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Philippe de Korodi: Travel retail is enjoying a strong year |
SWITZERLAND. The writing instruments business has a bright future in travel retail, as long as leading brands continue to innovate and underline the quality of their products. That’s according to Caran d’Ache CEO Philippe de Korodi, speaking to The Moodie Report at TFWA World Exhibition.
He said: “There’s a big challenge in fighting for space in this channel. It means that the category needs to be ever more relevant. Writing instruments need to be as active as the watch industry for example. That category brings innovation, creates awareness around the value of new products and about the quality of manufacture, and does so in a creative way. It’s not about squeezing every last bit of volume out of our manufacturing. Now it’s about telling a story about quality and about innovation.”
He added: “In this channel the category needs to stay visible. But even then we don’t need a huge amount of space to tell our story. Our products are quite dense in terms of volume and that offers us an opportunity.”
To develop the business in the channel, Caran d’Ache intends to focus on the quality manufacture of its items, but also on broadening its product base to include more accessories.
“We plan to build up our leather assortment to complement the writing range,” said de Korodi, “and that will occur in domestic and travel retail channels.”
The company has bounced back strongly from the global economic downturn of 2008 and 2009, said Korodi, with travel retail now performing ahead of the domestic market in many places.
“I would say that in travel retail we have seen a V-shaped period from crisis to recovery, with a steep decline but also a strong rebound. To put it into perspective, we are already performing above 2008, which was a good year. The big difference will come in the last trimester, which we predict will be well above 2008. We’ll be close to exceeding the record year of 2007.”
While European and the Americas recover more slowly, Asia Pacific is forging ahead across all trading channels, he noted.
“We have a solid base in our home market of Switzerland, which was not as badly affected as many European neighbours by the crisis. In September we had the best trading month in a generation.
“The broader European business has stopped going down but it’s still slow to recover. The trade is re-stocking so that is positive but in terms of consumer purchases it’s still flat. The Americas have also seen that pattern, but in Asia, which is very dynamic, the brands that have invested in distribution in the past are reaping the benefits.
“At Caran d’Ache we are positioning ourselves for growth in Asia Pacific, and in particular in China. We opened a boutique in Shanghai last year in the Bund 18 shopping mall, and in October we hosted a big event linking us to one of China’s top-rated artists, which adds to our profile.
“It’s very interesting how the brand is seen as very legitimate and strong in the eyes of artists and elite customers in China. These people don’t want to look like everyone else. They want something unique, something different. And I think our emphasis on quality gives us a chance to capture the awareness of people interested in art and high-quality products.”
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The brand unveiled a new style of boutique at Geneva Airport earlier in the year |
The airports business will be critical to the brand’s development, added de Korodi.
“The prospects for air traffic, despite the crisis, are staggering over the long term. There are two major changes happening in civilisation today: there’s the digital world with instant communication, and the second factor is travel. That trend will be further reinforced in the years ahead, so we are very optimistic. Travel is now a way of life, and is not limited to business or occasional tourism travel. The world is more mobile than ever before. So travel retail is therefore a very substantial channel. And airports will be an anchor for our business for the future.”
