Introduction: In a shining example of the Trinity in partnership, L’Oréal Travel Retail, Dufry and Heathrow Airport have, as reported, teamed up to open the first permanent Valentino Beauty counter in European travel retail.
In this interview, The Moodie Davitt Report Brands Director Hannah Tan-Gillies catches up with Dufry Head of Beauty Category Delphine Poultney; L’Oréal Travel Retail General Manager TRWW YSL, Valentino Beauty, Shu Uemura, Urban Decay; and IT Cosmetics Guillaume Ducout and L’Oréal Travel Retail EMEAI General Manager Antny Rankin to discuss the partnership, the resurgence of colour cosmetics and why Heathrow is the perfect showcase for a brand whose momentum shows no signs of slowing.
Window to the world
The opening is a major sign of confidence not just in UK travel retail but in Heathrow as an aviation hub. Commenting on why Heathrow Terminal 5 was the choice for Valentino Beauty’s first permanent space in European travel retail, Rankin says: “We chose Heathrow Airport for the diversity of its passengers. London is an important aviation hub with a wonderfully diverse passenger mix. As a brand, Valentino speaks to all age ranges, cultures and genders. We think that that’s very well represented here in Heathrow.”
“Valentino Beauty brings a new approach from a renowned fashion house to the world of makeup, with the brand’s elegance and modernity targeting a younger audience with some great products,” adds Poultney. “The brand is very selective about where it opens its doors and is currently only in Selfridges in the UK – so this really elevates our beauty offer and gives us real USPs of newness and exclusivity.
“We have strong partnerships with both Heathrow airport and with L’Oréal. When we considered the best target for Valentino Beauty, it made sense to look at Terminal 5 and then at Terminal 3, where we will also be introducing the makeup range very soon. We are incredibly proud to offer such a new and exclusive cosmetic collection to our customers. The concept and the new brand identity is very coherent and Valentino makeup will bring something very different to our makeup offer.
She adds: “Airports are a window to the world for the brands and any main hub is obviously key to leverage millions of touch points – much more than the local market can reach. As the biggest international airport in Europe, with its variety of customer profiles and nationalities, our stores in Heathrow Airport are the perfect place in which to showcase this new and exclusive makeup range from the Valentino brand.”
Diversity and inclusivity are two of the key values the luxury house, especially since the arrival of Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli and his ‘Cool, Colour Couture’ ethos. Rankin says: “We see Valentino as the most inclusive exclusive couture brand in the industry. We have a strong brand presence in the United States, with Valentino Beauty being a top ten fragrance brand over there. We know that from an international passenger perspective, Heathrow’s number one international passengers are from the US.
“We have strong brand roll-outs in Asia as well, because the Asian passengers are coming back. From a European perspective, Heathrow is the perfect choice to expand our brand presence. This airport caters to a diverse range of passengers from a nationality perspective but also from a cultural perspective. We work with partners who want to enchant the luxury industry. We want to work together to reinvigorate the makeup category and driving Valentino Beauty is one of the ways to do that.”
As a brand, Valentino has gone from strength to strength, with the fashion house making headlines for its powerful celebrity fans and memorable runway shows. In travel retail, Valentino Beauty is making big moves too, showcasing its popular Born in Roma fragrance lines through a high-profile global pop-up campaign with recent stops at the Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex, Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport and Dubai international Airport.
Commenting on the factors that are driving Valentino’s momentum, Ducout says: “With every focus group that we do, it becomes clearer and clearer that customers see Valentino as the most haute couture brand of all the fashion brands, mastering colour, art and style. These customers really appreciate that Valentino is a couture brand that doesn’t put people in boxes.
“The brand makes you feel special, while keeping a flavour of your own style. This messaging is really strong and resonates with younger luxury consumers, who we obviously want to target. Last but not least, customers really appreciate that Valentino is a lively brand, bringing a lot of optimism, vibrancy and playfulness wherever it goes.
Cool, Colour, Couture
Inspired by an Italian palazzo, the counter design is centred around Valentino Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli’s aforementioned ‘Cool, Colour, Couture’ mantra. It features a vibrant Valentino pink and black colour palette, with the brand’s signature rock stud details and pink terrazzo materials on full display.
Neon lights add further drama to the retail space, which blends Roman architecture elements with industrial design touches. The boutique, according to the partners, represents a merging of heritage and couture with the new contemporary and colourful spirit of the brand.
The two-axis counter offers the brand’s makeup and fragrance lines alongside several beauty tech innovations. These include L’Oréal’s Modiface virtual try-on mirror as well as Flash Makeup Services led by Valentino Beauty makeup artists.
Rankin says: “From a retail perspective, one of the most interesting things about this counter is the look and feel that we’re trying to get across with Valentino. In terms of its personalisation, this Pink Terrazzo is present in all our personalised locations. The same material is present in the stores of the fashion house.
Ducout adds: “Whatever the size of the corner, we play with the colours, that are quite obvious and striking. We play with the communication campaign with the strong claim of ‘Couture makeup begins with you’. The visuals are super strong highlights the diversity that we want to promote.
“If you compare this corner with a bigger one in the domestic market, we see that it’s basically the same ingredients: the service menu, dedicated flash makeup consultation, fragrance discovery consultation, Modiface and the shade finder for the lips.”
Beauty tech and sustainability
Beauty tech is becoming more and more prevalent in the retail landscape. According to Poultney, it can help drive both recruitment and sales. She says: “Beauty tech tools help the beauty consultants attract and engage with a customer and in an airport that’s the hardest thing to do.
