines & Spirits 2,148 1,761 +22% +17%Fashion & Leather Goods 5,464 4,537 +20% +14%Perfumes & Cosmetics 2,246 1,971 +14% +10%Watches & Jewellery 687 533 +29% +22%Selective Retailing 3,713 3,167 +17% +14%Other Activities and eliminations (48) (23) — —Total 14 210 11 946 + 19 % + 14 %

€ millions

LVMH sales in the firstnine months of 2010 First

9 months 2010

First 9 months

2009

Variation 2010/2009First 9 months

Reported Organic*

*With a comparable structure and constant exchange rates. Source: LVMH

LVMH – a brand for all seasonsThe Middle East travel retail market offers rich picking for LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton

BY JAMES ROSS

Givenchy andGuerlain productsare available atDubai Duty Free’snew stores at T3

Dior AquaFahrenheitlaunches inMarch 2011

Company News: Nivea


Nivea is one of the world’s best known skincare nameswith more than 500 different products in its portfo-lio. Yet the Beiersdorf brand, with sales of almost € 3.7billion (US$5 billion) in 2009, has been slower totake advantage of the travel retail channel than rivals

like L’Oréal Paris, which is now an established and expanding playerin duty free.

Nivea has been more circumspect. It has used the Middle Eastregion, where Antoine Bonvin is the Area Manager, as a travel retailtest bed and, over the years, has developed a strong presence here,helped by the unusual mix of passengers in the region which, as wellas wealthy westerners transferring across hemispheres and indige-nous Arabs, there is a sizeable migrant labour population from theIndian sub-continent.

Bearing in mind Nivea’s accessible price positioning – a Nivea daycream costs around € 13 (US$18) – the brand has been an ideal onefor servicing this latter profile in the airport. For example, in DubaiInternational Airport Nivea has been happy to be sold in the Food Plusarea alongside household items, milk powder and budget cosmetics.

One reason Nivea may have been shy about actively entering theduty free channel is its parent’s ambitious corporate goal. In a state-ment Beiersdorf says: “The aim is for Nivea to secure leading marketpositions in individual product categories in as many countries as pos-sible. Nivea already occupies 149 number one slots in different prod-uct categories worldwide, including men, face, hair, and deodorants.”

Presumably the brand has the same aims in travel retail, so afterhoning its travel retail skill set in the Middle East, Nivea is now look-ing at the bigger picture – and Europe is the next target on its wishlist of regions to conquer.

At the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes this year the brandrevealed a new strategy for expansion including the announcement

of a travel retail division, new products and logistics support. Thecompany has teamed up with Germany’s Gebr Heinemann as its dis-tribution partner, with which it has also rolled out in some of its air-port stores. The tie up allows it access to an expansive distributionnetwork, especially in Eastern Europe.

Ilka Schütte, Beiersdorf Director of Global Travel Retail says: “We’vebeen very successful in expanding Nivea’s travel retail presence in theMiddle East over the last three years and much of this experience hasplayed a role in our international strategy. We are happy to be coop-erating with the best possible partner in Europe, Gebr Heinemann.Our first step will be to establish a presence inside German airportssuch as Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich, as well as airports in Copen-hagen, Istanbul and Vienna.” In order, Nivea plans to expand globallyin travel retail as follows: Europe and the Middle East & Africa to theend of 2011, Asia the following year, and then the Americas.

Over 65 products and a variety of exclusive travel sets are nowalso available for airports, inflight, border shops and ferries and cruiselines. Travelers will be able to select from the Nivea Visage, Niveafor Men and Nivea Body lines, personal care products such as sun-screen, deodorant and shower products, as well as Nivea Lipcare,until now only available in a few countries.

The brand plans to exploit passenger segments that are cur-rently little targeted in the beauty market. Last year, as part of a globalsegmentation study of the beauty market covering 10,000 con-sumers in seven countries, Nivea established that travel retailers arelosing out on valuable sales. Schütte says: “About 70% of travelerscurrently make zero purchases in airports shops, as they’ve been unableto find products that meet their needs and their budget. We will offera very attractive range of Nivea products for both men and women,with the particular needs of two target groups, families and char-ter travelers, in mind.” c

“We’ve been very successfulin expanding Nivea’s travelretail presence in the MiddleEast over the last three yearsand much of this experiencehas played a role in our inter-national strategy.”

Ilka Schütte, Beiersdorf Director of Global Travel Retail

Nivea:from the MiddleEast to the worldIt was in the Middle East where Nivea cut itstravel retail teeth. Now the brand’s appetite forthe channel is taking it global BY JAMES ROSS

Neuhaus, the magic of Christmas

www. neuhaus.be

Company News: Puig Middle East


For Puig, growth has become a goodhabit. The fashion and beauty com-pany is growing faster than themarket it operates in – in otherwords, it’s increasing its market

share. The Spain-based, family-owned com-pany sells into more than 100 countries andhas a direct on-the-ground presence in 22,with a staff of 3,500 employees worldwide.

The company owns the fashion housesCarolina Herrera, Nina Ricci and PacoRabanne and markets both proprietary andlicensed brands. One of the best-knownbrands Puig works with is Prada, which isoperated through a joint venture that holdsthe licence for Prada beauty products. Puigalso has licence agreements for brands likeComme des Garçons and Adolfo Dominguez,retail names such as Mango, Zara and Mas-simo Dutti – and even celebrities like Anto-nio Banderas and Shakira.

Puig is also well known for the innova-tion and impact of its promotions. In July,for example, the company teamed up withWorld Duty Free, Autogrill’s UK travel retailoperation, to launch a temporary three-month “pop-up shop” for Paco Rabanne atLondon’s Heathrow Airport.

Puig’s promotions are based on strong cus-tomer engagement, achieved through face-to-face contact, and what Puig calls “retail-tainment.” Retail-tainment includes multi-media presentations, personal interaction, a uni-fying theme or story, and sometimes even livemusic. The idea is well exemplified by thepromotion of a new Paco Rabanne launchthat Puig initiated with Gebr Heinemann atFrankfurt Airport in the fall. The push featuredplasma screens running TV spots and role-play-ing models to make contact with shoppersand promote the launch. The new fragrance

was “Lady Million,” the feminine counterpartto the best-selling 1 Million fragrance for men,which Paco Rabanne launched in 2008.

Another example was the promotion ofthe Carolina Herrera 212 VIP fragrance inAldeasa travel retail outlets in Jordan. Thesewere based on a “paparazzi” theme, withdisplays first surprising shoppers and thenguiding them through the role of a celebrityvisiting a posh New York nightclub.

Strength in promotionsPuig is doing exceptionally well in the Mid-dle East, says Gillian Hawksby, Travel RetailManager for Puig Middle East. “We know thefragrance department is trending at 10%...however Puig is growing at 30%,” Hawksbysays. “This is thanks to strong and success-ful launches from our core brands.”

Puig views Dubai Duty Free as a primelocation for significant and exclusive launches.The Middle East launch of Lady Million wasstaged exclusively with DDF on August 15.

“We booked key promotion sites in Terminal1 and Terminal 3,” says Hawksby. “In addition,we had off-site light boxes from JCDecaux inTerminal 1 and Terminal 3.” These recreatedthe “Million Universe” with distinct gold andblack decoration, gold-colored merchandising

towers, and with digital screens running theLady Million and 1 Million campaigns. A golddress displayed in T1 was especially popularwith shoppers, Hawksby says – many asked ifthey could buy it.

“We decided to offer entertainment forthis launch as the way to invite people toexperience a fragrance,” Hawksby says. “Thequality of the execution, the environment,how they finally discover and sample thefragrance – it all makes a big difference tothe sales result.” With the purchase of LadyMillion (80ml) or 1 Million (100ml), cus-tomers had the opportunity to open a safeand take out a scratch and win card. The cardoffered a description of the fragrance andentered the customer in a competition to wina certified 1 carat diamond.

“The response was tremendous,” Hawksbysays. “We sold 5,773 units in two weeks. Thiswas the biggest fragrance launch until the endof August witnessed at Dubai Duty Free – theretailer was delighted with the results.”Hawksby says that the launch vaulted PacoRabanne from ninth place in August sales tothird place, gained it 2.62 points in marketshare and helped increase sales to 116% over2009 figures. The fragrance was rolled out toall duty free shops September 1. c

The smellof success

Innovative, exclusive fragrance promotions bring Puig Middle East dynamic growth BY HIBAH NOOR

Aldeasa in Jordanpromoted that Carolina

Herrera 212 VIP fragrancebased on a “paparazzi”theme, with displays firstsurprising shoppers and

then guiding them throughthe role of a celebrity

visiting a posh New Yorknightclub

Gillian Hawksby,Travel Retail Managerfor Puig Middle East

The Middle East launch of Lady Million wasstaged exclusively with DDF on August 15

Conduct a Year’s Worth of Business at One Show

Duty Free Show of the AmericasFEBRUARY 21 – 24, 2010 ORLANDO, FLORIDA, USAORLANDO WORLD CENTER MARRIOTT

IAADFS – for over 40 years, representing North, South, and Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean

Questions? Call: +1-202-367-1184

The 2010 Duty Free Show of the Americas returns to the Orlando World Center Marriott

in Orlando, Florida, February 21 – 24, 2010, with all show-related activities

taking place under one roof. Don’t miss this opportunity to see your customers

all in one place in an efficient and cost-effective business environment.

Visit www.iaadfs.org for updated information on the show and to register online

1,000 buyers from 61 countries

300 distinct duty free store-operating companies

200+ exhibitors showing thousands of products

Company News: Traveller Limited


Dubai-based inflight servicescompany Traveller Limited isa well-known supplier ofgoods for onboard sales in theMiddle East.

Perhaps the most telling testament tothe integrity of any business is the com-pany it keeps. In this area, Traveller is wayahead of the game: it is currently workingwith distinguished names such as EstéeLauder, Dior, Lancôme, Gucci, Dolce & Gab-bana, and Hugo Boss to name a few.

Rami Madi, General Manager of TravellerLimited, explains: “We are always ambitiousand on the lookout [for new brands] con-stantly. We welcome all big brands.”

Last month, Madi visited the TFWA WEshow, the largest show of its kind and amajor exhibition venue for prominentbrands. This year’s event, he says, was animprovement over last year.

“The year 2010 was definitely better than2009. Most suppliers and clients had easymeetings with no pressure or tension,”explains Madi. “After the recession-riddledyear, all were discussing the achievements ofthe current year and optimistically plan-ning for the coming months. It was, as

always, a good opportunity for supplier andclients to interact and discuss and decide onthe future course.”

Business as usualAccording to Madi, training is a key com-ponent to Traveller’s success. It is an on-going process and is usually conducted at thelaunch of each new airline catalogue, orwhenever required by the airline. TravellerLimited places a lot of importance on train-ing to ensure that cabin crew is updated onbrands, new onboard products, productknowledge, selling techniques and tips. Thecompany also offers refresher courses.

In 2011, the company will be pushing

ahead with plans for a number of promo-tions and cabin crew incentives. Promo-tions and incentive schemes normally takeplace throughout the year. While tightlippedabout future incentives, Madi says upcom-ing promotions will be revealed at the appro-priate time.

