London Luton Airport (LTN) is going through the biggest retail revamp in its history – and the first evidence of that was revealed today when Lagardère Travel Retail officially opened its 1,670sq m Aelia core-category walkthrough store at the UK’s fifth busiest airport.

All 12.26m passengers (2015 data, up by +16.9%) must pass through the open-plan shop – the largest in LTR’s global portfolio – and the latest in a series of Aelia ‘next generation’ concept stores following the recent opening at Nice Airport T1.

Stéphanie Metz-Thevenod – Executive Vice President, Marketing & Digital at LTR says: “Our concept emphasises the Art of the Gift, which is a major motivation to buy. We pushed the concept even further in Luton by developing uniqueness in the design, new experiences such our tasting bar and digital features such as a navigation table at the entrance.”

This consists of an easy-to-use digital information point that clearly defines the categories and brand locations, which pop-up on a store map when searched for by users.

As it happens, passengers can visually navigate the store relatively easily from this entrance as the entire retail floor is visible with a very wide pathway in the middle. To the right is beauty, led by key three-axis brands such as Lancôme, Estée Lauder and Dior, while on the left are some of the crowd-pulling fragrance names such as Calvin Klein and Paco Rabanne.

Further into the store on the right is a fashion/accessories area and sunglasses zone using the LTR own fascia, Eye Love; while on the left, a large wines and spirits zone follows on from fragrances. At the end of the store is the confectionery offer with tobacco products in a separate enclosed space close to the checkouts.

The retail space is not yet finished. The end wall, currently housing confectionery will eventually lead off into a new and separate retail zone with boutiques either side and three island units in the passenger pathway, the first of which will be taken by Chanel according to the airport landlord.

‘IT’S A LONDON THING’

Design-wise, LTR used the services of London agency Portland to conjure with the brief of ‘it’s a London thing’ as LTN is keen to establish its credentials as a London airport although it is 55km from the centre of the capital.

To that end, Portland has come up with an edgy twist on the now over-used Union flag; by painting it in dark tones highlighted with yellow/gold – which is also the colour of the signature ‘ribbon’ that adorns the ceiling.

Speaking to TRBusiness at the launch, Lewis Allen, Director of Environments at the agency, said: “This had to be a London shopping experience: from Regent Street to Shoreditch.” Inspiration has come from London through various eras, from the swinging sixties to punk and beyond.

In a statement LTR comments: “The store’s ambiance captures London’s modern ‘new luxury’ glamour by juxtaposing classically opulent finishes with more everyday materials. It is also characterised by a joyous, irreverent, playful, dynamic, glamorous, and creative tone with experiential areas that increase passenger engagement.”

Chief among those is Best of London: the store’s centre piece featuring iconic London brands such as Penhaligon’s, Molton Brown, National Gallery and Rimmel, as well as a classic Mini Cooper sliced in half highlighting a different brand every month under the bonnet [it is Beafeater gin at the moment].

To celebrate the store opening some brand partnerships/promotions have also been developed with Urban Decay, Molton Brown, Jo Malone, Nuxe, Cadbury, M&Ms, and Champagne Lanson, to name a few.

Other store features include the Whisky Studio – developed in partnership with Diageo – to help customers discover more about Scotch and the distillation process; a digital, light and sounds showcase called La Scène, that is animated each month by a different brand [L’Oréal is present there in July]; and a tasting bar at the centre of the store for cocktail and other events [currently occupied by Bacardi’s brands].

Part of the offer is a new ‘click and collect’ service, available at Aelia’s website so that pre-ordered products can be picked up and paid for in-store.

Amaury Dehen, Managing Director of Lagardère Travel Retail UK & Ireland, says: “As the largest store in Lagardère Travel Retail’s global portfolio, we are thrilled to have opened such an inspiring and invigorating retail facility.”

Speaking to TRBusiness he added: “This store is double the size of the old one. We have actually reduced the total number of categories but we have expanded the remaining ones by adding new brands: something like 20 across beauty, liquor and so on.”

EARLY SALES UPLIFT

Between the soft opening in April and now, overall year-on-year sales and sales per passenger have increased according to LTR, a sign that the concept is working for the passenger profile. Dag Rasmussen, Chairman and CEO of Lagardère Travel Retail, tells TRBusiness: “One of the successes of this store is that it is premium, but not intimidating. There is a trade off when maximising sales [through luxury] and maximising the number of people you sell to.”

At LTN – which is a low-cost carrier airport but with a reasonably high-spending passenger profile – LTR has been careful to keep its offer accessible. Rasmussen does not, however, expect any spend per pax uplift to be as spectacular as Nice T1 [+25% in the final quarter of 2015] but says that it should still be high. He qualified that: “When you have a +20% passenger increase it’s difficult to also have a +20% increase in spend per pax.”

Regardless, in terms of absolute sales, LTR will be more excited about how traffic forecasts at the airport will translate into ringing tills. Nick Barton, CEO of LTN, says: “We are the fastest growing airport in the UK at the moment, at +20% this year, and the airport is going through a phenomenal level of change. Of course we need the facilities here to make sure passengers are getting the very best out of air travel today. I am delighted that this store is the first step in proving that is going to be the case.”

LTN is ploughing £120m ($160m) into its creation of a ‘new Luton’. The result of that investment will be extra capacity of +50% allowing passenger volumes to rise from 12.6m to 18m by 2020.

[TRBusiness will bring you a more comprehensive review of the wider retail changes at Luton Airport soon.]