BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 103

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Customers want the same product at the same time, regardless of their location or market. Electronic media makes the world very small and we must be as fast as the consumer

DFS Group vice president & gmm beauty Linda Allario

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see further growth in premium skincare and color due to our introduction of new brands such as Laura Mercier, bareMinerals and Philosophy. It’s been a slightly more challenging year for fragrances, but the planned launches for the second half look to be very strong and we anticipate another successful year for this category.

and activities in store. There is a lot of potential to run on-counter activities and makeover events in stores and we would like to see more of this in the future.

How can the industry boost conversion rates? What would you like to see brands do better?
DP: I would like brands to concentrate more on the customer and on developing the category as a whole. Each brand has its strengths, which should bring more diversity and exciting products to the passenger. In France, we have had a fantastic launch from Guerlain La Petite Robe Noire with an in-store execution that was extremely qualitative and exciting for passengers. The Lancôme La Vie est Belle launch in September also promises to be good. For us, such launches bring something exciting and different to our passengers and help with the penetration rate. LA: More global launches on major products. Customers want the same product at the same time, regardless of their location or market. Electronic media makes the world very small and we must be as fast as the consumer. At the same time, we would also target secondary products that support specific nationalities, such as whitening for the Asian customer and targeted fragrances. Communication in the correct language is also critical. This relates to the point-of-sale with brochures, product descriptions on shelves and inner and outer packaging. With the thousands of skus we have in beauty, the customer can be very confused, especially when shopping in a country where there is a language difference. AAE: Sharing more consumer and trend insights of the bigger marketplace as well as travel-retail. Offering more travel-retail exclusive products that are convenient and better value for money and how we work together to communicate this better to customers. Offering best-in-class promotions with creative, engaging implementations and providing more customer education and excitement is also important, as is investing in and exploring new communication channels. AC: Travel-retail exclusive products are a key part of our business and we would like to see brands continue their innovation in this area to set us apart from the High Street. Our customers also expect to see pre-launches and exclusives in our airport stores, given the strength of our beauty business. We encourage our brand partners to continually push boundaries in relation to theater
November-December 2012 - N°12 - BW Confidential

DP: Increasing conversion rates involves a combination of factors that unfortunately we do not have total control of. These include: reducing the queues in the airport so that passengers arrive in our stores more relaxed; offering a competitive price perception which will trigger purchase; mastering the logistics chain to have the product in-store according to customer demand; adapting the offer to match customers’ needs and staff training in customer service and sales techniques. All of these points are a constant concern at Aelia. For the points that we can address we will have a new warehouse in 2013, buyers will constantly review ranges, we also have an in-house ISO 9001 certified training scheme for all and we conduct research. LA: Make it easy to shop and easy to link sell—and I mean for the beauty advisor and the consumer. Education for both the consumer and beauty advisor, clear pricing, clear product descriptions and so forth can play major roles in conversion. Many travel-retail customers shop from a list. Let’s make fulfilling that list fast and seamless so we can have more time to convert the customer to new and additional products. I would also like to see airports allow more promotional spaces outside our shops so we can drive more traffic into the store. AAE: Better passenger and customer understanding. Offer greater clarity and more consistency on restrictions, such as LAGS and greater clarity of our value-for-money proposition. AC: One of our biggest challenges is the ‘one bag’ policy adopted by some airlines, which limits the customer on how much they purchase. Featuring smaller, impulse lines, such as a new lipstick or mascara allows passengers to fit products into hand luggage more easily. Increasing ‘theater’ and interactive promotions will also help to drive more customers into stores. We have also come a long way with social media and our brand partners see this as a key part to building their success. Our Facebook and Twitter accounts, together with the main website, are used to communicate new launches, exclusives, pre-launches and events at our stores. We have also linked up with brand partners on their own Facebook sites, with invitations to attend on-counter makeup events for those who check in at a specific terminal across the airports in which we operate. n
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BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012

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