Last summer, Traveller collaborated withEtihad Airways in a promotion for theirtop-selling crew. Gift vouchers amountingto AED18,000 (US$4,900) were claimed bytop sellers during a three-month period.

Gifts included three Faces gift vouchers: thefirst for AED3,000 (US$817), the secondfor AED2,000 (US$545) and the third forAED1,000 (US$272).

Traveller also teamed up with EmiratesAirlines to give away an iPad. The top sell-ing crew members on Emirates needed tomeet their target sales in order to win aprize. Traveller also gave away iPhones andan ultimate iPack to top sellers during thesecond half of 2010, from July to December.

Low-cost carriersWhen it comes to low-cost carriers, Madi sayshe does not consider “low-cost carriers” interms of airfare but rather in terms of the pas-sengers who travel onboard. In many cases,they are the same as other airlines and are tar-geted as one market. “The passengers acrossnormal carriers and low-cost carriers arethe same therefore we consider similar prod-ucts for sales onboard,” says Madi.

In the end, what is most important isfor airlines to team up with a competent andexperienced supplier of inflight goods. Thisis where Traveller plays a crucial role.

“The airline business is unique in its ownway and cannot be compared to the groundduty free or local market. Onboard salesare very specific, requiring a lot of focus, fol-low-up and commitment. It is in no way sim-ilar to the local market or duty free,” com-ments Madi. “This is where Traveller Lim-ited steps in and plays an important rolefor suppliers and clients. The needs of bothare met with desirable results, making us thepreferred partner for both parties.”

In the near future, Traveller will also befocusing on passenger behavior, studies andanalysis, which will further benefit the sup-plier and the client. c

“The airline business is unique inits own way and cannot be com-pared to the ground duty free orlocal market. Onboard sales arevery specific, requiring a lot offocus, follow-up and commit-ment. It is in no way similar tothe local market or duty free.”

Rami Madi, General Manager, Traveller Limited

Sky is the limitTraveller builds successful partnerships with leading airlines across the Middle East BY HIBAH NOOR

Company News: Ajmal Perfumes


With nearly 60 years ofexpertise in the fragranceindustry, Dubai-basedAjmal Perfumes, reportsa growing network of 137

exclusive retail shops across the GCC andAsia, with an international US$200 millionannual turnover.

Abdulla Ajmal, Deputy General Man-ager of Ajmal Perfumes, says the company’simpressive plans include expansion in Lon-don by 2011 and other key cities soon.

Ajmal is particularly well-known in itshomebase in the UAE and across the GCC.Its clientele, including royalty and otherVIPs, have come to expect the highest qual-ity of oils and fragrances when it comes toAjmal Perfumes.

One of Ajmal’s newest developments isthe rollout of its fragrances Lure for Him andLure for Her. Ajmal gives us some insight…

GADF: How’s duty free business in general?Abdulla Ajmal: The market seems to bereturning to movement mode after an extendedperiod of low business. The overall sentimentis positive and a direct testament to that is thisyear’s TFWA exhibition in Cannes.

GADF: What’s the inspiration behind yournew fragrance Lure?AA: The inspiration was derived from theattraction between man and woman. The taskwas to create blends that complement oneanother yet at the same time speak of the indi-vidual qualities of the person who wears them.

GADF: Is it an oriental fra-grance or more like yourcontemporary fragranceBelieve? AA: Both Lure for Him andLure for Her are created for aninternational audience and are contemporaryin design like Believe. The concept behindBelieve though is slightly different from asales perspective because the fragrance wasdesigned and launched specifically for thetravel retail market, unlike Lure which can befound at all Ajmal showrooms and throughselect distributor channels.

GADF: Who are you targeting?AA: Lure for Her is a fragrance designedfor the emotionally dependant woman wholoves the support of her significant other. Sheis an introvert and is very easy to get alongwith. She is extremely fashionable and isalways dressed to impress.

It’s a settled fragrance that invites usersto revel within its fruity floral sweet splen-dor. Lure is created for the fashionable youngwoman who is sensible, intimate and has aneasygoing nature. The fragrance combinesapricot, orange blossom, and jasmine toreveal a fruity floral nature rounded of withwoody notes and heliotrope to provide asweet woody base.

Lure for Him is designed for men who fallin the 25+ age bracket. They are matureand sophisticated individuals who aredependable and like to add a touch of classto anything they set out to do.

The fragrance is designed to attractmature, sophisticated men who adore clas-sic fragrances. Lure is a fresh spicy woody fra-grance that builds itself into the classicmould with the use of ingredients like amber,lavender, vetiver, cedar wood and sandal-wood. A fresh spicy demeanor encapsulatedin woody, mossy, ambery undertones.

Both fragrances are packaged in 85mlglass bottles.

GADF: Tell us a bit about the ad visual.AA: The creative aims to bring to light theelement of attraction between the oppositesexes on a canvas and highlight the person-alities of the type of individuals the fra-grance is designed for. As you may note, theimage is set against a bustling skyline indi-cating that the fragrances are very much insync with all that is modern and lively.

GADF: Can you elaborate on the exclusivelaunch with Abu Dhabi Duty Free. Whattype of feedback are you receiving? AA: Lure for Him and Lure for Her werelaunched together in August exclusively throughDFS at Abu Dhabi Duty Free. The promotionlasted for a month during which we had anumber of display units which were brandedwith the Ajmal logo and Lure creative. In addi-tion to our dedicated Ajmal beauty advisors,we also enlisted the support of DFS Beauty Con-

sultants to help give the noveltybrand further exposure.

Overall, passenger responsewas much better than we hadinitially anticipated and thesell out for the period wasexcellent.

GADF: Will this fragrancebe rolled out worldwide?

When? AA: In travel retail terms,we have started withBahrain Air and willeventually introducethe set across all ourtravel retail outlets andlistings across theregion. c

The Lure of fragrance

BY HIBAH NOOR

Building on a history of successful scents, Ajmal Perfumes introduces its newest launch: Lure

Exquisite praline blended with the fi nest cocoa beans, delicate nougatine with rich almond and hazelnuts. A golden temptation in a single bite-size 5 g !

mini golds®

treasure to share

newWWW.GOLDKENN.COM

Beauty Beat: Fragrances

The heady new fragrancelaunches being introducedthis season are sure to flyoff the shelves

54

Calvin Klein BeautyCompany: Coty PrestigeDescription: A new inter-pretation of a lily - a neolily – is the heart and soulof the fragrance. Ambretteseeds enhance the spicywarmth, jasmine elevatesthe floral signature and atrail of cedarwood bringsbeauty to the drydown

Vanitas VersaceCompany: EuroItaliaDescription: This rich perfumeis comprised of tiare flower,lime and freesia envelopedwith accents of cedar woodand tonka bean. The classicpackaging is entirely gold withcontrasting shiny and opaquesurface and an embossedblack logo at the center

Reb’l Fleur by RihannaCompany: Parlux FragrancesDescription: Award-winningrockstar Rihanna is ready tolaunch her new fragrance in2011. The fruity scent wascreated by internationalrenowned perfumers CarolineSabas and Marypierre Julienof Givaudan, who haveperfectly matched Rihanna’svibrant personality

Blumarine BellissimaParfum IntenseCompany: ITFDescription: The sensualand feminine fragrance isenclosed in a bottle createdby prominent Parisiandesigner Thierry DeBaschmakoff. The scentfeatures a rare satin labelfor the Intense Edition. Thecolor is an intense, delicatepeach; the fabric has asmooth, seductive touch

Sweetsmell of sales

MemoirCompany: AmouageDescription: Specialingredients of absinthewith other floral and woodaccords make up thisprestigious scent. Theflacons are made of blackglass crystal graduatingfrom a dark to lighter

shade with silvermetal capsaccentuated with ablack Swarovskicrystal

John Richmond for MenCompany: EuroItaliaDescription: The new masculineEDT by John Richmond is madeup of bergamot, orange andginger in the opening notes. Theheart adds spicy aromas ofcardamom, black pepper androsemary, along with juicymelon, while a base includeswarm nuances of cedar, amberand musk. A silver metal guitarplectrum hangs on the stylishflacon which reads “It’s onlyrock ‘n’ roll”

Moschino toujours GlamourCompany: EuroItaliaDescription: The contemporary floriental Moschinotoujours Glamour is enclosed in its signature goldheart-shaped flacon, but this time with a touch ofblue. The scent revives the signature scent with arefreshing twist of red currant and green violet

leaves. It has a gorgeous heart of lily ofthe valley with jasmine and bitteralmond, concluding with a base ofheliotrope and benzoin

Michalsky FragrancesCompany: Mäurer & Wirtz Description: A new fragrance and body care line bystar designer Michalsky. The company says the linefeatures classical elements that are reinterpreted andcombined with innovative ingredients The folding boxplays with the contrasts of high and low reliefembossment and matte and glossy surfaces


Bang by Marc JacobsCompany: Coty Prestige Description: The new men’sfragrance starts with an explosionof its signature threesome of black,pink and white peppercorns. Theheart and the base of thefragrance are wrapped with primalmasculine woods. Hypnotic elemiresinoid and aromatic benzoin joinwith vetiver, white moss andpatchouli. For the first time ever,Marc Jacobs the designer appearsin his own advertising campaign

Oiliy Lucky Girl Christmas SpecialCompany: Colorful LicensesDescription: A fresh, flowery scent isperfect for girls entering adulthood. Topnotes feature mango accompanied byapple, melon, berries and orange. Whiteroses and lilac lend the scent a romanticmiddle note and a warm combination ofmusk and amber form the base notes

Oilily Flowers Company: Colorful LicensesDescription: The fragrance isaimed at fun-loving girls. It is atimeless scent of Siciliantangerines and Spanishlemons. The middle notes areof jasmine, cyclamen and lilyof the valley as well astropical melon, peach,plum, apple and fruityraspberry nuancesbalanced out withsandalwood, oakmoss and vetiver

Pure Custo Barcelona Woman& Pure Custo Barcelona ManCompany: Idesa ParfumsDescription: Two new fragrances, one feminine and one masculine, that follow in the footsteps of Custo'sfirst fragrance

Belle D’OpiumCompany: Yves SaintLaurent, L’OrealDescription: The “next-generation” version of thebrand’s iconic Opiumfragrance is an orientalscent developed byperfumers Honorine Blancand Alberto Morillas. Thenotes include Casablancalily, sandalwood, gardenia,white pepper, jasmine andnarguile accord

Kaloo IglooCompany: The Millennium Essence CompanyDescription: Undercover inan irresistible Igloo box, the100ml scented water andthe mini patapouf are readyto brave the cold winter.Two sets are available: onefor boys with notes of Teaand Orange Blossom andthe other for girls withdelicates notes of jasmineand rose

Guess SeductiveCompany: Coty BeautyDescription: A glamorousfloriental woody fragrance for theseductive woman who is iconic,memorable and legendary

Fougère RoyaleCompany: Parfums Houbigant ParisDescription: First introduced in1882, Fougère Royale was the first“fougère” (or fern-like) perfume evercreated, establishing a completelynew fragrance family which stillremains today, says the company

