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“I am pleased to see Airstar Avenue’s sales jump +16.7% from a year earlier in spite of the global economic downturn“ |
Lee Chae-wook President & CEO Incheon International Airport Corporation |
SOUTH KOREA. Incheon International Airport has released full details of its world-record 2011 duty free sales performance, first revealed by The Moodie Report yesterday.
Airstar Avenue*, the airport’s themed duty free shopping, posted total sales of KW1 trillion 698.7 billion (U$1,530,000,000) in 2011.
In local currency that was a +16.7% increase year-on-year. Sales growth outpaced an international passenger rise of +3.9% to 17,224,000 (departing) in 2011.
Airstar Avenue attributed the sales increase to strong growth in foreign tourists, including Chinese, as well as transit passengers. It also cited the positive effect of the opening of Louis Vuitton’s first airport store in September 2011.
International transit passengers numbered 5,660,000 last year, the highest since the airport opened in 2001 and up by +9% from 2010 (5,190,000). Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) noted: “Furthermore, the number of foreign tourists to Korea surpassed nine million last year, increasing by one million each year for three consecutive years, and having a positive impact on the surge of sales.”
The Louis Vuitton opening, “unprecedented in 1,700 airports around the world”, contributed strongly. “After its opening, the sales proportion of Chinese quadrupled from 4% to 20%, and the sales proportion of Japanese more than doubled from 10% to 25%, significantly boosting overall sales,” IIAC said.
“Moreover, the Louis Vuitton shop is expected to increase the total commercial sales of Incheon International Airport by KW100 billion (US$86.2 million) a year.”
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September’s opening of the world’s first Louis Vuitton airport store gave Incheon a huge second-half revenue boost: (Left to right): Ms Lee Boo-Jin, CEO and President, Hotel Shilla; Yves Carcelle, Chairman and CEO, Louis Vuitton; Lee Chae-Wook, CEO, Incheon International Airport; and Jean-Baptiste Debains, President, Louis Vuitton Asia Pacific |
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This image captures the spectacular shop frontage of the new Louis Vuitton store |
The most sought-after category at Airstar Avenue in 2011 was perfume/cosmetics, as in 2010, accounting for 36% of total sales. Next came leather/fashion accessories (21%) and liquor/tobacco (16%).
Incheon International Airport Corporation President & CEO Lee Chae-wook said: “I am pleased to see Airstar Avenue’s sales jump +16.7% from a year earlier in spite of the global economic downturn. In order to continue the trend of rapid growth, we plan to make active efforts to open new shops and conduct brisk marketing activities to target foreign customers.”
IIAC is the host of next month’s Trinity Forum in Seoul, the world’s leading airport commercial revenues conference. CW Lee will address the Forum and lead an airport CEO’s panel on day one, 14 February.
We’ll bring you analysis of the Incheon results in today’s issue of The Moodie Report e-Zine.
ABOUT AIRSTAR AVENUE
Airstar Avenue (www.iiacairstar.kr) is the integrated duty free brand of Incheon International Airport, including stores run by The Shilla Duty Free, Lotte Duty Free and Korea Tourism Organization (trading as Duty Free Korea). It features 70 stores and around 400 brands.
To facilitate consumer communication, Airstar Avenue magazine is published bi-monthly to provide airport and duty free news and product information. Travellers can access Airstar Avenue information, text and video, via a QR code on their smart phones. The information is provided in English, Japanese, and Chinese.
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