AUSTRALIA. The Nuance Group today officially opened the doors of its new duty free retail stores at Melbourne Airport.
The new look and name, F1RST Tax and Duty Free, replaces the Downtown Duty Free branding. F1RST aims to deliver an expanded and completely refurbished Departures store and brings a wide range of tax and duty free products to the Melbourne Airport traveller.
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A F1RST for Nuance and a F1RST for Melbourne Airport: Chris Barlow, Melbourne Airport CEO (left) and Rohan Gow, The Nuance Group General Manager Victoria and Australia Capital Territories get set to cut the celebratory ribbon | |
Nuance said that the new store has a significantly larger range of products “and offers a more engaging customer shopping experience with several demonstration zones”.
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(Left) High spirits: Diageo’s best-selling liqueur Baileys Irish Cream enjoys its own tasting bar; (Right) Bundaberg Rum, an Australian icon, is showcased with a new merchandising concept | |
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(Left) MAC attack: The hot Lauder-owned make-up brand really looks the part in an enhanced cosmetics and fragrance area; (Right) Top-end watch brands Omega and TAG Heuer add timely appeal to the luxury offer | |
New F1RST features include a MAC cosmetics counter, an expanded watches area featuring the latest TAG and Omega pieces, a Bundaberg rum concept and a popular Baileys tasting bar.
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(Left) A new brand is born; (Right) F1RST’s new landside store at Melbourne Airport | |
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Liquor is a core category for Nuance; note the spacious merchandising and the multi-purchase incentive | |
At today’s opening, Melbourne International Airport CEO Chris Barlow said the new F1RST Tax and Duty Free store would offer the best in tax and duty free shopping to more than 4 million passengers each year at the airport.
“We’re proud to have the first F1RST store as an integral part of Melbourne Airport,” he said. “We have exciting plans to improve tax and duty free shopping even further over the coming years.”
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(Left) Open for business as Melbourne becomes the first airport to host F1RST | |
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The Nuance Group Australia and New Zealand Business Development Director David Odgers added: “Duty free shopping is the first fun part of any international trip and the first thing to do when you land back into Australia. F1RST will consistently stock exclusive products and brands that are not available domestically.
“The F1RST team offers first class service and first rate value and we want to be the first choice for customers. So F1RST is an obvious name to give our stores.”
As reported, The Nuance Group plans to re-brand all its Downtown Duty Free stores (except Sydney Airport, where the new brand is SYD Tax and Duty Free) as F1RST over the next year.
“It’s a rolling change because we’re changing the brand as we build our next generation of stores,” explained Odgers. “We are re-energising duty free in Australia on a whole range of dimensions and the new brand will help to tell customers about these improvements.”
MORE STORIES ON THE NUANCE GROUP AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
Nuance to unveil a new F1rst in Australian travel retail as Downtown Duty Free era ends – 30/07/07
Buoyant Sydney Airport posts +8.3% surge in full-year retail revenues – 23/07/07
DFS delight, Nuance disappointment, as Auckland chooses single duty free retailer – 10/07/07
Robust commercial revenues drive strong Sydney Airport results in first nine months – 26/04/07