Luxurious creams anda vibrant collection ofnew cosmetics promiseto appeal to womentravelers looking for abit of pampering

Beautyboost

Beauty Beat: Cosmetics & Skincare

Black Velvet CollectionCompany: Bobbi BrownDescription: Perfect for thefall season. Charcoal eyeshadows, lips products inplum, red, maple and cherryare just some of the fabulousshades in this collection

Source Defense SerumCompany: BvlgariDescription: This cell-energybooster is designed toneutralize the effects of agingat its source by preservingmitochondria, the solesource of cell energy.Combined with a powerfulanti-oxidant, this high-performance anti-agingweapon preserves skin’syouthfulness capital

Nivea Visage Lift and Contour SystemCompany: BeiersdorfDescription: Expert Lift is aninnovative anti-sagging skincare system from Nivea Visage.With regular use, the Expert Liftsystem combines instant andlong-term effects to give younoticeably tighter, redefinedand smoother skin

Nivea Visage Skin Firming SystemCompany: BeiersdorfDescription: This set includes theNivea Visage DNAge CellRenewing System, which is anadvanced skin-firming systemwith highly effective beautifyingproperties. The formulas, with apowerful combination of cell-active Folic Acid and Creatine,increase cell renewal from within

Re-Nutriv Ultimate LiftAge-Correcting CrèmeCompany: Estée LauderDescription: An ultra-luxurious,all-powerful breakthrough thatboth repairs and moisturizesfor skin that looks dramaticallyyounger, more lifted andenergized

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 onto the brush via a plunger, thisensures that virtually all themascara is used

Phyto Star Eyes PaletteCompany: Sisley ParisDescription: The new “gunmetal” version offers fourluminous and dazzling shadesthat can be used alone orcombined for a natural or moresophisticated look. The colorsinclude white pearl, black star,silver moon and blue lagoon


Hypnôse Precious Cells Company: Lancôme, L’OrealDescription: Hypnôse PreciousCells is the first visiblyregenerating volume mascarafrom Lancôme. The mascaracontains the lash densifiercomplex, with precious plantcell extract, designed toregenerate the lashes

Pure Color PeonyBlossom Lip PotsCompany: Estee LauderDescription: This beautiful newlip set features three lip pots inthe floral peony design includingWild Lilac, Pink Innocence andBrazen Berry. This new limitededition lip trio set complete withapplicator makes the perfect gift

A WORLD OF SHOPPINGWherever you go a world of shopping in your hands. The best brands and the best prices with the largest variety. A world made up of more than 1134 shops, at over 143 airports,

seaports and railway stations in over 40 countries around the globe. Dufry, we go far tobe close to you. www.dufry.com

Swarovski – a cut above


As one of leading brands in the jewelry sector of travel retail Swarovski, the cutcrystal company originally started in 1895, was an early pioneer of the chan-nel and has extensive global distribution. In the Middle East, the com-pany has been present in duty free since the mid-80s and it now hasstrong positions across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

states – which include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia andthe United Arab Emirates – and Lebanon.

Rasmus Olsson is Swarovski CGB (Consumer GoodsBusiness) Manager for the Middle East and has been inthe role since 2003. As such he is an expert on the mar-ket and he says that Cairo in Egypt is now “comingup strongly” in addition to existing travel retail loca-tions, and that there is plenty of scope for furtherdevelopment. He says: “The size of the market is signif-icant. While I cannot comment on [our performance com-pared to] other regions, we are constantly working with ourpartners to maximize our business together.”

The company, Swarovski ME FZE, is located in the now well established Jebel Ali FreeZone and is 100% owned by Swarovski. “In the region we don’t operate any of our ownshops. We work together with partners in the local markets and, of course, with the dutyfree retailers at the airports,” he adds.

Olsson describes the Middle East duty free market as very dynamic when it comes toassortment, stock management and promotional activities. “It is constantly in motionand we try to adapt to each market’s needs within our brand spectrum in order to con-tinue to develop and create an even better shopping experience for our customers/pas-sengers,” he says.

These activities will come together in the form of a new store architecture called Crys-tal Forest. “We are starting with Dubai Duty Free in the final quarter of 2010,” adds Ols-son. Crystal Forest is a concept that has already started its roll out in travel retail at termi-nals one and two at Singapore Changi airport and at Sydney’s luxury area in terminal oneas well as several leading domestic flagship stores such as Bond Street in London.

Dubai International Airport, where Dubai Duty Free operates, is the biggest travel retaillocation for Swarovski in the region and is also among the brand’s top five travel retailoutlets in the world. The retailer says that the crystal company’s costume jewelry easilyranks number one with a share by value of almost half of the entire category.

Overall, Swarovski’s fashion jewelry lines make a large contribution of 80% to thecompany’s duty free business in the region and the latest Autumn/Winter ranges of jew-elry and accessories have proved to be a great success according to Olsson. “We are look-ing forward to the launch of the new Spring/Summer 2011 collection now,” he adds.

Among the current season’s hits is the Under the Blue autumn/winter 2010/11 acces-sories collection which has three themes: Nordic Dream, Liquid Dream and DreamBox. Nordic Dream includes the statement Meteor necklace which contains large ovaland rectangular cut black diamond, grey and white opal crystals.

As well as the jewelry, Swarovski launched its new watch collection in selected dutyfree locations in the Middle East last year and it is said to be performing very well. A per-fume is also on the way in 2011, which will help expand the reach of the brand and poten-tially bring its core lines some new and younger consumers. Rather than diluting the brand,Olsson sees the move as a way of strengthening it. “I don’t see anything negative withthe widening of the Swarovski product portfolio,” he says. “All new lines have theSwarovski characteristics and the Swarovski feel/look and DNA.” c

Company News: Swarovski Middle East

Growth beckons for Swarovski in the Middle East as it widens its product portfolio BY JAMES ROSS

Perfetti caters toconsumer needsPerfetti Van Melle, maker of delicious ChupaChups and Mentos brands, presented its latestadditions to its product lines last month duringthe TFWA World Exhibition.In the Mentos Line the company introduces

the Mentos Mini and Kidz Bags. The Mentos Miniis a bag filled with 20 miniature Mentos rolls infavorite flavors such as Strawberry, Cola, Limeand Orange. The product is great for long tripsor children’s get togethers.Mentos Kidz is a bag containing 15 miniature

boxes in a wide variety of fruit flavors. For addi-tional fun there is a game to play on the back ofevery bag.In the Chupa Chups range, Perfetti presents

the Chupa Chup Flower Bouquet and Surprise.Flower Bouquet is comprised of a flower with apersonal note and two delicious Chupa Chups.With 12 different surprises, the Surprise prod-

uct is a perfect collector’s item. One pack includesfour Chupa Chups, each with its own surprisetoy. All new products are aimed at the kids/teensage groups and are anticipated to become a hugehit among youngsters.

Storck Travel Retail upgrades, boosts online presenceStorck Travel Retail Ltd., based in the UK, recently announced that it has substan-tially reinforced its presence through online social media, by launching a corporateTwitter account on September 1. The Twitter account will be developed as a key com-munication tool over the next year, the company says.

“Storck TR’s Twitter account is being used to increase corporate contact and inter-action in a personable, informative and instantaneous way,” the company said inmaking the announcement. “The team are very excited about having a new way ofcommunicating with their key stakeholders in real time – paving the way for thefuture of successful brand, product and people marketing at Storck and in thetravel retail industry.” The account can be accessed at www.twitter.com/StorckTR.

Storck TR has also revealed that it plans to revamp its website – www.storck-tr.com– over the course of 2011. The goal is to enable increased communication and inter-activity with trade partners.

Storck TR is currently reworking its travel retail POS to offer sided gondolas withone to four sides, lightboxes, display advertisements and pillar facings.

The company also announced that in January 2011, it will be adding a new lineof Werther’s Chocolate Specialties and Caramelts exclusive to travel retail. The lineof 305g bags includes Werther’s Original Milk Chocolates, Original Dark Choco-lates, Original Caramel, Original Caramel Mousse, Original Caramel Dark andOriginal Caramelts.

January will also see the launch of a travel retail exclusive assortment of Werther’sFinest Selection. The launch will include a travel retail promotion with silent tast-ings, gift-with-purchase offers, samplings, and personalized POS and visuals adapt-able to specific requirements.

The new lines reinforce Storck TR’s present offer-ing, which includes Werther’s, Toffifee 200g and 400g,Riesen 270g, Mamba 220g, and the Storck-branded

Colourful World Milky Caramels, ParadiseFruits, EukaMenthol and Mint Chocs. Theline of Merci Croquant, Finest Selection and

Petits products, one of the leading specialtychocolate brands in Europe, was added just overa year ago. The company has a presence in air-ports, in border shops and on ferries in NorthAmerica, Europe and Singapore.

Confectionery highlights

Werther’s Chocolate Specialties andCaramelts is exclusive to travel retail

Storck Travel Retail reinforces its presence on Twitter


Confectionery News

Kidz Bags

New products, redesignedpackages and displays,and in-depth analysis ofbuying behavior BY HIBAH NOOR

Chupa ChupsFlower Bouquet


Chocolate Frey expands Switzerland-based Chocolate Frey AG, the top chocolate manu-facturer in the Swiss market, unveiled a series of new products suit-able for travel retail at TFWA in Cannes. The new product, ChocoblocAir, consists of quality milk chocolate – a Swiss specialty – that con-tain bubbles, giving the chocolate a light, airy texture. Almond, honeyand nougat are also part of the mix, an addition that Chocolate Freysays is a world first. The company says that the size of the indi-vidual pieces and the 297g size of the package itself makeChocobloc Air suitable for gift-giving, or an ideal self-indulgence.At TFWA, Chocolat Frey also announced a “design relaunch”

of its top-selling Chocobloc, Classique and Suprème lines, whichit hopes will help further strengthen its brand image. The Suprèmeand Classique lines will keep their well known chamois color,ensuring easy recognition at the point of sale. The same approachhas been taken for the Chocobloc line, where the current metal-lic packaging color will be intensified in order to reinforce this par-ticular product group’s appeal as a premium purchase. “Switzerland’s number one chocolate manufacturer will deci-

sively communicate characteristics such as highly-valued Swiss qual-ity and Swiss origin,” the company said, “while appealing colorsas well as appetizing chocolate images will positively catch the cus-tomer’s attention.” Chocolate Frey conducted market research inseveral countries to determine that the new design will be posi-tively received by confectionery shoppers.Finally, Chocolate Frey summed up its POS campaigns over the

last year, which helped to generate improved sales and increaseand reinforce the brand’s profile. The company highlighted two eventsas especially reflective of the overall spirit of the POS campaigns.Both were held for large audiences at different airports. One event was a tasting festival where the Frey stand included

an actual fountain of rich melted chocolate. Shoppers respondedvery well, the company said, and were able to participate, dippinga selection of dried fruit or marshmallows on skewers into the choco-late. A life-sized version of the company’s unicorn logo completedthe tableau and helped to cement the brand image.The second event, which actually took place in more than one

venue, offered a presentation explaining how chocolate is manu-factured. During the presentation, a Frey Chocolatier preparedpralinés for the shoppers to sample. The life-sized unicorn logo wasalso part of the display.“The world of Chocolat Frey becomes an actual experience thanks

to such occasions,”the company said.“Due to the very pos-itive feedback by retail-ers and consumers,Chocolat Frey will con-tinue and even increasethese POS activities inthe coming year.”

