Duty Free Philippines (DFP) is to open the first phase of its new 11,000sq m Terminal 3 landside Fiesta duty free arrival shop at Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport in mid-2016.

 

The retailer says this is part of efforts to increase its overall arrival sales with the location reserved in the right hand landside corner of T3 as arriving passengers exit the building. The large new store will occupy 11,000sq m of existing space and operate as a downtown duty free outlet, providing state-owned DFP with a major boost to its arrival shop services.

 

In an exclusive interview, Duty Free Philippines’ Merchandising Division Manager, Jennifer Start said: “We are doing our T3 Fiesta landside arrivals store for brands which couldn’t get into the airport in the past. We will see the entry of more brands here.

 

“The shop will be on two levels of the terminal building; there’s a temporary store there now. Our T3 Fiesta arrival shop is being designed by Barbers of London. We will finalise plans soon. We will open the store in phases. Phase 1 will open about mid-2016; we expect full completion by early 2017.”

 

 

Targeted at returning Filipino travellers along with those resident abroad plus the country’s large overseas workforce on home visits – the new T3 Fiesta arrival store will complement recently-upgraded facilities at DFP’s downtown Fiesta Mall arrival shop which is located close to Ninoy Aquino Airport.

 

Fiesta Mall caters largely to Filipino customers and accounts for almost 50% of the state-run organisation’s annual duty free revenue, slightly ahead of total sales at Ninoy Aquino Airport, where arrival shops generate more than half of overall duty free purchases.

 

“There will be more of a duty free feeling in the T3 Fiesta arrival shop [than at Fiesta Mall],” Start explained. “We are developing this store so that apart from the traditional offer we can give more space to brands. There will be more fashion, perfume and cosmetics, along with chocolates, liquor and tobacco.”

 

Arriving passengers visiting the new T3 Fiesta arrival shop will be entitled to various government-approved duty free allowances, which also apply in Fiesta Mall. Foreign visitors and regular Filipino travellers have a US$1,000 arrival duty free allowance to use within 48 hours of arrival.

 

 

Filipinos resident overseas and returning Filipinos working overseas who have been abroad for more than 12 months are entitled to duty free arrival shopping allowances ranging from US$2,500 to $4,500 per person. They can use these allowances within 15 days of arriving in the Philippines.

 

Opening the new T3 landside Fiesta arrival shop is expected to result in a substantial increase in the number of returning Filipinos using their duty free arrival allowance in future. Currently, most customers shopping at Fiesta Mall visit the store with their families several days after returning to the Philippines rather than visiting the store on their way home from Ninoy Aquino Airport.

 

However, severe traffic congestion is a major problem near the airport and discourages many Filipino travellers and their families from visiting Fiesta Mall after their return home.

 

“Fiesta Mall will still be there for those who want to come back to shop, but with our T3 Fiesta arrival shop we expect more footfall,” Start said. “We have seen fewer customers at Fiesta Mall because of the traffic there which discourages people; we have seen a decline in arrival shopping penetration.

 

 

“With our T3 landside Fiesta store we hope to increase penetration of arrival shopping among arriving passengers by bringing duty free shopping to them.”

 

She added: “Our T3 Fiesta arrival shop may or may not affect our airside arrival shop sales, but we do not offer so much perfume, cosmetics and confectionery items as airside arrival shops’ size is limited,” said Start.

 

“The T3 Fiesta store will bring them to a bigger shop which offers more and they can bring their families with them. There are still a lot more passengers to serve in the arrival shopping market; there is still a lot more of the arrivals market to penetrate.

 

“We estimate just 3% to 4% of total [potential] arriving passenger sales are captured now. There is still a lot of improvement possible for arrival sales.”