Airport retail operator Schäfer Group is to launch its Move store brand into the Macau tourist market in September. The company will partner with Canudilo International, which will run the 200sq m shop in the Sands Parisian resort.

Canudilo International operates a 3,200 sqm duplex store named Antonia in the Sands Parisian. It also has 10 other Sands Macau properties.

The new standalone Move store will sell products across categories including sound, mobile, computing and healthcare. Schäfer says that the offer is a broader, more upmarket range than what is currently available in Move’s European airport stores such as Düsseldorf.

With an electronic point of sale, strong digital elements will feature throughout the new store. This will allow Schäfer and its partner to change the message to match passenger flow and target buying groups.

Furthermore, with the content managed centrally, the plan is to create promotions for specific occasions. As part of its digital strategy alongside Canudilo, Schäfer will also roll out its Dynamic Content Play platform. This takes cues from customer actions to display information that matches their requirements.

EXPERIENCE OF THE MACAU MARKET

Having spent 10 years in China and Kong working in travel retail, Schäfer Airport Retail Managing Partner John Woodhouse brings his own experience of the market. Woodhouse has worked on numerous projects in Macau, including with the Sands Parisian.

He said: “We are going into the project with specific market knowledge under our belts. Our partners have operated within the Parisian since opening, so know the customer base well.”

On the scale of the opportunity in the Macau market Woodhouse commented: “Macau is a top holiday destination for southern Chinese tourists, especially from the wealthy greater bay area of Guangdong province. It is only 45 minutes away from Guangzhou, which has a population of 15 million, twice the size of London.

“The Macau resort concept is very similar in many ways to an airport-style business in that thousands of travellers are delivered to the store daily, either through staying in hotels or coming for shopping trips.

“The difference is that the dwell time is longer and shopping is central to the visit. Like Hong Kong, Macau is a Special Administrative Region with differing regulations to China, allowing for duty free.

“In 2019, Macau welcomed just under 40 million tourists. If that number can be reached by 2023, which we strongly believe it can, we will be pleased.”

Regarding the long-term strategy for the Move brand Woodhouse says taking the Move brand beyond airports was always part of its plan. “We hope to announce in due course an exciting project for five stores in the Gulf.

“In Germany, we have also taken Move into traditional retail, where we are rolling out the concept as a shop-in-shop within a hypermarket chain. We opened our first two locations in late May and sales are promising.”

The Sands Parisian Casino, which opened in 2016 is part of the extensive Sands Group operations in Macau, housing 3,000 hotel rooms. Its owner identified Paris as a key tourist driver for Chinese tourists. The resort boasts a replica of the Eiffel Tower and has shopping streets themed and named after the famous Paris boulevards.