Chocolat Frey announced a “design

relaunch” of its top-sellingChocobloc, Classique and

Suprème lines

Tom’s Confectioneryexpands in the EastDanish company Tom’s Confectionery Group, owner of Anthon Berg,gains momentum in the Middle East and Asia after making itsmark in the Nordic regions and Europe.

“Now we want to expand in the Middle East. The growth ratein the Middle East and Asia is enormous compared to Europe – andof course we want to be part of this growth,” says Alex Soerensen,Business Manager, Tom’s Confectionery.

The company’s products are present in Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar,UAE and Oman. “We are currently working on penetrating Kuwaitand for the future, focus will be on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabiaand Iraq/Kurdistan,” explains Soerensen.

Anthon Berg’s liquor filled bottles are fairing well in the MiddleEastern duty free market. Soerensen comments: “Anthon Berg liquorbottles are popular because of the unique selection of brands thatare infused in the hollow centre of the chocolate. Likewise is the shapeof the chocolate cherished and the fact that Anthon Berg do not, likeother manufactures, need to sugar- coat the inside of the centre tomake sure the alcohol does not evaporate through the chocolate.”

The company continues to push ahead with plans focusing onthe consumer side of the business. "This means a greater focus onresearch as we want to get a good understanding on what is hap-pening out there," says Soerensen.

The consumer trends, added Soerensen, are different through-out the regions and the company makes every effort to cater to thedifferent markets. “Our unique Anthon Berg Liquor chocolates arehighly valued within the international airports, despite the high rateof passengers in the region who seek to avoid alcohol," notes

Soerensen. “Other areas are stricterregarding alcohol and here we offer ourlarge range of non-alcoholic chocolate likeAnthon Berg tablets and Creamy Twist.”

Anthon Berg’sliquor-filled

chocolates area hit in MiddleEastern duty

free

Confectionery News

Confectionery News


At a press conference at TFWA in Cannes on October 19, Nestlé Inter-national Travel Retail presented a comprehensive review of its con-fectionery category performance, as well as an overview of its mar-keting plan for 2011. The company’s confectionery category seg-mentation is based on a study of consumer buying patterns, witheach of the five segments based on a unique purchase driver.

The name of each segment conveys the prime motivation for thepurchase in each category: Premium Gifting, Informal Gifting, Fam-ily Gifting, Snacking and Destination. In 2009, the main trend in buy-ing behavior saw consumers seeking greater value in their pur-chases, but in 2010 spend levels have recovered. All five of Nestlé’s

categories are up, with the three“Gifting” categories posting mod-est increases and the Snacking cat-egory turning in an impressive15% growth figure.

Overall, sales are up 8%. WithinSnacking, the “Self Consumption”sub-category has seen the strongestgrowth, which the company attrib-utes to impulse buying and a desireto maximize spend.

Aside from corporate per-formance, probably the most

interesting aspect of the presentation was the detailed examinationof shopper buying patterns, and the potential this information hasto help improve sales.

“The business opportunity to drive penetration and conversioninto confectionery has never been greater,” the company said, “as shop-pers rediscover the travel retail offer, and consider a wider choice ofcategories and products. Confectionery can benefit from this trendbased on its high impulse nature, universal gifting and snacking appeal.”

The sales potential of confectionery is impressive. Nestlé pointedout that 50% of all shoppers who enter a store with a confectionerysection will go on to check it out, and just over 50% of those shop-pers will make a purchase. Interestingly, about half of shoppers whohad already made the decision to buy confectionery but didn’t nec-essarily know the exact product they wanted were influenced tomake that selection by store fixtures.

Having illuminated market buying behavior, it’s no surprisethat Nestlé International Travel Retail has a detailed an ambitiouscategory vision, consisting of six elements:� Confectionery in every basket, every time� Make confectionery easy to understand and easy to shop� Maximize shopper interaction to drive conversion� Make confectionery accessible to all shoppers in the total store� Build the category based on how shoppers shop� Lead category innovation

The elements of this category vision provide theunderpinning for Nestlé’s concept of “The PerfectStore,” which was unveiled last year. Already deployedwith a number of customers, The Perfect Store lever-ages four purchase drivers – ease of shop, relevant gift-ing, on-the-go snacking and the ability to engage, enticeand convert – to boost sales. Each driver is broken downinto detailed analytical segments, which individu-ally have the potential to boost sales by anywherefrom five to 20%, Nestlé says.

Nestlé International TravelRetail’s category segmentationis based on a study of consumerbuying patterns

Nestlé’s confectionery concepts

Ferrero presents new pocket-size NutellaFerrero Travel Market recently launched its pocket-size Nutella jars, perfect for travelers on the go.The Nutella pocket-size 30g jar, which is exclusive to travel retail, can be sold individually at the check-

out or in a 7-pack – one for each day of the week. Over the last 40 years, Nutella creamy chocolate and hazelnut spread has become one of the most

famous spreads in the world and a member of the exclusive club of ‘timeless brands’. Such is thepopularity of Nutella that children and adults all over the world are united in a ‘Facebook’ offi-cial fan club with six million contacts.The new products were launched at TFWA World Exhibition last month. Serge van Wijck, Marketing Manager, Ferrero Travel Market said: “The new travel retail

exclusive Nutella items are part of a cult concept which will be backed by advertising andin-store merchandising. There are a lot of Nutella lovers in the world who can now find theirbeloved brand in travel retail.” Pocket-size Nutella jars available in

a 7-pack or in individual 30g jars

Global Power

International Travel Retail

Company News: Diageo


In an exclusive interview with Jane Ewing, Managing Director ofDiageo GTME, Gulf-Africa Duty Free learned of the many successesthe company has enjoyed this year, from continuing to be one ofthe industry’s most active proponents of the Trinity concept to suc-cessfully promoting its portfolio of premium brands in a time when

many consumers are downtrading. Ewing also discussed upcomingactivations and the ever-increasing importance of the MENA regionas a center of creativity for the duty free industry.

Alive and wellTravelers to any number of major airports throughout the worldare no doubt aware that Diageo’s commitment to the Trinityapproach and growing the liquor category in duty free is alive andwell. Diageo’s current activations are of course highlighting core brandslike Johnnie Walker, but such initiatives are also providing rising starslike Zacapa rum a larger platform for communication.

“We’ve just gone live with our new Formula 1 activation in AbuDhabi Airport, and what worked brilliantly was that we sat down sev-eral months ago with DFS and ADAC and we had a really fantastic

session where we all shared our views on what we wanted to achieve,”explains Ewing. “I genuinely feel the key to developing the very bestactivations is this type of equitable partnership between all parties,where everyone involved has a shared goal. The real breakthroughfor us with this activation is that all of the parties have invested inthe program and all are sharing data.”

Ewing asserts that the current Formula 1 initiative is “certainlyone of the best activations that Diageo has done to date.” She notesthat both DFS and ADAC were “visionary” and made a real effortto partner with Diageo on the latest Johnnie Walker experience atAbu Dhabi Airport.

Other recent Diageo activations that Ewing says exemplify the Trin-ity approach are a recent Zacapa rum activation in Miami and theMentorship Experience, which ran at Dubai Duty Free earlier this year.The Mentorship Experience was centered on an immersive sam-pling journey that took the target shopper on a unique personalizeddiscovery of Diageo’s elite portfolio. Situated between the First andBusiness Class Emirates’ lounges, the Mentorship Experience was hostedby Diageo Brand Ambassador Tony Shoushani inside a visually stun-ning “pod” with an intimate, predominantly black interior akin to thatof an elite private club. Notably, this was the first spirits activationever in the airport featuring tastings as a component.

“We’re continuing to make a real effort to push the Trinityagenda forward by trying new things,” says Ewing. “Without this con-tinued innovation, we’ll never know what truly works and what does-n’t. Again, the key is that all parties need to be involved. Where that’snot the case, it simply won’t work. Financially, there obviouslyneeds to be a shared accountability.”

Ewing notes that another important issue in the Middle East isthat Diageo continues to be aware of cultural sensitivities when itcomes to the tasting of alcoholic beverages. “The Mentorship Expe-rience is a perfect example of a unique activation that takes intoaccount regional restrictions on these types of activities,” she says.

“We’re continuing tomake a real effort topush the Trinityagenda forward bytrying new things;without this continuedinnovation, we’ll neverknow what truly worksand what doesn’t.”

Jane Ewing, Managing Director, Diageo GTME

This year’s MentorshipExperience activation at DubaiDuty Free stands as an excellentexample of Diageo’s continuedsupport of the Trinity concept

Diageo’s Jane Ewing asserts that the possibilities in the Middle East are limitless given Diageo’sever-evolving portfolio and the region’s recession-busting performance in 2010 BY RYAN WHITE

A world of opportunities


Loyalty is everythingPromoting premium brands over the last year or two has beensomewhat of an uphill battle for many suppliers given shop-pers’ tendency to downtrade during difficult economic times.However, Diageo’s portfolio, which certainly contains its shareof high-end brands, has actually remained extremely popu-lar with shoppers since the recession hit in 2008. While anumber of considerations are at play here, not the leastof which is Diageo’s unfailing commitment to pro-moting its spirits, the question of brand loyalty isa very important aspect to Diageo’s success.

“Brand loyalty is certainly key,” says Ewing.“For example, if you take Johnnie Walker, thebrand has thrived through a lot more than aglobal recession. Johnnie Walker, and many ofour other brands, have been around for hundredsof years and have survived good times and bad,and I have no doubt that they’ll continue to doso, largely because of the trust that consumers havein these brands.

“Every consumer has a particular need oroccasion in mind when shopping,” she contin-ues. “One of the keys to the success of our port-folio is that our spirits have a long heritage ofmeeting many of those needs consistently.”

Evolving the experienceFor the rest of the year and into 2011, Diageo willcontinue to concentrate on Johnnie Walker Dou-ble Black in travel retail. Furthermore, the supplieris just about to launch Baileys Hazelnut, the new fla-vor in the Baileys range. Much like Double Black’searly success, Ewing notes that the newest Bai-leys variant has tested “fantastically well.”

“Baileys Hazelnut is going live in time forChristmas in Europe and we’ll roll out else-where in early 2011,” she explains. “We’realso testing some new single-serve formatsof some existing brands, so there’s certainlya lot happening at the moment.”

In addition to the above, Diageo is alsoworking on a high-profile activation inDecember in Dubai. While the details of thepromotion are still under wraps, Ewing hintsthat the experience will be one to remember.Diageo has also just agreed to a very excit-ing opportunity in Qatar to do some pro-motions outside of the store around theQatar Masters golf tournament. The activa-tion will center on Johnnie Walker BlueLabel and exemplify the luxury for which boththe spirit and Qatar Duty Free are known.

