UK. Molton Brown has unveiled an updated flagship store at London Heathrow Airport, offering what the brand owner calls its “finest travel retail experience yet”. The Terminal 5 store with World Duty Free is crafted to highlight – along with the Molton Brown fragrances and other products – quality and individuality, ideals imbued in the brand by its founders more than 50 years ago.
The store’s design pays homage to the first Molton Brown salon, which opened in London’s South Molton Street in 1971. Continuing its legacy, the refitted area underlines both the brand’s heritage and its status in the fragrance category.
Molton Brown Senior Global Account Manager Sophie Sponagle describes the Terminal 5 store as the “pinnacle of the Molton Brown experience in travel retail”. The space, she says, celebrates the brand’s heritage and offers a “real destination for fragrance-first experiences, enhanced by digital touchpoints to ensure a personalised journey for every shopper”.
Sponagle discusses the store’s refit and its immersive and multi-sensory approach to travelling customers in this exclusive interview with The Moodie Davitt Report.
Tell us about your revamped store in Heathrow Terminal 5? What is the inspiration behind the design concept?
We are delighted to reveal Molton Brown’s refurbished T5 flagship location, in conjunction with leading designers Dalziel & Pow. This space showcases both our 50-year heritage as British makers of fragrance crafted with care and Molton Brown’s vision for a more sustainable and digitally-engaged future.
Our vision for this new space has been inspired by our founders, who were pioneers in positive luxury, and it continues their legacy of creating immersive moments which inspire customers and deliver a personal luxury experience. The design of the original 1970s hair salon is reflected in the new store and the materials used which include marble, cork and rattan. They highlight Molton Brown’s heritage and provide a perfect backdrop to our latest cutting-edge sustainability innovations and digital/omnichannel engagement.
Inside, customers can find Fragrance, Bath, Body, Hand and Home collections, our travel retail exclusive collection, and services including personal fragrance consultations, gift concierge and personalisation services all on site.
Molton Brown was founded over 50 years ago by Caroline Burstein and Michael Collis who opened their first salon in South Molton Street, in London’s Mayfair. Their first fragrance was launched in 1984 in the Orange Grove Bath & Body collection, now known as Orange & Bergamot.
The brand’s mission was and is to offer high-quality, ethically and sustainably made products. Molton Brown has never tested on animals and has been Leaping Bunny approved since 2012. Its range is 100% vegetarian and 97% vegan, and all formulations are paraben, phthalate and micro-bead free and bottles for its Bath, Body and Hand collections are made of 50% recycled PET plastics. |
How does the renovated flagship express Molton Brown’s heritage as a British fragrance house?
Fragrance has always been at the heart of what we do. The Molton Brown journey began with the very first blends mixed in our South Molton Street store in the 1970s, created using the finest ingredients in exceptional concentrations. The design of the new store, which brings our collections to life, is steeped in this heritage.
At the heart of the store is a Fragrance Discovery Bar. This fuses physical and digital elements, including assistance by our fragrance consultants and the use of in-store iPads and augmented reality (AR) , so customers can really immerse themselves in the experience of our fragrances.
What collections are available at the new space and what beauty tech, experiential and retailtainment facilities and services are on offer?
This is certainly Molton Brown’s most engaging and advanced travel retail store to date. We have worked with Dalziel & Pow to create a modern and engaging in-store experience which brings fragrance discovery to life for shoppers.
Our best-selling collections, such as Re-Charge Black Pepper and Coastal Cypress & Sea Fennel, take pride of place, featuring alongside travel retail exclusives and new products such as the Rose Dune collection.
Underlining our commitment to sustainability, shoppers can now purchase refill pouches for their favourite products. Customers are invited to learn more about our sustainability journey by way of the in-store hologram feature.
Sustainability has been at the core of Molton Brown since the very start and this is demonstrated by the fact that we continue to be made in England and use 50% recycled PET in our bottles. As well as expanding our offer to refill pouches last year, we are about to launch 100% aluminium Infinite bottles to reduce waste.
