This morning, World Duty Free Group and Stansted Airport (STN) owner, Manchester Airports Group, officially unveiled the biggest duty free and travel retail shop in the WDFG estate – while greatly boosting the retail revenue prospects of the London low-cost carrier gateway.

 

At 2,850sq m, the giant store replaces two units that were half the size in total and divided into separate locations either side of the international departure lounge (IDL): one with a focus on beauty and the other on liquor and tobacco.

 

For the first time at Stansted – which processed 17.84m in 2013 – the core categories are now represented in a single walk-through space after security and a reorientation area – a format that MAG favours and which has been used successfully at Manchester Airport.

 

The shop – which houses departments for beauty, liquor, luxury, confectionery/food, souvenirs and tobacco – is the anchor of a larger £80m ($131.3m) retail redevelopment that TRBusiness had exclusive media access to last week.

 

Commenting on the need for such a large core category unit at STN, Fred Creighton (left), WDFG’s Director of Retail Operations says: “MAG is very ambitious in terms of passenger growth so when we looked at the size of the store that we needed, it wasn’t just for today… we have future-proofed it. We will handle 10m departing passengers next year but the size of this store is there to meet any future need.”

 

Beth Brewster (right), Retail Director at Manchester Airports Group, adds: “This is a massive milestone for Stansted. When we acquired the airport, the airside lounge was too small. It was sub-optimal and the flows and the zoning were wrong. That’s not a criticism of anyone; it’s just the way it was. We saw an opportunity to make the overall airside lounge bigger.

 

“So we asked: what is the right sized duty free store and where should it be? It was a genuinely collaborative process and it’s been a real team effort. We didn’t always agree but we always aligned on what we wanted the end result to be.

 

“When we are finished, the Stansted IDL will be 900sq m per million departing pax. That right sizes it for about the next 8-10 years and after that our passenger projections are such that we will need to do something again.”

 

SECOND MILESTONE

The official opening of the JHP-designed WDFG store marks the second milestone in Stansted’s development after opening a new security area before Christmas at the end of the terminal. Moving it there gave MAG and WDFG the space they needed to create the new store.

 

The next milestone will be 12 units of F&B that will open before and after Christmas and then the final step will be the opening of another 16 retail units which are currently out to tender [it closes this Friday]. “So far over 80 brands are interested: that’s a nice headache to have,” says Brewster.

 

One challenge in designing the WDFG store was to create an easy-to-navigate and impactful retail space, within the existing Norman Foster-designed building. The solution was an S-shaped walkway snaking through the store and above it two dramatic ceiling cones that funnel light in and act as focal points for each category area.

 

MAG Chief Executive, Charlie Cornish (far left) comments: “This new store isn’t just an impressive retail development, but the flagship entrance into our brand new multi-million pound departure lounge.” WDFG CEO, Jose Maria Palencia (left) adds: “This store makes a statement about putting the passenger at the centre of everything.”

 

At the entrance – where the ceiling design extends out to form a canopy for the double height fascia – passengers can access a dedicated Concierge Desk (see lead image), only the second after Heathrow T2 that WDFG has rolled out.

 

The desk encompasses services such as ‘Reserve & Collect’ for purchases, a personal shopping option within the store itself, interactive screens enabling customers to see promotions and product recommendations, and a free gift wrapping service.

 

BUMPER BEAUTY DEPARTMENT

Once inside, passengers enter an extensive 1,126sq m Beauty Hall, with a very high number of individually branded spaces. Opening with Jo Malone [a first for STN] and MAC, Dior then has a prominent ‘boutique’ installation (right), the design of which is the first of its kind in European travel retail.

 

Chanel’s Espace area – the sixth that WDFG has developed – is now also at STN while the first Burberry beauty concept in the world, featuring the brand’s premium make-up collection is also present. New brands in the department include Trussardi, Dsquared2, Bare Minerals, Smashbox, Kiehl’s, Ciate and Sisley, to name but a few.

 

Creighton says: “It’s like being in the best department stores – and that’s what we’ve set out to do. Where we have this kind of scale – for example at Heathrow T5 and Gatwick South – the concept is sustainable because we can deliver together with the brands. They need the right amount of space to produce something as good as this.”

 

Liquor, with 253sq m of space, also has a number of firsts built in. The area incorporates a back wall for luxury Champagnes from Moët Hennessy, a first for the airport, and the largest World of Whiskies shop-in-shop in the WDFG estate (left) with a fixture for mixing and matching miniatures, another first.