“Another program we have at themoment is called World Class,” explainsEwing. “While it’s not specifically related toduty free, it certainly has an impact on thechannel. As the name suggests, its a world-class bartending competition highlightingDiageo’s portfolio. Bartenders compete bycreating some truly fabulous cocktails, with

the winner in each local market going to the world finals.”The competition has been a big success in the UAE and

Diageo will be launching it again in January, looking at howit can be tied in with travel retail. While no specifics have yetbeen decided, Ewing says that incorporating world-classbartenders making signature cocktails with Diageo’s spir-its in airports may be a consideration for the future.

“Showcasing our brands in such a creative way issomething that’s very exciting for us,” says Ewing.“I have no doubt that the ripple effect of this veryimportant competition will be felt in travelretail. Regardless, I can say that Diageo will con-tinue to promote its brands in new, creative waysin worldwide duty free throughout 2011.”

The power of potentialFor a forward-thinking company like Diageo,few regions in the world present more excit-ing opportunities than the Middle East. “TheMENA region has huge potential for growth,particularly in airports such as Dubai, AbuDhabi and Qatar where we’re seeing more andmore passengers coming from Asia, Africa andother regions as these airports develop themselvesinto major transit hubs,” says Ewing. “Our corebrands continue to gain popularity in the MENAregion, but we’re finding that duty free con-sumers are also willing to try newer brands likeKetel One and Zacapa.”

Ewing also has kind words for the organizersof the MEDFA conference for encouraging dia-logue on how best to manage growth in the MENA

region. Of course, lucid communicationbetween operators, airport authorities andsuppliers is the catalyst that drives theTrinity concept, and many of Diageo’smost trusted operator partners will beplaying a key role in the conference’s pro-ceedings this year.

“It’s great to see airport retailersand suppliers alike getting cre-ative in terms of developingspaces and engaging travelers,”concludes Ewing. “It’s likewisevery exciting that the MEDFAconference is being moved toEgypt. The market is fantasticand full of opportunity. TheMEDFA conference is certainlyan event that promotes discus-sion of important issues in theMENA region. Diageo will con-tinue to play a major role inthe region’s growth in the future,and we look forward to con-tinuing to work with our valuedTrinity partners to develop excit-ing activations that match theexplosive growth in the Mid-dle East and North Africa.” c

Company News: Diageo

Continued concentration on the wildlypopular Johnnie Walker Double Black(below) and the release of Baileys

Hazelnut (above) will be priorities forDiageo well into 2011

Fast-growing liquor brands


While the worst of the eco-nomic downturn appearsto be over, sustained dou-ble digit sales growth induty free is still a lofty

goal for many suppliers. There are, however,a select number of brands that have managedto capture the attention of the traveling pub-lic in a way that resists explanation.

Gulf-Africa Duty Free recently spoke withBacardi Global Travel Retail, Patrón SpiritsInternational and Irish Distillers PernodRicard about their fastest-growing brands inthe Middle Eastern duty free channel. We dis-covered that while these successes may seemlike magic to many companies still strugglingto recoup last year’s losses, outperforming thecompetition still comes down to a few basicprinciples, not the least of which are high-

end positioning, ensuring qual-ity offerings and constantly pro-moting one’s virtues.

Going for goldWhen Erwin Van Outheusden,Bacardi Global Travel Retail’sRegional Manager for the Mid-dle East, Africa and Greece,came on board in 2007,Scotch wasn’t a huge prior-ity for the company in theregion. However, after a thor-ough analysis of the mar-

kets, Van Outheusden

and Bacardi Global Travel Retail began cre-ating programs that were essentially localtakes on the global team’s worldwide activi-ties. Since that time, the response to Dewar’sScotch whisky has been one of the indus-try’s true success stories.

“I think overall the Gulf region, withDubai Duty Free leading the way, is a verydynamic market,” says Van Outheusden.“We’ve doubled sales of Dewar’s on a yearlybasis since 2007. We’re also seeing robustgrowth in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Lebanon.In fact, Beirut Airport is very big for us interms of volume. Dewar’s 12 is the leadingScotch at the airport, with White Label alsoperforming very well.”

Bacardi has run the Dewar’s Gold Rushpromotion twice now in the Middle East andto say that it’s been met with a warm responsewould be an understatement. The first GoldRush increased sales of Dewar’s by over700%, with the activation running in five air-ports. In November 2009 the second GoldRush initiative was in place in six locations,with Beirut Airport added into the mix.Impressively, sales of Dewar’s doubled overthe first Gold Rush promotion.

“We’ve just begun launching the newDewar’s packaging in the Middle East andwe’re working on an interactive exclusiveCallaway promotion in Terminal 3 of DubaiAirport,” explains Van Outheusden. “Withthe purchase of three bottles of Dewar’s,travelers can take home a free trolley bag. Par-ticipants also have the chance to win anynumber of golf-related prizes from Call-away, including 10 drivers. The activation isin a very high-traffic area of Dubai DutyFree’s shop and it’s really creating a buzz.”

Notably, the brand is continuing to growin the Middle East even when the promotions

aren’t on. Van Outheusden cites attractive gon-dolas and brand ambassadors educating con-sumers on a regular basis as keys to Dewar’simmense popularity in the Middle East.

“We’ve found that promotions are reallythe catalyst that allows people to experi-ence the brand for the first time,” Van Out-heusden concludes. “Once consumers havetasted Dewar’s, the rest takes care of itself.The high quality of the brand keeps salesstrong year-round.”

Perfectly positionedYear-to-date at Dubai International Airport,sales of Patrón’s portfolio are up double dig-its over the same period last year, spearheadedby “Simply Perfect” Patrón Silver. Even through-out the economic downturn, the companycontinued to see an upward curve in sales ofits spirits, not only at Dubai Duty Free, butthroughout the Middle East. This is certainlyno mean feat given the fact that many brandsin the super-premium category are still sufferingfrom the effects of downtrading.

“While the UAE is showing the mostgrowth in the region, we recently signed onwith Qatar Duty Free and the response hasbeen wonderful,” says John McDonnell,COO of Patrón Spirits International.

Patrón’s success in the Middle Easterndomestic market has actually helped salesconsiderably in duty free despite the factthat the company has engaged in a minimumof promotional activities in the region’stravel retail channel. However, Patrón did runa gift with purchase promotion at DufrySharjah earlier in the year. With the purchaseof Patrón products travelers were gifted a totebag, and although the activation ran duringthe height of the recession, sales of Patrónproducts doubled at the store.

Gulf-Africa Duty Free examines the explosive growth of three brands in Middle Eastern travel retail, discovering that above all, quality is the key to success in tough times BY RYAN WHITE

Recession-busting 101

The first Gold Rushpromotion in the

Middle East increasedsales of Dewar’s by

over 700%, while thesecond actually

doubled sales fromthe previous activation

“We’ve found that promotions are really the catalyst that allows people to experience thebrand for the first time.”

Erwin Van Outheusden, Regional Manager for the Middle East, Africa and Greece,

Bacardi Global Travel Retail


McDonnell notes that the domestic mar-ket in the Middle East also helps to com-municate one of Patrón’s key global messagesto consumers: “One thing that appeals toessentially every demographic the worldover is Patrón’s versatility,” he explains.“Patrón Silver can be sipped neat, mixed inany number of signature Patrón cocktails andeven used to replace vodka, gin or rum inmany drinks to great effect.”

The on-trade plays a major role in thistype of communication given the limita-tions on tastings in the Middle East, saysMcDonnell: “People interact with bar staff,see the range of cocktails that can be madewith Patrón and the next time they’re trav-eling they pick up a bottle already under-standing our message of versatility.”

Patrón is in nearly every duty free storein the Middle East and is certainly well posi-tioned moving into next year. However,McDonnell sees plenty of room for contin-ued growth, citing Dubai, Qatar and AbuDhabi as locations to watch in 2011.

“These airports continue tostrengthen their fleets, routes and pas-senger numbers, so there’s plentyof exciting things happening inthe Middle East,” he notes. ”For2011 we’re looking athow we can incor-porate more giftwith purchasepromotionsas they’ve

really proven popular for us in travel retail.Additionally, following the MEDFA confer-ence Patrón will be a sponsor of Dubai DutyFree’s annual golf tournament for the sec-ond year in a row, and it’s really a matter ofincreasing activities like this that will allow usto build in 2011 on the very strong start we’vehad in the Middle East.”

Staying on topJameson is by far the largest-selling Irishwhiskey in the world and certainly the growthdriver of the Irish whiskey category. Glob-ally the brand enjoys in excess of a 60%share of this category. In worldwide travelretail specifically, Jameson is now the seventh-largest whiskey, and this year’s IWSR figuresshow a compound annual growth for Jame-son between 2005 and 2009 that is higherthan that of any of the top 20 spirits brandsin the channel.

Gulf-Africa Duty Free recently satdown with Michael Cunningham,Senior Regional Manager – TravelRetail at Irish Distillers Pernod

Ricard to get a sense of why the spiritis so popular. We learned that much

of Jameson’s appeal comes from theunique distillation process employed.“Jameson is triple distilled for smooth-

ness,” Cunningham explains. “Most otherwhiskies are either single or double distilled.Even within the Irish whiskey category, notall the whiskies can claim the triple distilleddistinction. Jameson is a blend of tradi-

tional Irish pot still whiskey and grainwhiskey produced at Midleton distillery.Traditional Irish pot still, which is only pro-duced at Midleton, is made from a mash ofboth barley and malt. The resulting whiskeycharacter is smooth, rich and creamy.”

Seasoned whiskey fans will find in Jame-son an exceptional smoothness. Discerningpalates will be able to pick up on the char-acter imparted during the maturationprocess: sweet vanilla and toasted woodnotes, as well as sherry undertones withnutty notes. Likewise, the uninitiated will takenotice of the spirit’s versatility and taste.Jameson is pleasant to drink straight, withice or with a number of mixes.

Perhaps due to the brand’s appeal for bothaficionados and new whiskey fans, it is prov-ing popular in the Middle East. Jameson isinvesting in in-store merchandising through-out the region, the most recent of which wasinstalled in Terminal 1 of Dubai InternationalAirport earlier this year. Cunningham assertsthat 2011 will see the continuation of thisactivity in other parts of the region as a meansof maintaining Jameson’s firm positioningas the world’s favorite Irish whiskey. c

“Jameson is triple distilledfor smoothness. Even within

the Irish whiskey category,not all the whiskies can claimthe triple distilled distinction.”Michael Cunningham, Senior Regional Manager –

Travel Retail, Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard

Jameson is the seventh-largest whiskey in worldwide travelretail with a compound annual growth for 2005 to 2009 that is

higher than any of the top 20 spirits brands in the channel

“Airports continue tostrengthen their fleets,routes and passengernumbers, so there’s plentyof exciting things happen-ing in the Middle East.” John McDonnell, COO, Patrón Spirits International

Given the success of a gift with purchasepromotion at DufrySharjah earlier this year, Patrón will

be concentrating onincreasing the

frequency of suchactivations in 2011


Bardinet’s Beehive Honey, a honey-flavored line extension of the classic French grape brandy, has gained a newlisting at Dubai Duty Free and is already listed in Muscat Seeb and Sharjah International. Bardinet is also cur-rently presenting the variant to all other airport shops in the region given the incremental growth that it bringsto the brand. In addition to airport duty free, the supplier asserts that the entire Beehive range has been per-

forming well with the Baltic ferry lines for the last couple of years.Bardinet also recently acquired Speyside Single Malt Whisky Glen Moray, and the company is launching an out-

standing 12 year old in a liter bottle, described by Jim Murray in the Whisky Bible as one of his favorite Speysides“simply because it is so unfailingly consistent and the delicate nature of the whisky has to be experienced to be believed.”

