The Moodie Interview: La Prairie and the art of delivering 5-star service

“We want to deliver to the consumer the best experience of their life”: La Prairie Group Vice President Global Travel Retail Laurent Marteau

The end of 2015 marked a major milestone for La Prairie as it realised its vision of establishing its first global high-luxury presence in an airport with the opening of its Luxury Skincare Bar at The Shilla Beauty Loft in Changi Airport. Clare Austin caught up with La Prairie Group Vice President Global Travel Retail Laurent Marteau to find out more on his thoughts about how delivering luxury and great service to customers can transform the airport retail experience.

The Moodie Report: La Prairie recently opened a Luxury Skincare Bar in The Shilla Beauty Loft in Changi Airport, your first global high-luxury presence in an airport. Do you see such high-end service as the direction in which you want to go in terms of travel retail?

That is exactly our strategy and one of our priorities at the moment. We want to deliver to the consumer the best experience of their life in terms of luxury and service. That means having the best trained beauty advisors providing the best service in the best environment. What we did in Changi Airport is the perfect example.

However, we don’t have just one concept, we try to find the right concept for the right airport, for the right operator and depending also on the customer type. We are not going to duplicate Changi elsewhere. We will try different ideas, new models depending on the airport. Changi is one of the biggest hubs in Asia and I feel we have delivered something quite exciting. We will wait and see in terms of sales but it’s also bringing us to a new dimension. We are not only about selling products to a customer, we are here to offer something special.

What are the key aspects of your global travel retail strategy?

We have three priorities: service, image and the right environment. These are the three axis of our retail strategy. It is so important to give customers the right environment. In the near future our goal is to extend more into Asia. We have finalised all the deals for coming months on this.

Digital marketing has not been part of the travel retail strategy for us in the past but we think now it should be. We are trying to understand our customers more. Even within countries, the profiles of customers are very different. It’s not about saying, “˜Chinese travellers’ or “˜Russian travellers’ – there is so much variation within a country. Some travel for holiday, or for business. Depending on the type of customers, you have to rethink your retail experience, you can’t just duplicate.

What we did in Changi works there because it is a transit hub and people have more time than they might do in other airports. We wanted to give them a place where they can relax. An airport is a stressful place, it’s busy, noisy, you have to get through security, you might not be sure where you need to go. We wanted to offer a place where you can feel at home. There is a cocktail bar, macarons, you can have your make-up touched-up or have a diamond service skin consultation. We want the travellers to feel comfortable, to experience the brand while having a great time.

If we go into another airport we will probably have a different concept. It’s part of our strategy for the coming year, we have some very exciting projects in the pipeline.

Is there a place for luxury service in the airport environment?

For us, giving the customer a luxurious experience is not an “˜extra’, it’s compulsory. We want every single customer to be given the choice to do that. They won’t all want to, they won’t all have time but we want every single customer to be asked if they want a consultation, a quick facial, a quick eye massage. This is what we in La Prairie call the art of perfection.

Consultation areas are very important. We try to position our consultation areas at the back because we don’t want our customers to feel exposed, we want to take them out of the traffic flow. We can still offer this in a limited space, for example on a gondola stand we can provide a consultation area at the back.

Talk us through the role and importance of travel retail to La Prairie.

We do 21% of our sales in travel retail but it’s not only about sales. We have our customers in each local market who travel through the airports so it’s very important for us that they see a consistent brand approach. Even if they don’t buy in the airport they may go into the local market and feel they will get the same service.

I think in the past there were a lot of people saying that airports were damaging the local markets because they are selling the same only cheaper. This is not true anymore. The old idea that airports are cheaper has gone. What La Prairie is doing is working in partnership with the local markets. We don’t think we are stealing customers from the local market and the local market doesn’t think it either. We share what we know about the customers and look into bounce-back actions.

For La Prairie we are still very dependent on the travellers outside the airports, for example, when the Chinese come to Paris they are an important part of our sales in both the local market and in travel retail. Travel retail can act as a showcase. Even if they don’t want to buy in the airport, we can give them great service. We can colour match their foundation shade and tell them, “˜This is your shade, if you don’t want to buy today, no problem, please come and visit your local shop and they will be able to help you’.

Where do you see your expansion priorities?

We have balanced distribution already. The brand is present where we want to be. I think we could increase distribution in South East Asia, Japan and second-tier cities in China.

We don’t want to forget that it’s not all about China. For example, Korea too, is very important for us as is Russia. All countries need to be taken care of and I think we are doing a good job through the local markets, working hard to build a loyal customer base.

Who are your target customers?

People who want to enjoy luxury and service and there are more and more, believe me.

What’s new in the product pipeline that you can reveal?

We have two very exciting products for the first semester of this year.

Our main launch is Cellular Radiance Perfecting Fluide Pure Gold for February 2016. We are launching for Chinese New Year which links in well with the gold. The concept behind it is the idea of the “˜golden hour’, that moment when the sun rises and the light is just right. Containing La Prairie active cellular complex, it is a skincare product that you apply after your serum or moisturiser and before foundation.

It delivers an immediate effect through photo-reflecting agents and a long-term improvement to the appearance of the skin through golden peptides which make the skin look revitalised and flawless. We will have some exciting events coming up, for example, in Heathrow in February.

Also in the first semester of this year we will have the global launch of Cellular Swiss UV Protection Veil SPF50, which can be applied over make-up throughout the day.

We will be adding to our Cellular Swiss Ice Crystal range this year too with a serum and transforming cream.

There are exciting projects coming up in September/October 2016. That’s all I will say. You will have to come and see us at the TFWA Asia Pacific show in Singapore if you want to discover more!

We have a very strong marketing plan. We are not a novelty-driven business. Novelties represent 12% of sales so we also have to take care of our basic portfolio which is very important for us.

Launching first semester 2016: Cellular Swiss UV Protection Veil SPF50 and Cellular Radiance Perfecting Fluide Pure Gold

How do you feel about industry consolidation?

It was meant to happen, and it’s happening. What we need to see now is how they [retailers] deliver. The problem is how will they be able to develop the retail business. We don’t want them to think they only discuss terms and conditions and airport concession fees.

Let’s not forget that we are supposed to be the brand, they are the retailer and we don’t want them to forget that. This is my only worry – will they be able to continue to look after everyone? That is the question. Don’t forget the individuals!

What upcoming plans for La Prairie are you most excited about in the coming year?

Over the next one or two years we will finalise training for all our beauty advisors. We still have some work to do in terms of image and on points of sale but we are going in the right direction. We feel we have the best beauty advisors in the field. They are really helping the team to develop. They are so skilful they can make me look ten years younger!