IRELAND. Aer Rianta International (ARI) today revealed a classy new look for its spirits & wines business under The Loop brand at Dublin Airport Terminal 2.
The store is one of the first phases of an ambitious upgrade of 2,000sq m across the departures commercial zone, which will become a walk-through environment housing many new brands and retail concepts, with final completion due in August 2019.
The space for wines & spirits in T2 has been increased by +68% to over 400sq m in the stand-alone store. Highlights of the store, designed by London-based The Design Solution, include an evolution of ARI’s signature The Irish Whiskey Collection concept; much-improved ranges in international whiskies, notably Scotch and American; a special focus on Cognac and Armagnac via a dedicated luxury area; enhanced space for liqueurs led by Irish cream liqueur brands such as Baileys and Coole Swan; a stunning range of gins and vodkas each in their own space, with a striking personalised gondola for Drumshanbo Gunpowder gin at the heart of the zone.
With the additional space available, the number of SKUs across the store has increased by around 160, 80 in spirits (including around 30 gins) and 80 new wine brands. Among the new lines are Campari, Chabot, Dead Rabbit Distillery, Penfolds and Beringer.
Digital innovation is embedded throughout the store with digital screens and promotion areas delivering an interactive customer experience.
The Irish Whiskey Collection represents the core sub-category for the business and – in a departure from the generic concept in other locations and previously in T2 – it features semi-personalised fixtures for the key brands, under The Irish Whiskey Collection umbrella brand. Once the walk-through passenger flow is introduced from October, this will be the first spirits zone travellers will encounter as they emerge from the P&C department. Exclusives to this store include Jameson Double Charred, Teelings Collinstown 12yo, Knappogue Castle 21yo and others from partners such as Walsh Whiskey.
ARI Ireland General Manager Martin Carpenter said: “Delivering the best customer experience and a true Sense of Place has been the key objective of the T2 refurbishment project and this first phase with the opening of the new liquor store clearly delivers this. We are extremely proud of this addition to our store and looking forward to the next phase with the opening of our exciting new beauty offering.”
He added later: “If you take The Irish Whiskey Collection and its different wall bays, it brings to life the character of the brands. On top of that we have 20 new gin and whisky ambassadors who are true experts, and they bring the stories behind the brands to life. That takes our Sense of Place to a new level. We have a lot more interactivity here than we have featured before, which is the direction in which retail is going. It gives the customer the sense that we are offering stories here and not only selling product.”
ARI Global Head of Category Paul Hunnisett said: “The new liquor store features the best of Irish and international products in a modern and captivating design. As an industry we must constantly innovate and differentiate our offering to compete and we feel that this new store sets a new standard in driving customer engagement.”
Hunnisett noted that the positioning of the store, the focus on leading with Irish whiskey and the many other stop points would aid penetration levels.
“In the old T2 shop penetration was poor at around 9% so we needed much more linear space and better usage of wall bays,” he said.
“The Irish Whiskey Collection was a priority as it’s comfortably our biggest sub-category. The concept has gone from strength to strength in recent years. When we introduced it first brands questioned it, wondering why we didn’t just do a space for Jameson, a space for Tullamore Dew and so on. The generic approach has worked for us but this time around they can do a little more to bring their brands to life. We have ‘gently personalised’ the wall bays but we still need the DNA of the Irish Whiskey Collection. It maintains brand recognition but the personalisation is managed well.”
Project Manager Adam Heffernan pointed to the new flow-through as a key element. “This will be done in three phases, with travellers encountering beauty first, then Irish whiskey, which carries that great shout out for Sense of Place, which is so important for us. And with the personalisation all of the furniture is appropriately executed, maximising visibility for the customer.”
Other neat touches in the Irish Whiskey Collection area include a full bar, which will highlight different brands on a rotating basis (Jameson currently) and can be used for tastings. These are conducted using specially designed nosing glasses for whiskey rather than the over-used plastic glasses one often sees in airport environments.
The Irish whiskey zone is complemented by a much-enhanced range of Scotch, American and other international whiskies, now at much broader (and notably many higher) price points than were traditionally available in Dublin in this sector.
Hunnisett said: “We know we were under-indexed in Scotch, bourbons and other world whiskies. But this time we worked closely with Beam Suntory, Brown-Forman and William Grant & Sons to bring other whiskies to life. We’ll never be a Scotch shop but why can’t we do Scotch better? This terminal also serves US flights so in brands such as Jim Beam and Jack Daniel’s there is opportunity.
“You wouldn’t have seen these brands here even a few years ago – and we have also under-indexed on American whiskies. But these companies have agreed to spend a little more with us and come on a journey. American whiskey will be a real gem for us I believe.”
He added: “In general we have gone a little more premium – there is a market now for products at €1,000-plus and we’ll do more of that in future. And we also wanted diversity and new, more interesting things, with Taiwanese and Japanese well represented alongside Scotch or bourbons.”