At Cannes there was also a great reception for the repackaging of Bardinet XO Brandy, one of the rare 6 year old brandieson the market. Likewise, the introduction of a limited edition Old Garnacha wine from Navarra in northern Spain, calledNavasques "100,” was also met with a warm response. The wine was hand crafted by the late Joaquin de Navasqüés fromlow yielding 100 year old Garnacha vines growing at an altitude of 800 meters in the foothills of the Pyrennees.

“This year has been a much more robust year for Bardinet Export [than 2009],” says Jeremy Belcher, Area Man-ager at Bardinet. “Although the world situation remains fragile and uncertain, we have seen our major brands per-forming better and resisting the challenges of a competitive and complex marketplace.”

Global premium spirits businessWilliam Grant & Sons has unveileda pioneering new look and feel intravel retail for Glenfiddich. The

new look is exclusive to travel retail and is sup-ported by the largest investment in cuttingedge merchandising across the channel thatthe company has ever undertaken.The first of only three incredible “Glenfid-

dich Crystal Stag Gondolas” saw its globalpremiere in WDF’s World Duty Free Store atLondon Heathrow’s Terminal 5. This will befollowed by activity in Frankfurt and Dubai. “Our strategy revolves around brand pre-

miumization, focusing on strong merchan-dising fixtures coupled with increased stafftraining to create engaging and memorableexperiences for our customers,” says RitaGreenwood, Global Travel Retail Director atWilliam Grant & Sons. “Travel retail offersthe travelling customer the widest possiblerange of whiskies, displayed in some of themost sought after retail space there is.”All of the new fixtures and the new visual

assets derive from the Glenfiddich Crystal StagGondola, which sets out to challenge con-

vention. It represents the components thatmake Glenfiddich unique and embodies thepioneering spirit at its core; the 24% lead crys-tal stag’s head, the glass teardrop and thecopper and oak helix.“Although we knew that the wall units,

podiums, lightboxes and visual assets thatwere created as a part of this project had tobe both beautiful and functional, we decidedat the outset that we needed a fulcrum to holdthe entire project together,” says Ian Taylor,Marketing Manager for Global Travel Retailat William Grant & Sons. “That fulcrum is theGlenfiddich Crystal Stag Gondola.”“It represents all of the craft and skill that

goes into producing every bottle of Glenfid-dich—the Robbie Dhu spring water, the cop-per stills, the magnificent oak that makes thecasks—but it does it in a truly outstanding andenchanting way, bringing alive the iconic Stag,the symbol of Glenfiddich, in a way that wehave never done before,” continues Taylor.Alongside the Crystal Stag Gondola, wall

units, podiums, lightboxes and new visualassets were designed. These new units willbe rolled out across the top 20 airports and

venues within global travel retailover the coming year, while thenew golden imagery will becomethe flagship for Glenfiddich in alltravel retail advertising and pro-motional activities.

In addition to Beehive Honey’s latest listing at Dubai Duty Free, Bardinet’sentire range of spirits and wines is performing extremely well this year

Liquor News

Brighter days for Bardinet

William Grant & Sonsinvests in new look and feel forGlenfiddich in global travel retail

Only three “GlenfiddichCrystal Stag Gondolas”will be on display; the firstis currently with WDF inLondon Heathrow, whilethe second and third willfind their way to Dubaiand Frankfurt

The Absolut Company recently unveiled Absolut Watkins,the smashing new limited edition flavor from Absolut, cre-ated exclusively for global travelers, reflecting all of theexcitement, glamour and star quality of the globetrotting fash-

ion world. Absolut Watkins will be launched throughout the globalduty free/travel retail market in January 2011.

Absolut Watkins is rich, smooth and sensual in taste and aromawith the distinct, mysteriously luxurious qualities of freshly groundcoffee and notes of almond, caramel and warm chili. The extrava-gant and glamorous decor of the unique limited edition Absolut

Watkins bottle was created by celebrated Swedishfashion illustrator and artist Liselotte Watkins,famous for her designs for fashion brandssuch as Miu Miu, Anna Sui and Barney’s,as well as for magazines such as Vogueand The New Yorker.

“Having my name on the Absolut bot-tle is crazy and fantastic,” said Stockholm-and Milan-based Watkins. ”I’m Swedish,so the brand has always been there for

me, and lookingback at previousAbsolut collabora-tions, it’s truly agreat honor to bein that company.

“With my bottledecor and the cam-paign imagery, Iwanted to conveysomething of myown vision regard-ing the archetypeof cosmopolitanglamour,” Watkinscontinues. “The fla-vor is a traveler’sexclusive and trav-eling is one of my great passions. Everything Ido is all about people and places, traveling andnew experiences.”

“Absolut Watkins is a most exciting launchfor us indeed,” said Anders Olsson, Directorof The Absolut Company Global Travel Retail.“Since our target group is global travelers andall of our operations are all about traveling, it’sa treat for us to be able to celebrate the entireconcept of stylish travel with a brand newand unique product. Also, we’ve been delightedto be involved in this kind of creative collab-oration with Liselotte Watkins, honoring, youmight say, the creative roots of our Absolutbrand.”

The Absolut Watkins launch will be backedby a powerful 360-degree marketing campaignin duty free/travel retail markets worldwide,including unique in-store brand installations.A special signature cocktail has been created,Absolut Watkins and Cola, with Absolut Watkinsand cola simply poured over ice. A dossier ofdrinks recipes also presents a number of otherirresistibly glamorous Absolut Watkins cock-tails. The exclusive Absolut Watkins campaignis being executed worldwide by Pernod RicardTravel Retail.

T he Central European Distribution Corporation(CEDC) has announced that many of its spir-its were awarded top honors at this year’s

Vodka Masters 2010 and Travel Retail Masters2010 competitions, which are arranged by TheSpirit Business.

In the Vodka Masters competition, CEDC’s brandswere given the following accolades:

There were 116 vodkas entered into the blind tast-ing. Furthermore, there were 15 entries in the Smoothcategory, and only one Master award was given.

In addition to the above, CEDC’s brands won thefollowing awards in the Travel Retail Masters:

Brand

Parliament

Zubrowka

Soplica

Zubrowka

Graduate

Green Mark

Parliament

Graduate

Category

Russia

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Premium

Smooth

Premium

Premium

Eastern Europe

Award

Master

Master

Master

Master

Master

Gold

Gold

Gold

Brand

Parliament

Zubrowka

Category

Vodka

Flavored Vodka

Award

Master

Master


CEDC comes up a winner at VodkaMasters and TravelRetail Masters 2010

Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka was among the CEDC’swinning brands at this year’s Vodka Masters and Travel RetailMasters competitions

Absolut unveils Absolut Watkins travelretail limited edition

Absolut Watkins is rich, smoothand sensual in taste and aroma

with the distinct qualities of freshlyground coffee and notes of

almond, caramel and warm chili

Selling up Company News: Fosters


Fosters Group is the major sup-plier of alcohol products toDubai Duty Free (DDF), saysHelena Malfait, Senior Man-ager, Duty Free Market for Fos-

ters. “We do more volume than anyone elseacross the full product spectrum, from winesto beers—and especially spirits,” she says. AsDDF has grown, Fosters has devoted moreresources to it, including a dedicated keyaccount manager.

The product range supplied to DDF hasbroadened considerably over the past five tosix years. Before that, Malfait says, the mainfocus was wine. Fosters hasn’t abandoned thatchoice turf, but it has been adding otherparts of its very broad product range. Spir-its have been introduced, as well as cognac,bourbon, beer and more.

Fosters can exploit economies of scalethat others simply can’t match. This enablesthe company to add small-quantity spe-

cialty products. An example are theVSOP and XO Premier Cru

cognacs from Hine thathave been added in

recent months.

Another upmarket addition has beenPenfolds Grange. Malfait says this vintage isconsidered by some experts to be the onlyfirst growth in the southern hemisphere.Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Zinfan-del is another new arrival. “We add winelistings about every two months,” Malfait says.“It could be a new grape variety, a new coun-try or a new brand.”

Getting attention“A big part of our business with DDF isdoing promotions to drive volume or spot-light a brand,” Malfait says. “We don’t justput a new item on the shelf. We always aimto have a promotional calendar behind it.”When she spoke with Gulf-Africa Duty Free,Malfait was planning a December promo-tion involving a Treasury Wine Estates port-folio, where consumers receive a six-bottlewine tote with purchase and a free bottle.

Also in the works was what Malfait calleda “first-time-ever” promotion with DDF.“Generally our promotions run along thetwo-for-one line and feature one or twoproducts within the same brand and/orfrom the same country.” This time aroundthe plan is to leverage Treasury Wine Estates’depth to allow consumers to enjoy a muchbroader range of options.

“We’ve come up with a promotion wherewe look at three brands from two coun-tries—Italy and Australia—and the con-sumer can buy four wines within that range,”Malfait says. The wines range from US$10 to$60 a bottle, whereas the usual range is US$10to $20, and the buyer gets the cheapest bot-

tle free of charge. The promotion coverswhite, red and rose wines, differentprice points, different grape vari-eties and different styles.

Penfolds and Kendall-Jackson are the top Fos-ters wines at DDF. Amongchampagnes, LouisRoederer, Bollinger,Gosset Grand Reserveand Lanson are inplay—not biggerbrands but definitelynotable in terms ofrecognition, qualityand value for money.

In spirits, Diageostands out, especially itsJohnnie Walker BlackLabel and Double Black. Infact DDF was one of six travel retail sitesselected for the test launch of Double Black,a deluxe addition to the Black Label line. Inbeers, it goes without saying that Foster’s isa mainstay, and the Mexican Corona, intro-duced a few years ago, is also a strong favorite.In bourbon, Jim Beam—the bestsellingbourbon in the world—and Maker’s Markare the leaders.

Fosters is privately held and exact fig-ures aren’t disclosed, but Malfait says saleshave been good. She interprets the return ofinterest in upmarket brands as a sign that theworst of the recession is over.

“Champagne was one area where peoplewere trading down during the recession,” shesays. “This was very visible last year. Nowthere’s more confidence and champagnesales have picked up again. That’s a verygood sign. People have confidence again,and the spread of products is coming back.”

