 |
Strong, easy to understand signage is central to the project’s success |
NETHERLANDS. A year on from launch, a renovated store project conducted by Schiphol Airport Retail in partnership with Nestlé International Travel Retail (NITR) has delivered +17% growth in confectionery sales, the partners have revealed. It also helped drive total store sales and increased basket sizes in the Lounge 2 outlet at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
As reported soon after the project was launched in June last year, the companies reconfigured the confectionery store layout, and also made changes to the adjacent categories of liquor and tobacco. They linked premium chocolate with Champagne and wines, changed the segmentation within confectionery, plus the layout of the queue system to improve the impulse buying opportunity by the tills. The goal was to improve ease of shop for both shoppers and browsers while encouraging impulse purchases and thereby increase basket sizes during the shopping journey.
Nestlé International Travel Retail Global Head of Sales Alan Brennan said: “In May we reached a milestone of one year at the Schiphol Lounge 2 Perfect Store project. This has been a game changer when you measure the results versus the original project goals. Confectionery category sales of +17% have grown ahead of passenger increases, which is an outstanding performance. That is especially the case when you compare it against other airports and retail stores where there is single-digit category growth for confectionery.”
Spend per head climbed by +15.3% in May 2013 compared to June 2012, while there was also a sharp rise in the number of baskets that contained confectionery.
Brennan added: “What is compelling is how the project activation has increased cross category sales with the industry average of 16% rising to a level of 21%, delivering incremental sales across all three categories of liquor, tobacco and confectionery, and driving total store performance.”
Schiphol Airport Retail Director Peter-Jan Rozenberg said: “In November 2010 SAR entered the confectionery business with no experience in the category. The joint category management project with NITR has delivered a lot of customer and category insights that have helped optimise our performance. That has resulted in improved ease-of-shop for our customers and delivered substantial growth. With this project we created the cornerstones of our category management for confectionery, which is now our standard to be implemented in the other stores. It’s fantastic to join forces with business partners like NITR to drive our mutual business a step further.”
 |
The impulse buying opportunity by the tills is a big opportunity to build incremental sales, but one that is sometimes neglected in travel retail |
Brennan concluded: “The project has demonstrated 12 months on the sustainability of Perfect Store in terms of delivering incremental sales growth for the confectionery category and the total store. Equally, it demonstrates that the Trinity can work with proactive and open partnerships centred around common goals, best practice and collective learning between airports, retailers and suppliers.”
The project will continue to evolve, said the partners, with new insight-driven activations to build on the platform that has already been established.