The high-end Cognac and Armagnac corner, presented in a small boutique space, is a surprise and another highlight in presentational terms, with a sleek black look and spotlights to draw out the product. Key brands include Hennessy, Martell and Rémy Martin but there is also a prominent place for Chabot Armagnac. This premium showcase is a further departure from the previous T2 store and early sales since the store opened on Saturday are encouraging, says ARI.
One of the weakest categories previously was wines & Champagnes, but with 80 extra SKUs this now offers real variety by region and price point, with shelves split by French and New World regions. A core target is the Irish holiday maker seeking a deal, but there are also some higher end offers for the connoisseur from leading French wineries to Penfolds and other Australian brands.
Outside whiskies, gin the store’s great growth category. Before this category took just two wall bays, now increased to six.
Hunnisett said: “Gin was 5% of our liquor business three years ago, and is 15% today, with triple-digit growth in that period. That’s no accident. We have invested in it along with brand partners, brands like Gunpowder, Dingle, Listoke and many others. We have exclusives, we have our own team who created The Loop gin with Glendalough, which adds to the story. We have intentionally done this category radically different from the past. We think we have the best gin range in global travel retail, with over 80 SKUs. It will grow and we’ll do more. We have the next 20 gins ready to go already once we update our space plans.”
As well as the brands named above, others include Silver Spear Gin, Old Carrick Mill, Garnish Island Gin, Beara Gin from Ireland, Gin Scapegrace from New Zealand, and Edinburgh Gin and Bulldog Gin from UK.
Within the zone, a specially designed bespoke pillar for Gunpowder gin stands out (with The Shed distillery’s Sausage tree vodka also in its own unit).
Hunnisett noted: “White spirits have a very different look and feel now. We wanted to reflect the way people drink now – if they go into a bar, they are met with a choice of with 20 gins, 20 tonics and 20 garnishes. So we have tried to bring to life the places where people are drinking today, the ‘speakeasy’ style bar, with distressed metal furnishings, with neon signs and so on.
“We have intentionally tried to go quite generic so we have not done much personalisation, but we can still being the brands to life. Gunpowder and Sausage Tree vodka have their own areas and a HPP zone at the front does the same for Hendricks now. We have also introduced an area called ‘New’ and that is key. People travel a lot more often than they used to so we need newness for the passenger who is through the airport four or five times a year.”
Brand ambassadors help bring the 30 additional gins, both Irish and international, and the full brand offer, to life in-store.
“We have 15 of our own BA’s, aided by the investment of our brand partners,” said Hunnisett, “and that’s part of trying to keep momentum going in categories like gin. When you have 80 gins you need someone to tell you what the difference is between a Gunpowder and a Dingle or a Hendricks and a Bombay Sapphire. The moment you cannot do that you have lost them.”
The vodka zone is also far wider than before, with the up and coming rum area also stocking a strong offer – here, Zacapa and Appleton among the new brands.
The Design Solution Director Nick Taylor said: “The design is an evolution of the concept we did in Dublin T1, using digital to greater effect throughout, and crucially at the shopfront to catch passengers’ attention as they flow into the IDL. Digitised promotional sites at the shopfront draw passengers in, and a semi-personalised bar creates that engagement and ability to taste before you buy. We wanted to create an overall sense of theatre and drama with this design, using black to powerful effect to set off the powerful product packaging.
“Lighting was a key tool used to both glorify and focus on products but also create the warmth and glow of a ‘speak easy’ story in the white spirits area with the decorative array of filament bulbs overhead and within the signage, coupled with brass effect detailing and synonymous with gin den heritage.”
On how ARI developed the store with its partners, Hunnisett said: “We’ve been fortunate in our brand partnership and we’ve taken them on a journey from a year ago. We didn’t have a single difficult conversation. Everyone understood what we wanted to do, they have all upped their game, not only in terms of the executions but also on range and in the support they’ve given us.”
The conversion opportunity should become clearer once the walk-through is completed and travellers are guided directly to the store.
Hunnisett said: “This shop should come into its own once people exit beauty and come through this amazing liquor department. We’ve given ourselves the opportunity to convert every consumer; now it’s down to us and our awesome staff to do that. We have a terrific conversion rate now, better than it was in the previous store already. We are now feeding many more people through than before.
“We have set ourselves a target of super-bullish growth and we’re in line with that so far.”
*As noted above, the new store is one element in the wider redesign of the International Departures Lounge in T2. In coming days ARI will open its in-house sunglasses concept, Spectrum, followed in coming weeks by jewellery concept Gemini.
With the relocation of the airside pharmacy unit after security control, the first part of a new walk-through flow will open in October, with travellers guided through the existing (and soon to be upgraded) P&C department. This will be expanded and renovated in phases (while much of the space remains trading) through to August 2019, which, with other new stores and concepts then in place, will mark the completion of the project.
*More details and images to follow soon.
