LS Travel Retail launched the first pilot store for the revamped Aelia retail brand at Marseille Provence Airport in mid-October, as first reported by TRBusiness in March.

 

The store at the airport’s mp² terminal is part of a new vision focused on performances, customer services and digital innovation in order to differentiate the offer from those of other DF&TR operators.

 

Speaking to TRBusiness, Chairman and CEO of Lagardère Services, Dag Rasmussen (below), says: “This is what we call Aelia Duty Free v2 – it’s about a better facilitated experience for the passenger around gifting and really helping the customer. We measure ourselves on our quality of service and we have good feedback from both landlords and brands, so we have quantitative objectives but also qualitative.”

 

He adds: “I want us to continue to innovate – we will be launching our new versions of the Aelia duty free stores with a better gifting experience and focus on the customers, with interactive digital devices – not just digital per se.”

 

Following the Marseille pilot – and any fine tuning – the next opening is expected to be at Warsaw’s Terminal 1 in the first quarter of 2015.

 

Aelia is a core fascia within the LSTR portfolio – with stores across Europe including France, Spain, the UK, Czech Republic and Poland, while in Asia Pacific the brand debuted in Adelaide, Australia in April. Aelia’s sales were €1.1bn ($1.5bn) in 2012.

 

The official inauguration of the Marseille store is planned for 19 November.