Travel retail soars to new heights

The new World Duty Free store opening this month at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 will be one of the most expensive and advanced drinks outlets the world has ever seen. Patrick Schmitt gives us a preview

With striking white and black acrylic-coated shelving and low voltage lighting, even when empty, the place is impressive. But, once filled, one of the world’s most advanced and upmarket drinks retail outlets will be born. Visiting it however will require a special pass – a British Airways flight ticket from London Heathrow.
On 27 March, World Duty Free will open its latest store, housed in Terminal 5, and sporting not only an entirely new look, an updated logo, but also as many as seven exclusive malts, a US$200,000 bottle of gin, a Diageo style bar, and a tasting counter, not forgetting a “media wall” displaying product news.

What’s in store
It will combine technology with old fashioned customer service, as well as the sound and sight of top barmen mixing cocktails.
Passengers’ first glimpse of the WDF shop will be from a double escalator bringing them down to the main shopping area in Terminal 5. On your right will be the WDF fragrance and food section, a vast open-plan area with new beauty brands to WDF such as Kiehl’s, Decleor and Benefit, as well as stalwarts such as Lancôme, Elizabeth Arden and Estée Lauder. It will also contain the world’s first airport-based “Chanel Boutique”, as well as a Fortnum & Mason selling food and wine, a World of Whiskies shop, and a Cigar House, although WDF “decided against a walk in Humidor, it was just too expensive,” according to Mark Riches, MD for WDF.

Interestingly, this part of WDF will also include a Bombay Sapphire tasting unit, the first time drinks sampling has been offered in the fragrance section, and cunningly devised to attract a female audience to gin.
Exclusives in the confectionery, food and fragrance section include a £5,000 Fortnum & Mason T5 hamper, as well as a T5 branded Seconda watch, a Toblerone special edition, and a range of exclusive scents from the leading brands.

Raising the bar
On passengers’ left as they descend from the check-in area will be WDF “liquor”, containing two bars and 6,500 square feet of drinks retailing space, bounded by a curved wall with floor to ceiling shelving. As travellers enter this sector they will first be faced with the Diageo bar, developed and funded jointly by WDF and the drinks giant, although it won’t stock solely Diageo products. Surrounding this circular bar will be white spirits.
As shoppers move through the shop, they will be confronted by tobacco, behind which will be a media wall flanked by blended whiskies and liqueurs. Then comes a Champagne section with floor-based gondolas for wine, including 140 lines and a new fine wine range developed in partnership with Diageo’s Justerini & Brooks.
Beyond this will be luxury brown spirits, including single malts and Cognacs, and a central tasting and sampling unit called the Connoisseur Bar. This will offer “one-to-one tuition” according to Paul Hunnisett, WDF liquor buyer. “We want people to leave feeling they have learnt something, as well as bought something different,” he adds.
Bordering each end of the liquor area are large stand-alone display areas, one of which will include a WDF exclusive gin by Bombay Sapphire. Called Revelation, this will be the first of five unique $200,000 bottles of Bombay Sapphire (see box for more information).

Unique selection
Other exclusives will include Bowmore 1965 42 Year Old – a single cask for WDF only – Glenfiddich Private Vintage 1973, Balvenie Private Vintage 40 Year Old Cask No. 9915, Laphroaig 21 Year Old, Hazelwood 17 Year Old (the first ever commercial bottling from William Grant’s Kininvie Distillery), Highland Park 1975, and Glenlivet 1968 40 Year Old (from May this year).
Also new to passengers will be the WDF branding, which has shed its orange and blue colouring for black and white, while dropping its old upper case format for entirely lower case letters.
This latest look will be rolled out to other WDF stores.
As Riches sums up: “Passengers don’t want to see what they do in their weekly shop because they are in a gifting mindset – either seeking to spoil themselves or someone else.” This not only requires world exclusives but also novel retailing methods and, as Riches stresses, “service standards need to be superb”. And it is this latter point that makes travel retail so attractive for brand owners.

© db March 2008