Malfait notes that throughout, sales havebeen growing in terms of volume. It’s onlythe shift away from top-line purchases thathad a temporary impact on results. c

After some recessionary “trading down,” FostersGroup sales through Dubai Duty Free are riding anew wave of consumer confidence BY ANDREW BROOKS

Company News: Belvédère

Belvédère Duty Free has enjoyedimmense success in manyregions of the world this yearwith brands such as DanzkaVodka, Sobieski Vodka and 4

Orange Flavored Vodka. The company hasnow set its sights on travel retail in the Mid-dle East, and in a recent interview with Gulf-Africa Duty Free, Managing Director ofBelvédère Duty Free Wojtek Wydro andDuty Free Sales Director Torben Vedel Ander-sen explained why they are confident thatMiddle Eastern travelers will—like manytravelers throughout the world—fall headover heels for their innovative brands.

The world’s best traveling vodkaAndersen and Wydro note that DanzkaVodka, known universally as the world’sbest traveling vodka, has always been a door-opener when it comes to cracking new travelretail markets. Belvédère Duty Free intendsto shine a light on the spirit’s many quali-ties as a way of introducing travelers in theMiddle East to its other brands.

“We’re well aware that there are differencesamong markets, but we do feel that ourbrands have certain universally appealingcharacteristics,” Andersen explains. “Forexample, when you look at Danzka Vodka,the packaging immediately grabs your atten-tion. There’s really nothing like it in travelretail. Apart from the look, it’s extremelypractical when traveling. Last but certainlynot least, the liquid itself is excellent.”

“Consumers are learning that the shat-terproof Danzka Vodka is perfect to put intheir checked luggage,” adds Wydro. “DanzkaVodka was, is and will always be the best trav-eling vodka in the world.”

Premium all the wayOne of the brands that Belvédère Duty Free

expects to perform well in the Middle Eastis Sobieski Vodka. Of course, Bruce Willis isthe spirit’s spokesperson and part-ownerof the brand’s parent company, but aside frommarketing, Andersen notes that there is atruthfulness to Willis’ relationship withSobieski that vodka fans the world overappreciate.

“Having Bruce Willis as the face of Sobieskiis really something that helps the brand beseen as the premium product that it is, so wefeel that there’s some real potential in the Mid-dle East for this brand given the region’sconcentration on luxury, high-end prod-ucts,” Andersen explains. “But perhaps moreimportantly, when people see that the rela-tionship between Sobieski and Bruce Willisis truly authentic, this really does lend thebrand an instant credibility.”

Of course, Willis’ respect is well earned;Sobieski is the number one selling premiumvodka in Poland and honors its Polish her-itage by showcasing the brand’s authentic-ity through its award-winning “Truth inVodka” campaign. Perhaps most notewor-thy is the fact that the brand is a perennialfavorite among vodka aficionados.

“With Sobieski, the quality stands out,” addsWydro. “Indeed, it’s far beyond many of theother vodkas in its segment. We have per-formed blind tastings in the US where Sobieskicomes out ahead of virtually every othervodka time and again, regardless of price.”

Cracking the marketApart from the quality of the company’s spir-its, Wydro also asserts that Belvédère DutyFree’s impressive performance this year iscertainly good for morale when attemptingto break new ground: “We’ve recoveredextremely well from the economic down-turn, especially in South America and Asia,”he says. “I think the hard work that we’ve putinto the brands over the last couple of years,combined with the quality and innovativenature of the spirits themselves, will certainlyhelp us as we expand into the Middle East.”

Andersen concludes: “While launching thebrand in the Middle East will in many waysbe like starting from scratch, we’re up for thechallenge and we have faith that travelers willagree that our brands are as premium andinnovative as any other vodka in the travelretail market today.” c

Managing Director of Belvédère Duty Free WojtekWydro (left) and Duty Free Sales Director TorbenVedel Andersen (right) see the Middle East as anarea of great opportunity for the company’s brands

Sobieski is thenumber oneselling premiumvodka in Poland;the brand is aperennial favoritein taste testsamong vodkaaficionados


Star powerWith Bruce Willis as spokesperson for Sobieski, Belvédère Duty Free prepares to take on the Middle East with a portfolio of brands that have proven to be stars in their own right

BY RYAN WHITE Danzka bottles are shatterproof and perfect for travelers onthe go who are looking for a high-quality, great tasting vodka

Company News: Monus

Serbia-based tobacco company Monus has jumped feetfirst into duty free in 2010 by undertaking a large-scaleadvertising campaign in various trade magazines. Thecompany has also been present at most major travelretail exhibitions and conferences this year as a means

of underlining its commitment to travel retail. While many tobacco suppliers are still reeling from the effects

of the economic downturn and fighting an ongoing battle againsttightening restrictions on the sale of tobacco, Monus’ bold move intoduty free is backed up by one simple yet extremely important fact:The company believes in the value of its wide range of cigarette brands.Perhaps more importantly, Monus has a decade of domestic suc-cess in Europe under its belt to back up the claim.

“Our focus at the moment is the Middle East, North Africa, theFar East and Central Asia,” says Dragan Milic, Regional ExportManager at Monus. “These regions of the world are experiencingexponential growth. We feel that the robust domestic success of ourbrands in Europe will translate well into these dynamic markets.”

Quality meets valueMonus has been in business for 10 years and has recently launchedits new De Santis range of cigarettes in duty free. De Santis is sold in

Red (tar: 10 mg; nicotine: 1 mg; carbon monoxide: 10 mg) andWhite (tar: 7 mg; nicotine: 1 mg; carbon monoxide: 7 mg) varieties,with both options being available in regular and slim for-mats. Both the Reds and Whites are sold in a unique octag-onal packaging that aesthetically brings together thethemes of modernity and tradition.

Just in time for the TFWA Exhibition in October,the company also revamped the design of its Monusbrand cigarettes. The fresh and attractive restyling isbeing implemented in cooperation with a top Bel-grade design agency.

“I have no doubt that the newly redesigned Monuscigarettes will prove popular among many potentialpartners,” notes Milic. “The range of options, from theslim formats to unique flavors such as apple and grape,

really appeal to dynamic and enthu-siastic consumers. The effort we’veput into the brand’s redesign is really atestament to Monus’ popularity.”

In addition to the above brands, thecompany’s Fast cigarettes, which have tradi-tionally performed very well in the Europeandomestic market, are now available at HellenicGreece’s duty free locations. True to its name, thebrand has taken on a life of its own and becomeMonus’ most popular product to date, largely becauseof its flavor profile and reasonable price point.

“Our brands offer a perfect balance between price and quality,”explains Milic. “I think this will certainly be a key to our continuedsuccess both in duty free and the domestic market.”

The leader of the packMonus is also set to release the highly anticipated Tzar Red brand. Thebrand is designed to lead the entire portfolio given its super premiumpositioning both in terms of the product itself and the packaging.

“We’re very excited about the launch of our super premium brandTzar Red,” Milic says. “Tzar Red is very high-end and we feel that itis perfectly suited to many of the regions that we’re targeting, par-ticularly the Middle East and Asia. Once this brand is launched, we’llhave a complete range to offer customers. Our domestic partners arewell aware that our offering is certainly broad enough to suit any taste,and we’re looking forward to highlighting the very same variety induty free with our premium brands Tzar Red and De Santis leadingthe way.”

Travel retail can expect to see much more of Monus during therest of 2010 and into the new year as the company continues to becomemore and more active in the channel: “Our stance is simple yet pow-erful,” concludes Milic. “Our cigarettes have already proven them-selves domestically time and again, and we’re confident that dutyfree consumers will also appreciate a company that prides itself onoffering products that strike a perfect balance between price anduncompromising quality.” c

“Our brands offera perfect balancebetween price andquality. I think thiswill certainly be akey to our contin-ued success.”

Dragan Milic, Regional Export Manager, Monus


Striking the perfect balance

BY RYAN WHITE

Monus Tobacco Company continues to attract attention in duty free witha wide range of new and classic brands that offer both quality and value

Monus offers a wide range of products to meet theneeds of consumers and has experienced unrivaledsuccess in European domestic markets as a result

Full steam ahead

Company News: Imperial Tobacco

Imperial Tobacco has been busy in 2010, from the celebration ofthe 100th anniversary of Gauloises and the rollout of the new-look Davidoff cigarettes to the ongoing launch of new in-storefurniture and the development of an initiative aimed at helpingflood victims in Pakistan and India. Gulf-Africa Duty Free recently

had the opportunity to sit down with Imperial Tobacco’s Market-ing Manager Global Duty Free Oliver Schramm to discuss the cur-rent developments and see what 2011 has in store for the company.

Looking better than everThis year saw the impeccable qualities of the Davidoff and Gauloisesbrands embodied in new, eye-catching packaging. The new-lookDavidoff cigarette packs, while released in 2009, were rolled out world-wide this year to rave reviews. Furthermore, to celebrate the 100thanniversary of the brand, Gauloises Blondes were presented in a lim-ited edition pack featuring an exceptional graphic design underliningthe brand’s enduring values: freedom, non-conformism, creativityand “joie de vivre.”

“Davidoff is an iconic, premium brand, and the new packagingperfectly reflects that,” Schramm told Gulf-Africa Duty Free at this

year’s TFWA Exhibition in Cannes, France.“Gauloises, on the other hand, is our inter-national sub-premium brand with a Frenchtouch and really communicates a ‘libertetoujours’ image.”

With the look of both brands fresh in theminds of travelers, Imperial Tobacco set itssights on revamping its personalized in-store furniture. Schramm notes that restric-tions on advertising tobacco products induty free make the investment in new fur-niture a key issue for Imperial Tobacco giventhe communication opportunities such dis-plays afford.

The personal touchThe versatility of the new portfolio brand furniture is such that fromone basic furniture design, each brand can be given its own personallook by changing brand color, lighting and lightbox communica-tion. In addition, the color of the main unit can be customized tothe operator’s shop colors if required. Panels enable additional com-munication messages to be included, such as allowances for specificcountries or information on special promotions. Furthermore,various executions are available for wallbays, gondolas andcolumns/pillars to enable the units to be installed regardless ofshop size and configuration.

“We have three pillars when it comes to marketing our brands,” explainsSchramm. “The first is the personalized furniture, as it allows us theopportunity to still advertise our brands somewhat given the restric-tions in many countries. The second pillar is special packaging and thethird is image promotion. For the moment rolling out the furniture isour top priority, but you can expect a number of new initiatives fromImperial Tobacco relating to packaging and image in 2011.” c

Imperial Tobacco is also committed to making adifference to those less fortunate. The companyis to donate a substantial €15,000 to help floodvictims in Pakistan and India following its innov-ative charity initiative held at the TFWA Exhibitionthis year. Visitors to Imperial Tobacco’s stand atthe exhibition were invited to take part in an enter-taining Davidoff Guess and Win game, givingthem the chance to win a luxury luggage set. Each time a visitor participated in the game,

an automatic charity donation of € 50 was madeby Imperial Tobacco. Within the stand area aspecial charity wall displayed the ongoing fundtotal, along with pictures of the visitors whohelped make it happen. By the end of the week,a total of € 8,550 was raised. However, ImperialTobacco generously decided to round this up sig-nificantly to €15,000.

