US. Zirh International Corp is preparing to roll out its fcuk (French Connection United Kingdom) fragrance duo into European travel retail in April. The line made its debut in the US domestic market last September (The Moodie Report.com, 23 July 2003), and has since been launched in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, Scandinavia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Middle East. The “third wave” of roll-outs – to Germany, France, Spain and Italy – is slated for May.
fcuk Him and fcuk Her (pictured left) are scheduled to enter both terminals at London Gatwick, London Heathrow T3, Stansted and Glasgow airport on 1 April, in conjunction with World Duty Free. The fragrances are already available in selected Nordic travel retail doors and at Singapore Changi airport. They are also poised to enter Buenos Aires Ezeiza, and have been listed by Duty Free Americas at New York JFK.
With regard to inflight, both the men’s and women’s fragrance will be available onboard Virgin from 1 May.
“This is a fun line, and we have had great feedback from it everywhere,” Zirh president international and coo Nicholas Ratut told The Moodie Report. “By its very nature, it rises above the clutter in-store, and jazzes up the fragrance offer”¦What’s also interesting is that the sell-through is 50:50 men’s and women’s, which we weren’t expecting.”
Meanwhile, Zirh continues to roll out the debut fragrance from hot menswear designer John Varvatos (The Moodie Report.com, 11 November 2003), although in global terms the distribution will remain very selective.
“We are hand-picking our domestic doors,” Ratut commented. “The line was launched at Saks, and we will enter the UK on 17 June exclusively via Selfridges. Later in the year the fragrance will enter Greece, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia. And while we have had requests from some travel retail doors nothing has yet been confirmed [for the channel].”
Lastly, Zirh’s core Skin Nutrition men’s line continues to progress well in travel retail. “For example, we tripled our sales at Heathrow T4 in January/February this year compared with Jan/Feb 2003,” Ratut revealed. “Increased brand awareness, an extensive sampling programme, better consultant training, and an established repeat customer base have all contributed to that success.”
