Work on a revamped World Duty Free walkthrough shop at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 3 is set to complete early next year, TRBusiness can reveal.

The current 2,420sq m duty and tax free retail footprint will not change, but is set to look ‘very different’, according to the airport.

“This is an ongoing project that will complete in Q1 2018, but that’s being worked through in phases as we wouldn’t want to close such a key offer,” said Heathrow Airport’s Retail & Service Proposition Director Chris Annetts. “Different pieces will come online over the rest of this year and into early next.”

Owner Dufry Group is understood to be injecting a series of new concepts and design twists into the layout in a ‘key project’ for both partners that leverages enhanced digital elements.

SUPERDRY ARRIVAL

The airport has been working hard over the last few months to cultivate its luxury and affordable luxury offer at the departure lounge in T3.

A new Louis Vuitton boutique (140sq m) and first-of-a-kind Superdry outlet (118sq m) opened in July, accompanying a fresh Ted Baker space (102sq m) that was moved and increased in size (from 62sq m).

As reported, Dixons Travel also opened its latest ‘store of the future’ concept (204sq m) in August.

“We’ve got other changes planned over the coming months in Terminal 3 and we’re working through what that is going to look like,” confirms Annetts.

The expected changes form part of a wider upgrade programme at Terminal 3 that Annetts says will take approximately 12 months to complete.

REVISED FISCAL FORECAST

A passenger traffic boost of +3.9% to 37.1m in the first half of the year, coupled with the ‘Brexit effect’ depreciation of the sterling acted to improve duty and tax free revenues by 12.9% to £70m ($80.1m) year-on-year according to Heathrow’s half-yearly results.

Concluding refurbishments to Terminal 4 have included new units from Valentino (80sq m) and Yves Saint Laurent (70sq m), both of which opened in the early part of the summer to bolster an already strong premium and luxury offer.

A Kate Spade pop-up (38sq m), which opened in T5 in July, has also been added to the mix.

“We now have additional personal shopper lounges open over the last 12 months in Terminal 5 and a new one is on its way for Terminal 3,” adds Annetts.

“The personal shopping service has been growing really fast for us. We’re now in a place where we have lots of repeat customers who use the service pretty much every time they travel.”

Retail revenue per passenger rose by 7.6% to £8.43 ($11) in the first half of the year.

A revised investor forecast released in June – shortly before the half-year results were announced – estimated spend per head to rise by 5.2% year-on-year to reach £8.50 ($11.1) for fiscal 2017.

“We’re on track to achieve and exceed that target,” confirms Annetts. “Passenger growth at the moment is quite strong and I think our forward view is that we’re having a good year and we expect that to continue.”

For more on Heathrow’s recent retail victories, see the October issue of TRBusiness available soon.