TFWA China sets out new Guangzhou programme

By Doug Newhouse |

Top Guangzhou HotelTFWA has published the conference programme for its bi-annual TFWA China’s Century Conference (Guangzhou, 7-9 March 2017) due to be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in the Pearl River New City district.

 

This year’s theme will focus on the rise of ‘domestic’ duty free and the Chinese passenger preference for new destinations, moving on from the last Shanghai conference’s focus on ‘conspicuous consumption and ‘new’ leadership economic reforms in March 2015.

 

TFWA will also be hoping for a similar attendance at this year’s event, following on from the 400 delegates who attended the very worthy Shanghai event.

 

HOUSEKEEPING….

This year’s conference starts with registration between 14.00 to 18.00, followed by the traditional welcoming cocktail between 19.00-21.30, before the event itself opens on Wednesday 8 March with welcomes from TFWA moderators John Rimmer and Trevor Lai, TFWA President Erik Juul-Mortensen and APTRA President Jaya Singh.

 

Delegates will then be formally welcomed by Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Co. Ltd Président Qiu Jiachen (the official host) before the first presentation – ‘Embracing change, unlocking potential’ – by China Duty Free Group’s new President Charles Chen, who will present his vision of the future market.

 

Four Seasons Hotel in Guangzhou,jpg

The luxurious Four Seasons Hotel in Guangzhou is the conference venue for this year’s leading Chinese conference event,jpg

CDFG VISION UNVEILED…

TFWA says this presentation from China’s market leading duty free operation comes at ‘a time of significant change in the Chinese duty free & travel retail market’.

 

This includes the extension of arrivals duty free at airports and land border points, plus the expansion of offshore duty free and new changes designed to stimulate spending by travellers within China itself.

 

 

 

This will then be followed by an address entitled ‘Reimagining travel retail in an age of individualisation’ from DFS Group Chairman & CEO Philippe Schaus.

 

He will explain how DFS is adapting its retail strategy ‘to better cater to an increasingly sophisticated clientele with changing tastes, behaviour and expectations’.

 

SO WHO’S READY FOR A BIT OF DISRUPTION…?

The next presentation from Lagardère Travel Retail Asia Pacific COO Emmanuel de Place promises to explore the emerging challenges to established forms of retail, and will ask the question whether the duty free & travel retail industry is ready for change.

 

Entitled, ‘Preparing for disruption: what’s next, and are we ready for it?’ this will examine how new business models (such as Alibaba, AirBnB and Uber) have changed shopping, booking holidays and travel in the last few years.

 

Erik Juul-Mortensen

TFWA President Erik Juul-Mortensen: still driving the association with positive dedication.

It will also ask the key question of how prepared the industry is for disruptive changes as witnessed in the marketplace alongside emerging challenges to established forms of retail.

 

The final session of the first morning will then take on the form of a panel discussion which will look at the recent fall in luxury goods sales amongst Chinese consumers and ask whether this ‘a temporary blip, or a durable trend?’

 

Questions promised to be posed include the extent to which perceptions of high-end brands have changed and is a fundamental change of approach required?

 

On duty for this discussion will be DFS Executive Vice President Strategy and Market Development Jim Beighley, Bally CEO Frédéric de Narp, Fortune Character Institute Executive Director Tina Zhou, as well as Xu Dongsheng, Managing Director of Fiyta, China’s leading watchmaker and distributor.

 

MEET THE WORLD’S LARGEST MIDDLE CLASS…

The next session (following the lunch break) will take a different turn, with a presentation from Helen Wang, author of the award-winning book The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World’s Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You.

 

Jaya Singh President, APTRA

Jaya Singh, President of APTRA has helped to pull the Asia Pacific industry closer together with the help of TFWA in recent years.

Wang is described as ‘one of the world’s foremost experts on the emergence of China’s middle class, and the development of its spending power’. As such, she will explore how the speed of adoption of new trends and ways to consume are influencing spending behaviour – and also how brands and retailers can adapt their approaches.

 

A ‘Chinese Consumer Forum’ will then form the basis of the next session, which will explore how retailers, brands and landlords both outside and within China are catering to the Chinese traveller, looking at branding, marketing, promotions, online communication and other new initiatives.

 

This will feature contributions from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Commercial Services Director Anne-Marie Zuidweg, Lagardère Travel Retail CEO Greater China, Eudes Fabre plus Luxottica Head of Global Channels Francis Gros and, Managing Director BBDO and Proximity Shanghai, Sharlene Wu.

 

M1ND-SET EXCLUSIVE ON EVOLVING RETAIL IN CHINA

Last but not least, day one will then wind up with a presentation entitled ‘China beyond Tier 1’, which will examine how shopping behaviour is evolving amongst Chinese travellers and whether it is necessary to look beyond the country’s Tier 1 cities towards the aspirations of consumers in China’s fast-growing provinces.

 

As part of this, m1nd-set Founder & CEO Dr Peter Mohn will present a study commissioned by APTRA, which is aimed at providing a better understanding of the dynamics shaping today’s Chinese travel retail market. Exclusive highlights of this study will be presented by Mohn in a session which will be moderated by APTRA Executive Officer Michael Barrett.

