SPAIN. Valencia-based porcelain and giftware manufacturer Lladró is set to step up its travel retail presence.
The company has been active in the channel for over 30 years but feels the time is right for expansion in what it considers a key sector. Lladró enjoys a well established business in the Americas and the Caribbean, driven by the cruise line and airport markets.
Duty free constitutes around 10% of Lladró’s overall business, a figure that newly appointed Area Sales Manager Vicente Conejos feels can be considerably higher.
A priority is to develop the Middle East travel retail market, an area Conejos sees as key to the long term development of the Lladró brand. “We are hoping to develop our presence in the emerging Middle East market as well as aiming to grow our airport duty free business. By developing product lines that lend themselves to the retail environment we hope that Lladró can develop its profile in the duty free market,” Conejos said.
Lladró, in partnership with distributor the Chalhoub Group, has already begun driving sales in the region. Already listed at Dubai International Airport and Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport, Lladró is keen to consolidate on that success with product ranges that reflect regional art, heritage and culture.
“We can tailor individual product lines to reflect the potential customer base – for instance in many of our travel retail-based lines we carry pieces which reflect the cultural heritage of the country being visited,” said Conejos.
Internationally Lladró has been working hard to develop lines that better reflect the target market for travel retail. For example, it has created Asian and African themed product lines which it feels will attract the homebound traveller to both regions.
“One of our new lines for 2007 entitled “˜Pulse of Africa’ pays tribute to the style and expressive values of authentic African art,” he said. “We feel that product lines such as this lend themselves perfectly to the travel retail market as travellers look to take home something personal that reflects their own cultural experience,” explained Conejos
Lladró also feels its portfolio allows duty free retailers to offer gifts across all price points, providing potential for inflight sales as well as landside and mail-order home delivery.
“We have a broad product range which caters for all price points. These range from smaller jewellery items which work well as gifts and personal purchases to the larger ornamental pieces which can be bought at larger landside stores and can be shipped to the home for ease of transportation,” said Conejos.
Historically Conejos concedes that the Lladró name may be synonymous with its classical product lines. Now however, he feels the company better understands the profile of its younger clients, those which he sees as vital to the travel retail expansion.
“˜We now have more contemporary designs that are aimed at a younger emerging market. These represent a departure from our classic styling and contain more abstract artistic pieces. Our home decoration and jewellery lines ReDeco and ReCyclos are great examples of what we feel will appeal to a new generation of duty free customer and allow us to fulfil the potential of the travel retail market,” Conejos concluded.
For further details contact Lladró Area Sales Manager Vicente Conejos, tel: +34 963 18 7000 or e-mail: vconejos@es.lladro.com
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