Visibility, merchandising and position are the three key elements for building Luxottica’s business in duty free this year, says Duty Free Manager Martha RosasUS. The recent IAADFS event was a huge success for the duty free team at Luxottica, according to Duty Free Manager Martha Rosas, who has also noted a shift in the retailers’ attitude towards the category.
“We are amazed with the way customers have changed their approach to this category,” she said. “Many operators are opening new stores with increased consideration for sunglasses; in some cases they are dedicating significant areas to the category.
“This is a major contrast to how business was in previous years where we had to really sell the category. Now retailers are seeing sunglasses as important as having the staples of liquor, tobacco and fragrance. We can see by the reaction from our customers that this is one of the most dynamic categories in the business at the moment.”
This year’s results confirmed the commercial significance of the category within travel retail and in the Americas.
Rosas added: “This year has seen some big changes in the region. We have seen a lot of new ventures and all them want to include sunglasses within their mix. In some cases we are seeing retailers who are willing to change what they have in store in order to include a comprehensive sunglasses offer.”
This is the sixth year Luxottica has participated at the IAADFS show. This year’s event was one of the most successful on record in terms of establishing new business partners, developing existing relations and increased interest in the category as a whole.
Commenting on the importance of participating at the event, she said: “This is such an important region for Luxottica and we have developed some great partnerships in the region over many years.”
The group is now investing more resources in the channel and is very focused on developing its business in travel retail worldwide. The team dedicated to duty free has increased including additional resources from the Luxottica marketing team, which enables improved support for all commercial activities.
Branding is key in driving the company forward. Visibility, merchandising and position are the three key elements for building Luxottica’s business in duty free this year, said Rosas.
“Our approach to the sunglasses market is to deliver a concise and consistent branding concept; we want to promote the branding approach in-store to give our brands the very best position and visibility.”
Minimalist, clear merchandising that allows the branding and products to speak is vital for successful sunglasses retailing. “When you make branding a priority you will always find the right space for your brands,” she noted.
Luxottica is keen to provide a solution that will enable its brands to be merchandised in the best way in-store within duty free.
Retail concepts are being developed by Luxottica and will be introduced in-store only where location and position are suitable.
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