 

Lai and Rimmer

TFWA moderators John Rimmer and Trevor Lai make a good double act, asking probinq questions from a good knowledge base.

The remainder of the first day will then cover networking and ONE2ONE meetings between 16:30 to 18:30 before delegates are invited to the Gala Dinner function in the Onyx Ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel.

 

After more networking and ONE2ONE meetings between 08.00 and 10.00 moderators Rimmer and Lai will welcome delegates back into the conference to hear the first session of the day, entitled ’Disrupting China’

 

This will look at the influence of the ’new wave of young entrepreneurs’ in China against the call from Premier Li Keqiang for ‘mass entrepreneurship and innovation’. This presentation will come from Dr Edward Tse, a leading business consultant and the author of ‘China’s Disruptors’.

 

DEDICATED AIRLINE RETAIL PERSPECTIVE

TFWA says this explores the rise of entrepreneurship in China and how it is changing both behaviour and modes of consumption among the country’s citizens.

 

This will then be followed by an important airline perspective with China Southern Airlines’ Chief Marketing Officer Guo Zhiqiang. China Southern is Asia’s biggest airline in both fleet size and the number of passengers carried and this session will examine how it is tailoring its passenger services for a changing clientele and the role that inflight retail can play in revenue generation.

 

It is then the turn of the event host – Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Co – to present its ‘Guangzhou Baiyun: open to the world’ story, where it will unveil its ongoing ambitious expansion plan for its new Terminal 2 facility, which is scheduled to open in 2018.

 

NEW COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES

This will look at the significant new investment in inbound tourism and how this is expected to translate into new commercial opportunities for both brands and retailers. Senior directors of the airport operating company Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Co. Ltd, Guangzhou Aerotropolis Development District, plus Tourism Administration of Guangzhou Director General Liu Yumei will all participate in this session.

 

Charles Chen presenting at the original China's Century Conference in Beijing in 2013.

Recently promoted to President of the China Duty Free Group, Charles Chen seen presenting here at the TFWA’s original China’s Century Conference in Beijing back in 2013.

The pre-lunch session will then feature a presentation entitled ‘Travel retail under siege?’ from King Power Group (Hong Kong) Managing Director Travel Retail, Sunil Tuli.

 

This will study the challenges posed by a duty free and travel retail industry outside of China which is experiencing both a period of traffic growth and sales decline, with the influence of e-commerce ‘widely held to be one of the factors behind the fall in spend per head’.

 

As one of the pioneers of the Chinese travel retail market, King Power’s Tuli will offer his perspective on this scenario and look at how travel retailers respond.

 

The first post-lunch presentation will then focus on the significant investment being made in China’s tourism industry by the government aimed at attracting foreign visitors into the country and also encouraging domestic travel by Chinese citizens.

 

DEDICATED CHINA CRUISE MARKET SESSION

Addressing these subjects will be Dr Dai Bin, the President of the China Tourism Academy and an acknowledged expert on the development of Chinese inbound and outbound travel. He will then be followed by a presentation entitled ‘China’s cruise market sets sail, featuring Mike Feely, Vice President of research agency Horizon Consumer Science and Starboard Cruise Asia Vice President Emily Wong, representing the world’s leading cruise concessionaire.

 

Feeley will reveal highlights of a TFWA-sponsored study into the cruise market in East Asia, while Wong will address the opportunities alongside information from the China Cruise & Yacht Industry Association showing that the volume of inbound and outbound passengers calling at Chinese ports has increased more than 50-fold since 2006.

 

Philippe Schaus, CEO DFS Group

Reimagining travel retail in an age of individualisation’ is the address scheduled to be given by DFS Group’s Chairman & CEO Philippe Schaus.

‘Airports and e-commerce’ will then comprise the next session, featuring Xiamen Airport, which is not only one of China’s fastest-growing, but also a pioneer in harnessing technology to drive commercial revenues.

 

ONLINE & MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

As such, Han Tao, General Manager of the airport’s Shouli E-Commerce Co will explain how the airport is managing to gain new customers through its innovative use of online and mobile technology.

 

Last, but not least, will be a session entitled ‘Artificial intelligence, virtual reality: the future for retail’ and this will look at how augmented and virtual reality may revolutionise retailing – both in China and beyond?

 

It will also pose the question whether AI is the future of brand marketing? This session will be led by Alvin Wang Graylin who is described as ’one of China’s serial entrepreneurs, with over 20 years of business management experience in the technology industry, including 15 years in Greater China’.

 

His address will look at how technology developments are apparently ‘changing the rules of customer engagement in China’, with implications for all businesses.

 

The conference will then close with the traditional thanks and round-up remarks by TFWA President Erik Juul-Mortensen.

The Americas

Details emerge of JFK T1 commercial programme and duty free tender

Qualified travel retail operators are being invited to participate in a request for proposals...

Asia & Pacific

Asia Pacific Travel Retail Awards: The Winners

TRBusiness and m1nd-set can today (13 March) reveal the winners of the 2024 Travel Retail...

International

JCDecaux research offers major passenger insights

New research insights from Ipsos UK compiled for JCDecaux provide a revised outlook of air...

image description

In the Magazine

TRBusiness Magazine is free to access. Read the latest issue now.

E-mail this link to a friend