 |
SKYlink Managing Director Barry Fitzpatrick and Furla Director of Travel Retail Gerry Munday |
Italian accessories brand Furla has announced the appointment of SKYlink as its exclusive global inflight distributor, effective immediately. SKYlink will work directly with both airlines and inflight concessionaires, representing both Furla’s global and exclusive inflight collections.
Said Furla Director of Travel Retail Gerry Munday: “Our inflight business has really taken off during the past year and it makes sense to utilise the expertise of a company such as SKYlink which understands fully the demands and requirements of airlines and concessionaires.”
Based in Hamburg, SKYlink was set up recently by Barry Fitzpatrick and Thomas Wesch.
Commenting on the agreement, Fitzpatrick said: “We’ve been working with Gerry Munday and the team at Furla for a while now and are absolutely delighted to be taking on this additional role. It’s a pleasure to work with such a well respected brand and we’re very much looking forward to further building distribution for Furla inflight.”
 |
Zizi pochette in leopard |
This month, Qantas has confirmed a listing for the Furla black clutch from the exclusive inflight collection from August 2013.
Munday explained that due to increasing demand, Furla was now offering its global collection to airlines. The current exclusive inflight collection will continue where listed.
“ANA – through ISG – asked us whether they could list the Tribe Small Shopper in Papaya and Selene in Toni Vaniglia from the global collection. The items have been such a success that ANA have decided to list again from the Autumn/Winter 13 collection with Elizabeth M Hobo in Bouganville/Onyx, Piper Lux M Top Handle in Burro and Classic M Trifold in Mohair, Diamante XL Billfold in Sigaro and Olimpia Pashmina in Speed.
“In view of our success with the global collection with ANA, we decided to extend the offer to all airlines. Apart from widening the range that is available for direct inflight sales, it also gives more scope for home delivery programmes where larger bags can be offered.”
EVA Air, through St Doras Enterprises, has followed suit and this season is offering the reversible Tribe Shopper in Siberian/Electric, along with the Zizi Siberian Pochette.
KLM is now listing the clutch/purse in red, while Cathay Pacific is another new airline customer.
Travel retail now 15% of Furla’s total sales
At a press conference during the TFWA Asia Pacific show earlier this month, Munday introduced her colleagues Vivian Li – Travel Retail Manager, Asia Pacific, and Grace Kim – General Manager, South Korea.
She told the media guests how important travel retail sales are to the company, as the channel now represents some 15% of the brand’s overall business.
Munday said: “It’s already been documented that travel retail is developing pretty well for Furla – in fact it was the best performing division for the company with sales up a massive +93% in 2012 versus 2011 and doors increasing from 57 to 120. Global sales for the brand were up +18% – which is still excellent compared to the world average of +14% within the category – but it does just show how important travel retail is to Furla.
“This year – fingers crossed – we’re looking to open another 10 doors – but I would emphasise that we’re not opening just anywhere”¦ it has to be where the brand can be represented properly. And I have to say, mentioning no names, we have pulled out of some airports where this has not been the case.
“Much of that growth will continue to be in the Asia Pacific region. Asia is a vitally important market for Furla, representing 40% of our total (travel retail 15%) business in 2012.
 |  |
Tribe shopper in Siberian/Electric; Elizabeth zipped hobo bag | |
“Sales on the domestic market continue to grow quite astonishingly – sales in Macau and Hong Kong, for example, were up +123% and +42% respectively over 2011, while sales in Korea and Japan were both up +14%, and this certainly is reflecting on our desirability in airports.
“China is also a rapidly growing market for us and we’re planning on opening 100 new stores in the next four years. That will – and indeed already is – reflecting on our travel retail business.
“We currently have confirmed, or are in final negotiations for, a further 43 new openings across the globe, of which around a third are in Asia and the Middle East. Bahrain and Mahe have both opened recently and like everyone else we’re waiting on the opening of the new operation at Qatar.
“Kuala Lumpur, Shenzhen and Sydney will be opening between May and November, also two locations will be personalised in Hong Kong International Airport with DFS. We also have an 85sq m boutique in Changi T1 opening with King Power Singapore on 13 July.
“You would think that with Europe in recession, business would be slowing down there for us, but in fact we have around 15 new projects under way – a mixture of personalised corners, shop-in-shops and generic displays.
“We’re doing a lot with Nuance and have corners or generics opening this summer in Dublin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Zurich, Burgas, Varna and St Petersburg. We also have a great relationship with Dufry and are waiting to confirm opening dates for shop-in-shops in Milan Malpensa, Vnukovo and Sochi airports (the latter is domestic).”
IAADFS show update
Turning to April’s IAADFS Duty Free Show of the Americas, Munday continued: “As you know, last month we were exhibiting in Orlando and I’m delighted to report an excellent show there with a lot more interest in the brand.
“We opened in Cincinnati with DFASS end of March and now have a 10sq m personalised corner in Bogota (refurbished) with Motta – we are already working with Motta in Guatemala, San Salvador, Caracas, Colon Free Zone and will be opening a 16sq m personalised corner in Quito airport this month.
“We have also agreed a 20sq m shop-in-shop with Duty Free City in San Ysidro which will open in November.”
For details, contact Gerry Munday, Travel Retail Director, tel: +34 609 173 706, e-mail: gerry.munday@furla.com Visit www.furla.com
