In this engaging session, Lagardère Travel Retail Asia Vice President of Merchandising Terry Chua, formerly Vice President of Perfumes & Cosmetics and General Merchandise of China Duty Free Group, shared his thoughts on why duty free is Lagardère’s next move in China.
Chua began with an overview of Lagardère’s progress in China travel retail. He said: “Lagardère Travel Retail is the market leader in China duty paid with over 400 stores in duty paid perfume & cosmetics, fashion and accessories, travel essentials and food services across 26 domestic airports and 25 railway stations in china. This experience has allowed us to gain important knowledge in understanding Chinese shoppers needs and spending habits.
“Our domestic experience has served us well especially in the last two years, with China domestic booming and Hainan Duty Free becoming the lifeline for travel retail. With Hainan heating up and becoming a core pillar of the Beijing Government’s strategy to boost domestic spend, new licenses were given to new players in the Hainan Duty Free market.”
In a landmark move, Lagardère Travel Retail partnered with new license holder Hainan Tourism Investment Duty Free Co. (HTDF) to open the Hainan Tourism Duty Free Shopping Complex on 30 December 2020.
Commenting on the partnership, Chua said: “With the strategic collaboration with HTDF, Lagardère Travel Retail made its entry into the duty free business in China. We over-promised and delivered the impossible mission of opening the shopping complex in two months filled with exclusive brands such as Byredo and Christian Louboutin.
“With that, Lagardère has proven our capability and will continue this development in the China duty free market as a bridge between license holders and brands. I am pleased to announce that we will soon have more partners and more projects to come.”
Offering his insight into what it takes to offer a good retail experience in Hainan, Chua said: “To be a strong retailer in Hainan, a good balance between an excellent brick and mortar retail experience and a strong online platform is needed. You also need to build a solid reputation with consumers, whether that’s through on-time delivery, excellent fulfilment or being a top-notch shopping destination.”
Chua concluded the session by taking audiences on an exciting virtual tour of the Hainan Tourism Duty Free Shopping Complex. The tour began with a visit to Shu Uemura’s shoebox concept store, followed by a visit to Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair pop-up, then a visit to the largest Estée Lauder offshore duty free boutique in the world. Chua also visited the Gucci, Tom Ford, Lancôme, La Mer, Givenchy, Decorté, Burberry, Byredo, La Prairie and to Christian Louboutin boutiques. The latter, the brand’s first-ever duty free store in Hainan.
This year’s Virtual Travel Retail Expo (11-15 October) will feature 28 engagement sessions from 20 companies in the new-look Experience Arena, one of the event’s most exciting and engaging components.
The Experience Arena programme features a diverse line-up of presentations across categories. Each presenting brand promises to wow Expo attendees with dynamic and interactive digital events. The Experience Arena will also host several virtual lounges for networking and serve as a platform to launch, promote and educate visitors about products and services through virtual masterclasses, tastings and live demonstrations.
Either pre-recorded or live, these 30-minute segments will be streamed to a global audience. Here, we present the full Experience Arena agenda for days 1 and 2 of the Virtual Travel Retail Expo.
