CHINA.Welcome to this blockbuster edition of The Moodie Davitt Spotlight Series eZine dedicated to the spectacular cdf Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex, produced in association with Hainan Hinews Media Co, out strategic partner in Hainan province.
When the facility opened on 28 October 2022, we said that the occasion represented a defining day for travel retail. Events since, as a glittering roll-call of the world’s finest brands have refined their boutiques or introduced new ones to the China Duty Free Group (CDFG) shopping emporium, have reinforced that opinion.
As this publication reveals, cdf Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex is far more than a retail proposition. CDFG and its parent company China Tourism Group describe it as a fusion of ‘duty free shopping + culture and tourism’. We capture that fusion in words, photos and film (courtesy of Hainan Hinews Media Co and Globuy).
The facility features extraordinary leisure, entertainment and dining facilities, plus office and hotel space, talent hubs, and exhibitions. And then there is the most extraordinary aspect of the whole facility, AURA, a unique customised atrium built by Dafeng Group and designed by Wētā Workshop, whose Co-Founder Sir Richard Taylor is the subject of an enthralling interview.
Outstandingly innovative design at every level is at the heart of the project as a whole and of the many brand boutiques featured in this publication. We talk with UK firm The Design Solution about how together with CDFG they created a “revolutionary”, digitally-focused travel retail emporium.
The concept is specifically designed to address the surge in Chinese shoppers’ digital behaviour that has been such a marked trend during the pandemic.
Taylor, a world-renowned figure in the creative industries (including his work with fellow New Zealander Peter Jackson on the Lord of the Rings movies) articulates that customer-first focus and the impressive ambition of the project beautifully. “A shopping mall by its very nature has to be hygienic and of course meet all codes and be earthquake-proof and so on. And by its very nature, it has to be a certain thing – a box in which you house retail stores,” he says. “But why shouldn’t it also be an immersive experience that takes you into a fantastical world?”
That is precisely what CDFG and its architectural, construction, design and brand partners have achieved in Haikou in what ranks as a true wonder of the travel retail world. Together with Hainan Hinews Media Co, we are proud to portray that wonder.
The Moodie Davitt Report Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie & Brands Director Hannah Tan-Gillies
