Aer Rianta International (ARI) has officially unveiled its impressive new Loop Duty Free flagship liquor store at Dublin International Airport Terminal 2.

The store spans over 400sq m, triple the size of the previous outlet and began trading on Saturday 18 August. This follows the May opening of a new Avoca outlet in the terminal, which marked the start of an extensive transformation project due for completion in August 2019.

Other store openings in the pipeline include a Spectrum sunglasses outlet and Gemini jewellery and watches store.

At the front of the liquor store, customers are greeted by a 16-metre LED screen with a welcome message and text encouraging them to meet the brand ambassadors in-store.

NEW SKUS

The outlet boasts 162 new skus, 80 of which are wines and 82 from other segments (excluding wine). Space has increased +68% compared to the previous outlet with the new shop much bigger in terms of linear meterage.

ARI has also received several exclusives from suppliers to mark the opening from the likes of Teeling (Collinstown 12yo), Jameson (Double Charred), Walsh Whiskies and Pearse Distillery.

Incoming CEO Ray Hernan, expressed to TRBusiness his delight at the opening of the new liquor store. “It highlights our commitment to Irish Whiskey which is synonymous with Ireland, but also prominent on the global stage. It also promotes brands that are very much the driving force of a lot of our gin growth. We have significantly extended our product range by opening this new area.”

Offering his own take on the overall Terminal 2 development plans, Hernan suggests a revamp is long overdue. “If I am thinking about this as a passenger which I was until recently, I never felt T2 was right. I am delighted to hear plans are afoot and changes are about to be implemented that will drive business.”

He added: “We must be very relevant to the customer as the market is constantly changing. It is also about the way people move through the airport. We need to make it easy for them as sometimes it is too complicated even in-store.”

Acting CEO Anthony Kenny, who TRBusiness understands will eventually hold the roles of Deputy CEO and CFO once a formal handover is complete, revealed sales uplifts of +30% to +40% during the first few days of trading. He commented: “This is another big step in terms of realising our vision to become the best alcohol retailer in the business.

“We transformed the liquor offering in Terminal 1 and are building on this in Terminal 2. The sense of place we are implementing here can really drive us up. Our commitment to sense of place, irrespective of which airport we work in is evident with The Irish Whiskey Collection.

“It is not just whiskies, but champagnes, wines, gins and other segments as well. We are giving the distilleries, particularly the Irish ones a great platform.”

DRIVING EXCITEMENT

Martin Carpenter, General Manager ARI Ireland, who is responsible for the entire operations at Cork and Dublin Airports, with the exception of food and beverage said: “We are really trying to drive that sense of excitement in-store and increase penetration.

“There is a lot more digital activity from the screen at the front and we are really happy about the deals we have and the value we are offering. Many of the wall-bays are personalised and we offer a lot of exclusives with the aim of making customers feel the same sense of excitement as we do.”

The role of brand ambassadors is also important, according to Carpenter. “We have 20 new gin and whisky ambassadors who are absolute experts and have been trained by the distilleries. In addition, we had a whole week of training at a local hotel where representatives from all major distilleries worked with our teams.”

Further reflecting on the week-long training programme, Global Head, Liquor, Tobacco, Confectionery & Food Paul Hunnisett commented: “We trained over 100 staff and felt everybody had the knowledge and understanding they needed before the shop opened.”

While ARI is well supported by vendors as far as the deployment of brand ambassadors is concerned, the retailer has also recruited some of its own. He explained: “This is a resource we pay for and they help out in terms of training, knowledge and education.

“It worked so well for whisky, we did the same for white spirits and introduced 15 of our own gin ambassadors in the new store.”

Regarding the gin assortment in particular, Hunnisett remarked: “We have got what we think is the best gin selection in travel retail. We have over 80 gins and it was really important to have a set of gin ambassadors to bring that to life.”

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Meanwhile, Hunnisett says the shop has hit the ground running in its early days of trading. He told TRBusiness: ”Consumers are loving it and early indications are that financial expectations are going to be well exceeded. It will be pride of place in terms of everything else that will happen in the terminal.”

At present, pax immediately see the liquor shop after emerging from security. But eventually, they will come through security, pass through a new beauty walkthrough which will be completed in October and come out where the previous liquor store was. “Passengers will exit beauty and see the Irish Whiskey Collection right in front of them.”

Creating a strong sense of place is one thing, but doing it correctly is another, emphasised Hunnisett. “It was absolutely vital for us to get sense of place right. Irish whiskey for us is the lion’s share of our business and Irish gin and Irish vodka is doing incredibly well for us as well.

“Bringing to life Irish brands and bringing to life the final part of Ireland consumers see before heading back to their home destinations was really important for us. We are expecting a big financial bump from this as you can imagine. Our previous liquor outlet had poor penetration compared to industry standards so this will raise our game hugely.”

In terms of possible tweaks to the assortment and layout, he said: “Sometimes you don’t realise they need to be made until you see them. We could probably work a little harder in some of the areas we are activating brands.”

All things considered though, Hunnisett and ARI for that matter are pleased with what they have achieved so far. “What we have done with the incredibly well lit and enticing white spirits area at the back of the shop has really upped the ante in comparison with how any travel retailer does white spirits. We have invested a lot of time, effort and money on bringing gin, vodka, rum and liqueur to life.

“People are drinking gin and tonics in a very different way these days. If you go into a cool speakeasy bar you may see dark metals, leather and mahogany bar fits. We have tried to re-create that here. It is no longer the starkness of how we did white spirits previously”

He added: “It is not brand led as you can see. We haven’t got a Smirnoff wall-bay followed by a Gordon’s one and an Absolut one. We have tried to create a generic category approach.”

ROLLING CALENDAR

Creating a rolling calendar of new and exciting elements for consumers to see is also a priority. “Regular travellers expect to see new things on each occasion,” said Hunnisett. “Following on from Irish whiskies, we have done much more with American, scotch and world whiskey.

“Being an Irish airport, this has never been a huge piece of our business, but we have worked closely with Beam, Brown-Forman and the guys at William Grant to put together a much more interesting range of other whiskies. Early indications suggest this is being really well shopped.

“Here, it is an even mix of EU and Non-EU travellers. Our biggest destination is the UK or US. Getting the range right for our US pax was absolutely vital. They love their whiskies and cognacs.”

As customers move through the shop they will eventually come to what ARI calls the connoisseur area. Cognacs from the likes of Rémy Martin, Courvoisier, Martell and Hennessey are the linchpins, according to Hunnisett, who remarked: “We also have our own wall-bay for expansive whiskies and cognacs ranging from €1,000 €10,000 and are selling these in great volumes.”

For champagne, ARI is working with Moet Hennessy on a new feature. It has also partnered with some of its wines suppliers to create a new wine range comprising 80 skus.

More offers have also been introduced than previously.  “We have never worked so hard to bring together a compelling set of price promotions. For the first time ever, we have a set of 10 whiskies on a buy two save 20% offer for EU and duty free passengers. It is our duty to bring to life a really compelling duty free and available-to-all offer.”

Pressed by TRBusiness on whether further improvements can be made in T1, following the launch of this state-of-the-art new store, Hunnisett concluded: “We are looking to improve whenever we can. Terminal 1 was redeveloped a couple of years ago, but we have done things in this shop which could look amazing there.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we revisit our Irish whisky collection, cognac area and white spirits section in 2019.”