Last week's pre-tender briefing for Singapore Changi Airport's perfume and cosmetics contract was reasonably well attended, with all the big guns of Nuance-Watson, DFS and Lotte acknowledging their interest in the S$652m ($429m) contract.

These three companies are expected to be the most aggressive contenders, although Valiram, Dufry, Aldeasa, the King Power Group (Hong Kong) and Aelia were also present at last Wednesday's meeting where a briefing was given ahead of a tour of the terminals and the shops.
All are hopeful of winning the 38-month super contract which covers T1, T2,T3 and the Budget Terminal and which is expected to commence in January or February of next year, or when Terminal 3 is opened ? whichever is later.
Nuance-Watson's sales at T1, T2 and the Budget Terminal were around S$206m ($135.5m) last year and it clearly has an advantage in the sense that it is an established operation in Singapore. But it is likely to face some serious opposition from DFS – which is obviously also established in Singapore – and also Lotte, which is one of the world's single biggest retailers of perfume and cosmetics in the world.
All bidders apart from the incumbent Nuance-Watson will be aware that there will be significant start up costs and bids will doubtless need to be weighted to reflect the additional shops that will be required in Changi Airport's Terminal 3 when it opens, since there will be no significant increase in traffic from day one.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has earmarked May 16 (1600) as the last day on which tenders can be submitted for this contract. A two-year extension to the 38-month contract period is possible at the discretion of the CAAS on this contract, subject to negotiated terms and conditions.