 

Nigel Sandals (right), Liquor Category Manager UK at WDFG says: “The profile here has lent itself very well to Champagne, particularly the twin-pack offers, but marques at around £100 and more, for example Dom Perignon, are also performing well.”

 

Sandals has also upweighted wine moving prices up to about £70 through new arrivals including Penfolds.

 

At the start of the department The Destination Tasting Bar with its digital fascia can be updated [up to four times daily] to tailor the brands being promoted depending on the customer profiles and the flights going through at different times of the day. This is the second incarnation of the bar after LHR T2 and a third will soon open at LHR T5.

 

Strong personalisations are featured from popular brands at STN such as Jack Daniels and Johnnie Walker, and from core spirit brands including Hendricks, Smirnoff, Baileys, Bombay Sapphire, Bacardi and Ciroc.

 

BENCHMARKING NORWEGIAN DUTY FREE

WDFG has also begun to experiment with price benchmarking, for example Baileys Irish Cream – popular with Norwegian passengers – against prices in the Norwegian duty free market. “It helps with conversion,” Sandals says.

 

Moving further into the store, sunglasses make a big statement with 2,186 models on display from 46 brands according to WDFG Sunglasses Buyer, Luca Molin, led by a Ray-Ban wall.

 

“We cater to all pockets from£20 to £400,” he says. Luxury brands are positioned in back-lit fixtures around the outside while less expensive ones such as Superdry and Converse are on the floor units as well as WDFG’s in-house labels: Carter, Indi and Sienna. The largest range of children’s sunglasses within WDFG also has its own gondola.

 

Next to sunglasses is jewellery and then watches. The former space has large wall facings from brands like Links, Pandora and Swarovski as well as the first Michael Kors personalised jewellery area offering the widest selection outside of the brand’s own boutiques.

 

WATCHES GO PREMIUM

The Michael Kors space wraps around a wall that takes the passenger into the watches section. Here, WDFG has lifted the category into a much higher-end offer with the arrival of big names such as Tag Heuer, Montblanc, Gucci and Baume & Mercier (left).

 

Prices now go from £19.99 right up to £7,000 which has entailed adding a fit out to a much high specification with seating areas for customers to more closely examine expensive timepieces and get advice from watch specialists.

 

There is also a large selection of designer watch brands, many in shop-in-shop areas, such as Michael Kors, Diesel and Marc by Marc Jacobs.

 

WDFG Watch Buyer Trupti Shah says: “We have sold quite a number of high-value pieces. People do have the disposable income to spend… we are seeing that in our sales. Tag Heuer for example has done really well.”

 

Luxury at STN now occupies a total area of 290sq m and could be the segment that will bring WDFG and MAG the biggest sales lift in the coming months.

 

CHECK-OUT CONFECTIONERY

Confectionery and deli foods such as teas, puddings and preserves, some from local suppliers like Tiptree and Coles, have been carefully positioned around the till points due to the impulse nature of the category.

 

The space has its own promotional and sampling space while the single till queue (right) is lined with a range of specific impulse products and One Water of which 18,000 bottles were sold in September.

 

Digital entertainment is a key element of the new WDFG store and has been incorporated in every department.  WDFG’s trademark Contentainment area features a multi-screen digital feature wall, which extends into a digital canopy above the expo space. Today Walk Like a Man [a Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons tribute band] pulled in crowds of passengers showing the extent to which the space can build interest.

 

 

Brands have this main stage as well as several others around the store – including category areas such as beauty, luxury and liquor – to drive their digital marketing and promotional activity through customer engagement.

 

WDFG has also introduced a new-look 100sq m Glorious Britain store in Stansted’s main airside shopping precinct, which uses London landmarks, graphics, logos and other insignia as the basis of its architecture and design theme and for the products it sells.  Digital graphics set into a natural brick back wall create a more premium look and feel and throughout the store, iconic London landmarks – from Big Ben to classic red Post Boxes – are used as the basis of display units.

 

The final stage of retail development for WDFG at London Stansted will be the completion of an Express store in 2015.

 

TRAFFIC AMBITION: 35M PAX

MAG expects to take traffic at STN up to 35m eventually, helped by long-term deals with existing airlines which currently serve mainly European destinations. “These deals cover not just new routes but increased frequencies to existing destinations,” says a spokesperson for Stansted Airport.

 

MAG has been dynamic in driving up business from low-cost carriers and that has led to a sharp rise in passenger number in 2014 so far [a +7.2% rise to 18.9m in the 12 months to August].

 

MAG will be looking to top STN’s peak of 24m passengers a year set in 2007 – before the global financial crisis hit the airport harder than most – in order to drive higher retail revenue at STN.