By way of beauty tech, our Fragrance Discovery Bar is complemented by our Fragrance Finder, inviting the user to answer a series of personality-themed questions to help find a scent most suited to their profile.
Body and haircare are still relatively niche brands in the channel. What opportunities do niche beauty brands have to offer for airports and retailers amid a changing beauty landscape?
Body and haircare are an essential part of the Molton Brown offer. As a heritage fragrance brand, it is important to evolve with customer desires and find new ways of sharing our fragrances.
All fragrance and self-care products need to be experienced to be properly enjoyed. In our new store we offer personal fragrance consultations, which are key in bringing these products to life and creating engagement with shoppers.
All of this goes beyond just highlighting products; it is about elevating service and care. In the new Heathrow store, shoppers can enjoy a moment of self-care and relaxation, delivered in a way that only a heritage brand such as Molton Brown can provide.
What role do luxury brands like Molton Brown play in driving wider channel recovery?
It is vital to expand the offer for shoppers in the travel retail market with brands which offer something truly different. Molton Brown is a British fragrance brand with a Royal Warrant which means we are perfectly placed to help create added engagement in the channel with collections that are recognised and loved worldwide.
In the modern market, shoppers are increasingly seeking out brands which they know and trust to patronise. But they also require companies whose ideals match their own, especially in the fields of personalisation and sustainability. Brands like Molton Brown tap into this growing demand by delivering a personalised service, sustainable products, artisan creation and excellence, backed by a heritage which shoppers know they can trust and will invest in.
Our focus is on expanding the offer for shoppers and creating new experiences and fragrances which speak to the individual shoppers. We do this by combining fragrance expertise with modern shopper insights to create products which speak to the latest trends but delivered with a branding and expertise that shoppers know they can trust.
Tell us about your partnership with Dufry and London Heathrow and the significance of this opening at T5?
Our investment in this state-of-the-art flagship location underlines the important partnership we have, and will continue to have, with Dufry.
We currently work with the travel retailer across all of its UK airport and World Duty Free stores, as well as key airports within Europe. Our aim is to build that partnership and grow our presence within strategic markets globally.
Despite the challenges of the recent years during the COVID pandemic, we are completely dedicated to the travel retail channel and the incredible platform and showcase it provides.
Commenting on the new Molton Brown store and experience, Delphine Poultney, Head of Beauty in the UK for Dufry says: “We are very proud of the long-standing relationship we’ve enjoyed with Molton Brown, which is such a beautifully crafted and quintessentially British brand.  “This new-look space in our main World Duty Free store at Heathrow Terminal 5 is fully answering our aim to deliver memorable experiences in our stores. Customers will remember discovering the beautiful Molton Brown products and fragrances in this welcoming environment.” |
What is your overall vision for Molton Brown in travel retail?
Together with our parent company Kao, our vision is to deliver a fragrance first experience for travelling shoppers which is on a par with our domestic retail stores in terms of assortment and services.
Ultimately, travel retail gives us a chance to bring our brand to life for customers on a global stage. To do this, we are now weaving together physical and digital experiences to create an innovative and immersive in-store experience for our customers by deploying new innovations such as the Fragrance Finder, alongside AR technology.
We also recognise that sustainability is as important to our shoppers as it always has been for us. Brands in this market cannot just talk about sustainability. We must all act and be seen to act, so we will continue to deliver on our sustainability commitments so that customers can shop Molton Brown knowing that they are doing so with a conscious care for the environment.
What does a good partnership look like to you in travel retail? What more can retailers do to enhance the appeal of your beauty category to travellers?
A good partnership involves open dialogue. Both parties need to know exactly what they need to provide to make the collaboration flourish. What do retailers need brands to deliver? What do brand need retailers to provide to make the best outcomes possible? When these questions can be openly discussed, and the resolutions acted on in a collaborative manner, then we have a recipe for success for both parties and, most importantly, the consumer.
Spaces such as this new site at London Heathrow are a great example of this in action and are key for enhancing the appeal of beauty. By working with the Heathrow team, we have created a store which tells the brand story and delivers a unique experience that enhances customer experience through digital and physical touchpoints. 