“It’s very hard to stop people because they’re running for flights. So, these tools are great for capturing their attention. Each brand has their own tools and they are tailored to their identity. It helps brands adapt to the travel retail environment and give their DNA a chance to shine. So, it helps the brand ambassadors present the brand and close the sale in a fun way.”
Digital, category, space and offer are the four key pillars of Heathrow’s retail strategy. Commenting on how the Valentino Beauty store weighs against these pillars, Poultney says: “Valentino Beauty ticks all these boxes, because it’s a brand which is really invested in digital and has been growing in this category since L’Oréal took over the brand, thus enriching the offer to the customer. Not surprisingly, this is also very much in line with the Dufry strategy which is to deliver the best travel experience through innovation, and an enhanced digital experience and make our customers happier.”
The counter also shines the light on Valentino Beauty’s many sustainable initiatives and clearly signposts which products are sustainable and refillable. Ducout explains, “Sustainability is super important for us as a new brand in the makeup world. We hear this topic frequently. Every time we meet consumers, especially the young generations, sustainability is a key driver to determine whether or not they will buy a product.
“We know that at some point, they will stop buying products or brands that aren’t committed or engaged with the environment. While not the entire range sustainable, our key franchises are refillable and we are working towards expanding this.”
Rankin adds: “Being able to express the brand and its full potential, from services to the extra wow factors that we want to highlight from a retail perspective, allow us to create an even stronger link with the fashion house. All these things are a great way to showcase our brand and see its potential in any environment.”
With the Terminal 5 counter officially open and another permanent counter in Terminal 3 in the works, what’s next for Valentino Beauty’s European roll-out? Rankin says: “It’s about doing Heathrow first and making sure that we’re touching the key touchpoints within the airport. Later in the year, we’ll be rolling out in Paris and Rome, so we’re hitting all the major fashion capitals.”
“Part of the actions that we’ve been doing to adapt to post-pandemic retail is taking time to review the offer that we have,” adds Poultney. “This is a global action that we’ve got in our strategy at Dufry. We are looking at how to make the journey exciting for the customers and to be very honest, COVID has stopped us. Where we would have worked on renovating the stores, nothing happened for three years, so we’re catching up.
“We’re going much faster now and working with our partners to launch exciting projects, add new axis to existing brands and also bringing new brands and new segments. For example, we didn’t have haircare before and we’re looking to bring that in. It’s all about making sure that we have what the customer is looking for in an airport and that we can create this excitement again when they fly through.
According to the partners, the response to the counter has been very positive. Rankin says, “In a week, we have already become the fifth top L’Oréal brand in Heathrow. Plus, the makeup has been trending, which is excellent and brings us to the top 20 brands in the airport.”
Makeup comeback
With such strong brand equity, Valentino Beauty has a key role to play in driving the wider recovery of the makeup category, which took a hit during the COVID crisis. Rankin says, “We are definitely seeing a recovery of the makeup category, especially in lips and eye products.
“Valentino straddles the divide between couture, art and creativity. It’s definitely a couture brand, but it’s bold with vibrant colours, really speaks to a diversity of makeup customers. That’s why people come into different stores to rediscover the makeup products they know and love. Whether you look at the new brands, or new axis of brands, such as makeup with Valentino Beauty.”
Perfumes & Cosmetics, historically the biggest category in travel retail, has undergone a significant transformation during the pandemic, with the rise of beauty tech and niche fragrance and beauty brands changing the landscape. There is also a growing dichotomy between travellers who are upscaling their purchases and looking for premium experiences and those in search of value.
“I think what we see is that there’s a dichotomy,” Poultney explains. “So, you have customers who are looking for something more premium and more exclusive brands, and yes, in that sense Valentino being the first counter in Europe answers this because you’d only find it at Heathrow, at least for a short while.
“There are also those passengers who are looking to treat themselves without spending a fortune. So, when we look at the width of our range, we look to have brands that answer to these needs as well.”
Giving his outlook on the recovery of the category, Rankin says: “I think it’s bouncing back; it’s growing versus previous years. But it is still down versus 2017-2019. When you look at makeup right now, at Heathrow in particular, it’s 18% of the overall business. Globally speaking, for us in travel retail, it’s still hovering below the business we had previously, so about 12-13%.
“There is a connection the customer that you get from makeup that we didn’t have in these COVID years. That connection comes through service and interaction. It comes through the personality of the brand. It’s something that we can now rediscover with our brands, especially Valentino Beauty. I think that’s really where the bounce back is coming from. All this leads to makeup becoming a very buzzy category from a social media perspective, because we now have a whole new generation of customers who are discovering lots of new makeup brands and we want Valentino to be first and foremost in their minds.”
Offering the retailer perspective, Poultney comments: “We are showing a strong performance versus 2019. In 2022, Dufry saw improvements in nearly all its operations thanks to significant traffic recovery in the second half of the year and the continued normalisation of travel, including international routes. Looking specifically at Europe, our operations in countries such as Turkey, Greece and other parts of Southern Europe were driven by strong leisure demand.”
On how Trinity partnerships should evolve in the post-pandemic landscape, Poultney says: “Trinity projects allow each party to focus on the key element at the heart of all our businesses: the customer. Every time that we have had a successful project, we have stayed true to this principle and kept the focus on the customer – the experience, the uniqueness, the exclusivity. In terms of evolution, we just need to keep doing more of the same.” ✈
