Sakal Group MD Meir Sakal: “All the shops are more spacious and organized, featuring specialized departments and different themes, in order to put the customer at ease when moving inside the shop and to smooth the buying process.” |
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ISRAEL. Sakal Duty Free Company, a subsidiary of the Sakal Group, has promised a “new era” in Israel’s duty free industry, following the November opening of the new terminal three at Ben Gurion Airport.
Known as Ben Gurion 2000, the state-of-the-art new facility features nine Sakal shops which focus on “consumer habits and life style”.
As previously reported, the stores embrace a range of categories from consumer technology to toys to fashion. “But they all have in common the same distinctive focus of being more modern, bigger, holding a vast selection and selling at cheaper prices,” a spokesman told The Moodie Report.
The Sakal shops are placed inside the main duty free area and also inside the “˜Schakim’ mall, claimed to be the first airport commercial centre of its kind in the world.
Inside the duty free area, Sakal has opened shops selling electronics & electrical items; toys; a specialized fashion and sports shop for kids; and two shops for watches – one featuring luxury brands, the other presenting a wider and more accessibly-priced selection. Inside the Schakim center Sakal has four shops selling electronics & electrical items, toys, kids fashion and watches.
The Schakim center is a duty paid mall, based landside inside the airport terminal. “It has been especially developed for people or families entering the airport to receive arriving passengers, as well as tens of thousands working in the area and more importantly for families accompanying departing passengers until they pass the passport checking area,” said the company.
Sakal offers the same items in both duty paid and duty free areas – a critical driver of sales the company said. “Lots of people will look for items in the duty paid area but will buy them only after they reach the duty free zone. More than this, as an old Israeli habit, families will visit the shops and prepare “˜orders’ so the leaving passengers will buy these prepared lists in duty free. That is true for every field – electronics and electrical items, watches and gifts, kids fashion and sports, toys and multimedia.”
Sakal Group Managing Director Meir Sakal said he was proud of the new shops. “The Sakal professionalism and experience, based on numerous years of duty free shop management experience, has found its expression by having built shops of a standard never seen before in Israel and the world.”
He added: “Inside Sakal’s new shops we specifically focused on some important parameters: first of all, we enlarged the selection three-fold compared to the old shops. In addition we increased our focus on service, doubling the number of sales staff so we can fulfill every need at every moment. All the shops are more spacious and organized, featuring specialized departments and different themes, in order to put the customer at ease when moving inside the shop and to smooth the buying process.”
Here’s a look at the individual product offers:
Electronics & Electric items
“There is no comparable place in Israel,” claimed Meir Sakal. Over a surface area of approximately 1,000sq m a selection of about 10,000 different items can be found. The store has 20 cash desks at the exit of the shop with more inside.
The black background is boosted with rich and colourful lighting. It has a large central path bringing customers to the TV wall area where the retailer’s well-known “$200 special deals” and other savings offers are in place. Sakal is the agent of many leading brands or has special agreements in place. Brands include LG, JVC, Hyundai, Tensai, Sharp and Bosch.
The shop includes a 12sq m counter featuring the latest models of digital cameras and video cameras. Another zone focuses on multimedia and telecoms.
Under the “˜Sakal Hi-Tech’ flag, the computers’ division brings together today’s technology at what the company claims are the best prices in Israel. An 80sq m area features the latest PDA models and notebooks (IBM, LG, HP, Accer, Dell), including PDA and JPS (Sony, Mio, Compaq), IPOD and related accessories.
The selection of digital cameras has been doubled. Other attractions include nightly demonstrations by hairdressers and kitchen chefs showing hair dryers, blenders and mixers in use. “This helps to lend this shop modernity mixed with a warm atmosphere,” said the company.
Watches & gifts
In the duty paid Schakim mall center, Sakal manages a 50sq m shop offering more than 50 leading international brands. Inside the duty free area, two shops present a more segmented selection.
The first shop (around 80sq m) is reserved for 30 luxury brands, including Cartier, Breitling, Rolex, Omega, Tag Heuer, Raymond Weil and IWC. These are all shown inside wood and glass cabinets along the walls. The store also features luxury writing instruments and lighters from houses such as Montblanc and ST Dupont.
The second store is located at a central spot within the shopping area. The 50sq m oval counter includes “fancy and more commercial watches”, including numerous fashionable brands such as DKNY, Swatch, Guess, Timberland, Casio, Seiko, Armani, Citizen and Sector. Prices are at least -20% cheaper than the domestic market.
The children’s world by Sakal
By winning both tenders in this sector, Sakal says it has been able to transform the retail offer for children at the airport.
The toys and multimedia duty free shop covers about 270sq m. Spacious, with a huge selection of games and toys, and enriched by a multimedia wall full of screens, it also includes a kart racing track, allowing children to combine purchasing experience with pleasure. The shop also includes a selection for babies.
The 80sq m kids fashion shop includes clothes and shoes for all children from new-born babies to teenagers. A strong line-up of international brands is featured, including names such as Keds, Timberland, New Balance, Reebok, DKNY, Nike and Polo Ralph Lauren.
Close to the shops, Sakal organizes a nursery corner, which enables parents to change their babies’ diapers, and prepare and warm their food. There is also a room for breast feeding.
Dedicated leather, fashion & luxury brands shops
This is found in both the Schakim and duty free zone, bearing the “˜Emporium’ logo under the umbrella of the Sakal name. It features some of the retailer’s traditional house brands and a selection of shoes, clothes, bags & accessories from DKNY, Bally, Nine West and Timberland.
MORE STORIES ON SAKAL GROUP AND BEN GURION 2000
Sakal Bros’ Ben Gurion sales off to a good start – 25/11/04
Sakal Bros slams proposed allowances cut – 10/08/04
Sakal Group wins two more tenders at Ben Gurion 2000 – 18/04/04
Sakal Duty Free gets timely boost – 31 March 2004