A helping hand

Visitors to Imperial Tobacco’sstand at TFWA were invited totake part in a Davidoff Guessand Win game that alsobenefited flood victims inPakistan and India

“For the moment rollingout the furniture is ourtop priority, but youcan expect a numberof new initiatives fromImperial Tobacco relat-ing to packaging andimage in 2011.”Oliver Schramm, Marketing ManagerGlobal Duty Free, Imperial Tobacco


Following 2010’s new and limited edition packaging, Imperial Tobacco is set to roll outimpressive new furniture worldwide to continue strengthening its position in duty free

BY RYAN WHITE

This year saw the worldwide rolloutof the new-look Davidoff cigarettes,as well as a limited centenary editionof Gauloises Blondes (pictured below)

A4 03.11.2010 MEDFA 2010 Confirmation/ Gulf-Africa Duty Free Magazine

Experience a unique variety of refined,

delicate flavours

Company News: JTI


Japan Tobacco International (JTI) recently released businessresults from January to September 2010. The company per-formed well given tightening restrictions on the sale oftobacco, and highlights of the report include the following:

� The total shipment volume (Including cigars, pipe tobacco andsnus, but not including private label and contract manufacturingproducts) and global flagship brand (GFB) shipment volumeincreased by 4.8% and 9.4%, respectively. These strong quarterlyincreases resulted from growth and prior year trade inventoryadjustments in the Middle East and Turkey, improved shipment vol-ume in Russia and continued growth in Italy and France. � Market share continued to grow in most key markets includingTurkey, Italy, France and Russia.� Core net sales excluding tax (not including revenue from distrib-ution, leaf tobacco, private label, contract manu-facturing and other peripheral businesses)grew by 5.8% from July to September, pri-marily driven by pricing and volume increases.At constant rates of exchange, core net salesexcluding tax increased by 8.9%.� Core net sales per thousand cigarettesexcluding tax was US$23.0 from July to Sep-tember. At constant rates of exchange, core netsales per thousand cigarettes excluding taxincreased by 3.9% during the same period.

Shipment Volume by ClusterSouth and West Europe: Total shipmentvolume improved 2.3% from July to Sep-tember (January–September 2010: -3.4%)compared to the same period last year. Areduction in shipment volume in Greecedue to industry contraction was more thanoffset by strong growth in Italy and France.GFB volume increased by 4.0% during thesame period (January–September 2010: -2.0%). Market share increased in all key mar-kets (i.e., Italy, France and Spain).

North and Central Europe: Total shipment volume remained flatat -0.5% from July to September (January–September 2010: 3.3%).Whilst shipment volume increased in Sweden, higher trade inven-tories in the United Kingdom offset the brands’ growth momen-tum there. GFB volume increased 4.5% from July to September (Jan-uary–September 2010: 10.3%).CIS+:Total shipment volume increased 0.8% from July to September(January–September 2010: -5.1%) due to volume improvement inRussia, which offset industry contraction in Romania and lower ship-ment volume in Ukraine due to excise increases and industry con-traction. GFB volume also increased 6.9% during the same period(January–September 2010: -1.0%). Market share grew in Russia from36.5% to 37.0%.Rest of the World: Total shipment volume increased 18.6% fromJuly to September (January–September 2010: 3.2%). Volumeincreased as a result of growth and prior year trade inventoryadjustments in the Middle East, Turkey and Taiwan. GFB volumeincreased 21.7% during the same period (January–September 2010:5.9%). Market share increased in Turkey and Korea.

GFBWinston: Shipment volume increased 12.4% from July to Sep-tember (January–September 2010: 1.7%). Increases in Russia,

the Middle East, Turkey and Italy largelycompensated for declines in other markets.Camel: Shipment volume increased 5.3%from July to September (January–Septem-ber 2010: 0.8%) with continued volumegrowth in Turkey and France.Mild Seven: Shipment volume increased16.8% from July to September driven bygrowth in Korea and prior year trade inven-tory adjustment in Taiwan (January–Sep-tember 2010: 4.1%).LD: Shipment volume increased 10.8% fromJuly to September (January–September 2010:5.8%). JTI attributes the increase to recov-ery in Russia and new product launches inthe Ukraine and Turkey.

Total shipment volume(billions of cigarettes)GFB shipment volume(billions of cigarettes)Core net sales, excluding tax(millions of US$)Core net sales per cigarettes,excluding tax (US$)

109.6

July-Sep

325.6

Jan-Sep

100.9

Jan-Mar

115.1

Apr-Jun

114.8(+4.8%)

July-Sep

319.5(-1.9%)

Jan-Sep

94.1(-6.8%)

Jan-Mar

110.7(-3.9%)

61.0 182.457.1 64.2 66.7(+9.4%)

185.1(+1.5%)

54.6(-4.4%)

63.7(-0.9%)

2,476 7,0282,148 2,404 2,621(+5.8%)

7,591(+8.0%)

2,372(+10.4%)

2,598(+8.1%)

22.8 21.821.5 21.1 23.0(+1.0%)

24.0(+10.1%)

25.5(+18.6%)

23.7(+12.4%)

Apr-Jun2009 Results 2010 Results

JANUARY-SEPTEMBER RESULTSFOR 2009 & 2010 (July-September results for 2010 are preliminary)

( ): Net change in comparison to the same period in 2009

On the riseDespite increasing restrictions on the saleof tobacco products in many regions, JTIsees shipment volume improve from Jan-uary to September 2010 BY RYAN WHITE

Shipment volumes of all JTI’s global flagship brands—which include Winston and Camel—

increased from January to September 2010

AC Nielsen, Core EPOS and JTI internal data on a 12-month rolling average, September 2010

nks int v2 final.indd 1ks int v2 final.indd 1 04/10/2007 03:47:44 p.m04/10/2007 03:47:44 p.m

Chivas Regal 18 year old limited editionCompany: Pernod RicardDescription: With flamboyantcreativity, innovation and intrue Lacroix style, ChristianLacroix has brought hautecouture to Scotch whiskywith the bejeweled Chivas 18year old bottle, presented ina mirrored treasure box


Camus MasterpiececollectionCompany: CamusDescription: This rare, limitededition cognac is composedof four exceptional eaux-de-viefrom the Petite Champagnearea, guaranteed to be atleast 43 years old includingtwo sumptuous vintagecognacs from 1962 and 1964. Only 980decanters available

worldwide

Davidoff Puro d'OroCompany: Davidoff InternationalDescription: With the DavidoffPuro d'Oro, Davidoff hassuccessfully reverted back toits cigar-making roots. Purod'Oro is compromised ofcarefully chosen, single-origin tobaccos featuringthe exclusive DavidoffYamasá wrapper

LIQUOR & TOBACCO

CONFECTIONERY

New & NotableBY KIM CARRERA

The Balvenie FortyCompany: William GrantDescription: Small amounts of TheBalvenie matured in seven different vintage

casks have been used toproduce only 150 hand-numbered bottles of TheBalvenie Forty, exclusivelyavailable to travel retail

Chocobloc OrangeCompany: Chocolat FreyDescription: The newly designedChocobloc Orange contains finemilk chocolate with orange flavorand almond-honey-nougat

Freia Kvikk Lunsj TabletCompany: Kraft Foods World Travel Retail LLCDescription: Two of Norway’sbiggest brands, FreiaMelkesjokolade and KvikkLunsj, come together in aunique mouth-watering tabletof Freia Milk Chocolate, piecesof Kvikk Lunsj wafer and asprinkle of sea salt

Chocolate shaped airplanesCompany: Starbrook AirlinesDescription: These milk chocolate airplanesevoke the style of the early 50’s aviation era.All the products and packaging is developedby Jaak De Koninck

Baileys Original IrishCream Mint, Carameland Coffee flavoredliqueur chocolatesCompany: Lir ChocolatesDescription: Following thephenomenal success of itsBaileys Original Irish CreamLiqueur Chocolate collection, Lirhas introduced a new selection of

Mint, Caramel and Coffee flavoredchocolates -each filled with the unique

and creamy Baileys Liqueurs

Liberty by Tic TacCompany: FerreroDescription: Tiny sugar-freemouth freshener mints intwo flavors – Wildberries andCoolmint – which are presented in neat littletins that slip into a pocket. Perfect as animpulse purchase at the till-point

NewcastleBrown Ale Company: HeinekenInternational DutyFree & Travel Retail Description:Newcastle BrownAle is an authenticdark beer withunique personality. It is as refreshingand easy-to-drinkas lager but has thereal characteristicsof traditional British Ale

N

is composedo

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New & Notable


JEWELRY & WATCHES

TRAVEL ACCESSORIES

Kenneth ColeTouch Screen Company: Geneva, a Binda CompanyDescription: FeaturingDigi-Touch technology,the new Touch ScreenWatch includes 32-cityworld time capabilities,alarm, stop watch andlight-up screen that canall be activated at thetouch of a finger

Hungry MonkeyCompany: WizzDescription: ‘Hungry Monkey’ screamsand waves his arms when his bananais taken away. Give him the bananaback and he is happy again. Itworks on a simple but clevermagnetic mechanism with fourversions available: lying, hanging,jumping and one waving his arms

Alpha Bravo CollectionCompany: TumiDescription: Alpha Bravocontinues to expand with a greater selection of daybags. Contemporary indesign and attitude, ballisticnylon is applied in a softer,less structured mannerand enhanced withantique pewter hardwareand leather detailing

Vivaldi’s 8 piece setCompany: GerzonDescription: Vivaldi’s eight piece setsremain the perfect gift; a charming set of costume jewelry with six pierced earrings and two matchingpendants; all presented in luxurywindow gift box. The items are gold and/or rhodium plated with pearls or crystal

The Ultra Slim Titanium CollectionCompany: Skagen DesignsDescription: The Skagen Denmark® Titanium Collectiondraws from powerful seas iconic to the artist’s village ofSkagen. Forceful in nature, water is one of the Earth’s mostraw elements and the lightweight, durable material of titaniummirrors this same essence. The signature mesh band wrapsaround the wrist to create a seamless contour

Dolce Vita CollectionCompany: Toscow

Description: Toscow’s newDolce Vita collection iselegant, playful and colorfulperfect to adorn any wardrobe

DC 9011 WPCompany: Minox GMBHDescription: Boasting a sturdy bodythat is waterproof up to a depth ofthree meters, this compact digitalcamera repels dust, water, sandand salt. It is a must-have for loversof water sports and outdoorenthusiasts

Adidas Timepieces Company: Fossil IncDescription: The new AdidasNYC collection stylishlyintegrates the playfulness of a plastic digital with the streetheritage of Adidas Originals

The Sphaira CollectionCompany: TateossianDescription: Delicately handcrafted in Italy, the silver andgold vermeil pieces use themesh design feature that hasbecome a Tateossian signature.The collection combines unity,simplicity and symmetry

YO U R E X C LUSIVE GIFT:

A S E L ECT I O N O F T H E B E S T T A S T E S

O F S W I T Z E R L A N D

MILK CHOCOLATE

WITH ALMOND & LEMONDARK CHOCOLATE

WITH ALMOND & CRANBERRYMILK CHOCOLATE

WITH CARAMEL & SALT

N E S T L É S W I S S I S A T R AV E L E XC LU S I V E B R A N D

GULF AFRICA Duty-Free & Travel

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