As World Duty Free settles into its new 3,300sq m operation at Helsinki Airport (HEL), the hub’s operator, Finavia, is already planning its next store expansions which will include more than 2,000sq m of extra retail space by 2019.

Finavia’s Senior Vice President and Airport Director, Ville Haapasaari tells TRBusiness: “From the first half of 2016 we should be more or less ready with the full retail and F&B offer in accordance with our programme. In non-Schengen, we are only waiting to add some pop-up style retail outlets.”

VP of Commercial Services, Elena Stenholm adds: “We are developing the pop-up concept which will start next spring with special furniture and we expect these facilities [an extra few hundred square metres] to further enhance the spend-per-head, which has already increased.”

Finavia is also improving services like well-being to enhance the customer experience. “Putting all that together will mean an extra 500-1,000sq m which will be ready within a year,” she says.

PIER DEVELOPMENT IN 2017

Then in 2017 Finavia will build new piers in the non-Schengen extension. “In 2018 and 2019 we will add commercial space in these areas,” she explains.

“The plans is for the extra retail space to be developed in an enlarged central area “as we want the retail to stay compact” rather than dispersing it to the new piers. TRBusiness understands that the extra space is likely to be more than 2,000sq m, and up to 3,000sq m.

Stenholm hinted at what type of retail will be coming in: “We still have gaps and we are missing some categories such as quality Finnish design brands. We want Finnish culture and design to be very visible here. We will be filling these gaps starting in 2016.

“For Asian customers we now have some luxury but we could still have a better offering for them – affordable luxury fashion for instance, and also lingerie. So there are several categories which we want to explore.”

ASIANS CORE TO RETAIL STRATEGY

Haapasaari underlines the critical nature of Asian passengers, given the 15 direct routes that HEL has to the region, with two more being added by Finnair this year. The hub aspect of the airport is therefore important. “If we were reliant on the Finnish market we would be a 10-11m airport [instead of the current 16m] so in that sense it really has worked,” he says.

He adds: “Asian travellers are at the very core of our strategy. If we compare the retail offer in 2013 we are now clearly upgraded. What we were missing with respect to Asian travellers were some key brands like Michael Kors and Max Mara. Now it’s more tailored.”

Finnair is also adding extra capacity with new wide-body A350s coming in – the first in Europe.  Haapasaari notes: “There are more opportunities (with these aircraft) and there will be additional destinations every year.” They are likely to be long haul to Asia.

OTHER NATIONALITIES

While Russians have been on the decline – down by 25-30% on the 600,000 seen before the Ukraine crisis and also buying less because of the weak rouble – they, nonetheless, remain the second highest spending nationality after the Chinese at Helsinki.

“South Koreans are also important and Indians have been rising,” adds Stenholm. “It you look at our European profile we have a lot of Swedes and also Germans, Spanish – all over Europe in fact – who are taking connecting flights to Asia.”

HEL will also be looking to differentiate itself from its Scandinavian competitors. Copenhagen is its main rival as it is also a transfer hub. However it has a very different profile with more Swedes in the mix. Meanwhile, Oslo is reliant on Norwegian spending inbound.

Helsinki’s Asian connections therefore make it a significantly different gateway. “We can leverage that and differentiate that way. We have to target our retail to the customers we have – and the passengers we are going to have in the future,” says Stenholm.