Heinemann Australia is to begin operations at Gold Coast International Airport in late October having secured the seven-and-a-half-year duty free contract in April.

Trading under the Heinemann Duty Free branding, the stores will offer spirits, wine and sparkling wine and perfumes and cosmetics across 430sq m in departures and 300sq m in arrivals.

Both retail areas will be designed as walk-through shops and increase significantly in size during the terminal expansion. Heinemann Australia will also receive a completely new design concept by 2020.

The start of operations at Gold Coast Airport, will see Heinemann Australia expand its presence in the country having operated at Sydney Airport since 2015. The new openings form a key part of its strategy to increase profitability in the region.

STAPLE OF BRANDS

Gold Coast International Airport handles more than 6.5 million passengers annually with numbers expected to reach 16 million by 2037. Over the past few years, the airport has expanded its services and facilities to cater for the Commonwealth Games which took place in April.

The expansions led to a record January, which saw the airport handle 650,000 travellers, a +4.2% increase on January 2017.

Heinemann Australia Managing Director Richard Goodman told TRBusiness. “We aim to deliver the Gold Coast Airport with a staple of brands and edited iterations of our Sydney business. Considering the exciting future growth of the airport and our relationship so far, we have no doubt this will be a successful partnership.”

He added: “We see the Gold Coast Airport as a great sized business to venture into our second business in Australia and we continue to look at other opportunities within Australia.”

Its experience of transforming the Sydney Airport offer will prove vital, according to Goodman. “We love creating memories so continuously creating new spaces for that to occur is key. In Sydney, for example, we recently created a new Asian Spirit area, so customers can associate the product with their travel journey and experience in our shops.”

NEW DESIGN CONCEPT

The new design concept due to be implemented in 2020 will enable Heinemann to maintain a strong sense of innovation in-store. “For us, providing adequate space to each category is important in creating an overall successful shopping experience. Like Sydney, Gold Coast Airport will have a walkthrough shop layout with various activated area to ensure a high penetration.

“We want to give our customers a reason to come back to the store so keeping it innovative and exciting will be key to our success.”

The understanding it has developed of the Sydney duty free shopper will stand it in good stead once operations begin in Gold Coast Airport. “We plan to use our learnings to ensure we pair the correct assortment with the Gold Coast passenger.

“We have already had some great dialogue with Gold Coast Airport on how to achieve this and spent some time understanding the local market and the products that are unique to the Gold Coast.”

See the July edition of TRBusiness for more on Heinemann Australia plans at Gold Coast International Airport.