Introduction: Diptyque Paris International Commercial Director Eric Cauvin talks about his ‘caretaker’ role in preserving the French fragrance house’s brand equity, the formula to building and maintaining brand desirability and its selective distribution approach to travel retail.
Since the first Diptyque store opened in 34 Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris, created by interior designer Christiane Gautrot, theatre set designer Yves Coueslant and painter Desmond Knox-Leet, the brand has championed creativity in all its forms.
It has grown a loyal fan base of customers from around the world with bestselling scents including the Baies and Do Son fragrances.
As the French fragrance house celebrates ten years in travel retail, International Commercial Director Eric Cauvin looks back at the brand’s biggest milestones and its commitment to protecting brand equity and desirability.
He says: “This year is our tenth anniversary in the channel. I started alone at the time when everything in travel retail was much smaller. We began working with Lagardère Travel Retail at Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport and then over the years our team grew.”
Diptyque recently opened a counter in the Extime Duty Free-managed beauty space at CDG Terminal 1, a complete brand expression in a luxury terminal that exemplifies Diptyque’s curated approach.
Cauvin says: “We are demanding and selective in terms of space and that is the same for both travel retail and domestic. This is because we believe there is a right way to roll out the brand. It’s more than just square metres. We only enter a downtown duty free or airport location if we have the best possible location that can be personalised.”
A selective approach
Diptyque is known for its perfumes and home fragrances and the brand has slowly been expanding its portfolio to include bath and body products, diffusers, candle holders and ceramics.
This careful curation of art, eclecticism and French savoir-faire has remained a core pillar of the brand – this is why Cauvin sees himself, and the wider Diptyque team, as caretakers of the brand’s carefully preserved brand equity.
“The brand is a bit complex, with several different categories, so we believe that we need the space for travellers to best discover our brand. It is therefore important that we can fully express the brand in the space, with enough products, and that the visual merchandising expresses the same spirit as our original flagship in 34 Boulevard Saint Germain. We are selective and we will remain selective in our approach.”
Dynamic and eye-catching visual merchandising is key to this approach, Cauvin says, but difficult to achieve particularly in travel retail where space is limited.
“We want to communicate our brand story in a few seconds and effective visual merchandising is a way to achieve that.
“Our design team is amazing and creates some of the most eye-catching pop-ups and store designs. For example, our new location in CDG T1 is amazing. We are lucky that we have very beautiful products that do the job and each fragrance is special as each one has its own drawing on the label and special packaging.
“To enhance that, visual merchandising is key. Our design team is always pushing the creative boundaries to ensure that what we have in travel retail is as attractive as what we have in the domestic market, where we have much more space.”
Despite the tumultuous COVID years and recent, daigou-related challenges in China, Diptyque’s travel retail business has remained resilient. “We have a very balanced business in all regions,” Cauvin explains. “Our biggest markets are the US and China, but we are also strong in historical markets in Europe such as France and the UK, where we have significant business and market share.
“Asia, which is the most dynamic, and despite current difficulties in China, is a very exciting market for us,” he adds. “We have just opened in Okinawa, in downtown and airports, as Japan is becoming an important location for us in travel retail. We’re going to open our third store in Singapore. Soon, we will open in India and Saudi Arabia. The Middle East is one of our weaker regions and so we plan to reinforce our business there with regional products and specific regional campaigns to gain more market share.”
The formula to brand desirability
Not many brands can say that they have created a cult following but for Diptyque that certainly rings true. Offering his insights into what the secret formula is to create a loyal fanbase of customers, Cauvin says: “The foundations for this begins with our strong brand history and heritage. Our connection with art and culture stems from our founders, who created all our labels and the different illustrations that bring each product to life.
“We’ve developed a lot of products since the founders have passed but we always keep that spirit as a starting point. We try to protect this as much as we can.”
So how does Diptyque keep this creative spirit alive today? Cauvin says: “We’ve been very dynamic in terms of products and projects and try to be as creative as we can in terms of concept, design, execution and merchandising in both our domestic and travel retail stores.
“Within the limited space in travel retail, we try to communicate that spirit in all aspects of our products. Our protectiveness of the brand is a key element to maintaining our desirability. That chemistry has worked quite well alongside our constant collaboration with the domestic market teams, and all our communications have helped us maintain our brand heritage over the years.
“We don’t participate in any promotional programmes. Even though there is a price benefit in travel retail at -10% versus domestic markets, we believe that price shouldn’t be the reason why people buy a brand in whatever channel.”
The power of brand equity and experience
Commenting on the biggest trends that will shape the fragrances & cosmetics category now and in the future, Cauvin says: “Personalisation and exclusivity remain key but also you must not forget about service. People expect a high quality of service and quality treatment through CRM. These tools may not be so easy to implement in travel retail because of limitations in space and staffing, but I truly believe that customers expect this personalised treatment.
“Nowadays, I can see that all the operators are working towards improving customer service and follow ups after purchases. In terms of product offer, customers are tired of seeing the same thing everywhere and so they want something different, more exclusive, more niche and these more sophisticated brands are doing particularly well in this current landscape.
“They want brands with history, deeply rooted in their equity,” he adds. “Nowadays, you see more and more of these brands taking market share in the travel retail environment. For brands like this, having an exemplary product and plenty of personalisation is important. Retailers understand that they need to deliver originality and experience in the store. These exclusive, niche brands driving the growth of the beauty and fragrance categories will only grow stronger.
“The travel retail brand mix is evolving and so I believe that retailers need to give less space to the usual suspects and give space to the new generation, as a new generation of customers enter our stores.”
One such activation was last year’s Diptyque summer pop-up at Nice and Madrid airports. The animation, which was launched in partnership with Lagardère Travel Retail and Dufry respectively at these locations, ran throughout June and showcased Diptyque’s Summer Collection 2023.
“What Lagardère expected from us was to bring something different, original and eye-catching with of course high-quality products and great design,” Cauvin explained. “This animation also ran in a few department stores.
“I think Diptyque brings that point of difference whether that’s through our great products, great scents, or retail execution. This partnership in Nice Airport was the second one and it has performed amazingly well. This is partially because summer has become a key moment for Diptyque and is probably even stronger in travel retail than domestic.
“It’s a big offer, we have a specific summer collection with different illustrations that bring the spirit of summer to life. Christmas is strong, but summer is also strong in travel retail.”
In the next ten years, travel retail will play a key role in Diptyque’s expansion, Cauvin says. Despite its push for growth, Diptyque will always maintain its ‘caretaker’ role in protecting brand equity and its selective distribution approach to expanding its footprint.
“Travel retail has become an important business for us. It’s a very significant part of our business and so we want to continue that journey. We are in all the main airports, at over 100 doors in travel retail. We want to keep developing.
“We believe this channel is an important one with plenty of potential for growth, but we don’t grow at the expense of brand equity. We will continue driving our formula and launch in airports where we can express the brand fully. We will never hurt the brand for the sake of boosting numbers.
“At some point, you must ask how can you grow and protect brand equity? It’s not an easy task and we’ve been very cautious about that over the years whether that’s in travel retail, domestic or ecommerce – and this will drive our approach in the future too.” ✈
