MALAYSIA. Malaysia Airports has revealed updated branding for its retail division Eraman (Malaysia Airports Niaga), which will be rolled out across its duty free, duty paid and food and beverage network. The “bigger, better and bolder” rebranding is in line with state-owned Malaysia Airports’ Commercial Reset Strategy.
The move comes amid expansion of many Eraman spaces at key airports, the introduction of new retail concepts and realignment of product categories. The retailer said it would also enhance its experiential marketing and digitalisation in stores.
The rebranding exercise aims at enhancing Eraman’s brand presence and awareness among local and international travellers. Malaysia Airports said: “The initiative is a significant and strategic one because it will make Eraman superior and different from the competition. It will help position Eraman as the preferred airport travel retail and duty free player in Asia Pacific by offering the most complete shopping experience through excellent customer service.”
Eraman Chairman Datuk Seri Michael Yam said that the organisation has seen significant growth over its 25 years in business. In 2018, Eraman recorded RM834.2 million (US$202 million) in revenue, contributing about 20% to the group’s total income. Pre-tax profit last year was RM66 million (US$16 million) The brand refresh aims to solidify its presence in the market, he added.
He added that the beauty category is one of the growth drivers, and saw strong growth in 2018. “This was no doubt [helped] by our many new initiatives last year. We opened four dedicated monogram concept boutiques under the perfumes and cosmetics category – MAC, La Mer, Tom Ford and Jo Malone – at Kota Kinabalu International Airport.
“We also opened three new stand-alone boutique stores for leading beauty houses MAC, Jo Malone and Gucci in departures and arrivals at Kuala Lumpur International. The Gucci boutique is the first in Southeast Asia that has been introduced in the airport,” he added.
Other initiatives that contributed to growth include the tactical campaign with Maybank cards that resulted in a 45% year-on-year sales rise in February and March 2018. In addition, business was boosted by the Eraman Shopping Extravaganza #25AmazingYears Contest from July 2018, which offered prizes totalling RM1.2 million. It attracted more than 200,000 entries from Malaysia, China, India, Singapore, Europe and India.
Deputy Minister of Transport Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar said: “The government is also supportive of such initiatives as airports are major gateways into our country – contributing to a lasting first impression for foreign visitors. We already possess world-class infrastructure at our airports. On top of which, the variety in international and local retail brands offered at our airports are the envy of our regional counterparts. Further enhancements to duty free stores, redesigning of brand awareness elements and engagement with travellers are strategic steps that will provide a quantum leap in making Malaysia a first-world country.”
As part of the brand refresh initiative, Eraman has introduced new and stylised logo. The letter ‘e’ is captured within a hexagon representing a gift box. The logo also features a new, vibrant purple palette, which the company claims reinforces the “promise of excitement” in its stores.
Other changes include enhancements to the façades of all stores as well as new modern designs for staff uniforms.
The retailer said it was confident that the rebranding exercise “will strengthen and build brand awareness through elements that are engaging, meaningful, easily recognisable and transferable to all its outlets.”
In conjunction with the rebranding launch event, Eraman presented awards to business partners who have contributed towards the company’s growth. These included:
*The Eraman Excellence Award to recognise the highest revenue contribution by product category from business partners from 2016 to 2018.
* The Best Growth Award for business partners who have demonstrated significant sales growth by product category from 2016 to 2018, and
* The Most Supportive Business Partner 2019 Award, which recognises the effort of a business partner in three areas, namely engagement by Leadership Team; capex support, and marketing support and innovation.
In addition, Eraman acknowledged the top performers among its retail staff. The selection was based on Mystery Shopper survey results conducted by an external party. Ten staff were recognised based on criteria such as communications skills, greeting, product and service knowledge, ability to cross-sell, staff professionalism, overall presentation and personality, as well as store presentation and product display.
Apart from the top performing staff, Eraman also celebrated the achievement of employees who have dedicated their careers to the company. In particular, 64 employees who have served the company for between 20 to 25 years were recognised for their long service records.
Eraman operates 37 retail stores and 16 F&B outlets across 150,000sq ft of space in all five international airports plus one domestic airport (Labuan) in Malaysia.
