CHINA. The Moodie Davitt Report Chairman Martin Moodie gave his views on the impact of the China International Consumer Products Expo (Hainan Expo) and emergence of Hainan as a major centre of the duty free world in a video shot during his visit to the event in Haikou last week.
He spent several hours with our partners at Hainan Hinews Media Co, shooting footage on various stands, including China Tourism Group Duty Free Corporation, parent company of China Duty Free Group, and The Estée Lauder Companies.
Moodie was accompanied on his tour of the Expo by Lara Netherlands, the Host of Hainan International Media Center, part of Hinews. In an entertaining six-minute highlight video, he picked out some of the duty free brands that would be on his shopping list from the exhibitors at the Expo, including Jo Malone London and Shiseido-owned Narciso Rodriquez.
Discussing China travel retailer stands he gave a shout out to Wangfujing, a new player in the duty free sector. As reported, Moodie was in attendance as the retailer opened its first duty free store in Wanning, Hainan recently.
“They’ve tried to differentiate themselves from what the other travel retailers are doing – they have got their own character,” said Moodie.
At the site of the China Duty Free Group stand at the Expo, Moodie gave his assessment of the retailer’s rise to the top of the duty free retailer sales rankings.
He said: “A big part of China Duty Free Group’s success has been their ability to attract famous and ultra-premium brands. Taking watch brands as an example, they are very, very selective about who they will work with. The luxury credentials of CDFG have been really important to its success.
“They’ve come up from number 19 [in the sales rankings], just a few years ago, to number one in 2020. And they’ve retained that position for 2021 and 2022. It’s a remarkable story and Hainan has played an integral role in that success story.”
Asked by Netherlands for more about the role of Hainan in that success, Moodie replied: “It’s incredible to think that the duty free industry just started here in 2011. And now, it is without a word of overstatement, the epicentre of the global duty free industry. That’s a heck of a journey in around 12 years.”
Summing up his experience at the Expo, Moodie concluded: “It’s been my pleasure to walk and talk and see this great Expo for the first time myself. We’ve seen some great brands, we’ve seen some great stands, and we’ve seen some great retailers, so it’s all come together. There’s a great story taking shape in Hainan.”
See Martin Moodie’s account of his experience at the Hainan Expo in words, video and a dazzling gallery of images, here. 
