LS Travel Retail has raised more than €80,000 ($102,421) for Action Against Hunger (ACF – Action contre la Faim) across its stores in three countries.

 

The campaign offered passengers the chance to support the charity by making a donation as they went through the check out process, so helping the Action Against Hunger teams to strengthen their programmes among groups suffering from malnutrition, especially among children – its first victims.

 

For one month, stores in the LS Travel Retail network in France, the UK and Spain partnered with ACF in the ‘Time for Action’ campaign where passengers/customers were invited to make a small donation of €2 or more when paying for purchases at the checkout.

 

LSTR says that thanks to the involvement of its internal teams and customer generosity, the sum collected will allow the Action Against Hunger teams to strengthen their programmes among groups suffering from malnutrition – especially children.

 

CONVERSION RATE CLOSE TO 11%

To date, LS Travel Retail says it is the first duty free operator to involve its stores in such a fund-raising operation for ACF. For a month, teams in nearly 150 stores wore the colours of Action Against Hunger making passengers aware of the charity’s work. Real team work between the sales staff and charity volunteers made it possible to achieve promising results, with a conversion rate of close to 11%.

Commenting on the initiative and the long-term partnership, as the cheque was handed over to ACF, Ambroise Fondeur, CEO of Aelia said: “Our partnership is very dear to my heart as I am convinced that we have a role to play with charities such as Action Against Hunger. The impact of this first partnership is very clear: our teams are proud to have been involved in such a cause which calls upon the solidarity and generosity of all concerned.”

 

For his part, François Danel, Managing Director of Action Against Hunger said: “I would like to thank the LS Travel Retail teams for their enthusiasm and involvement, and I salute the generosity of the passengers, thanks to whom the charity is going away with more than €80,000.

 

LSTR WILL CONTINUE THIS PARTNERSHIP

“As well as the money, this operation has been a real opportunity for us to make the diversity of our work known to the general public.”

 

LS Travel Retail says it will now renew and extend its partnership with ACF in 2013 with the aim of generating an even larger sum. The Buy Paris Duty Free stores have also launched a charity-linked product (a cuddly toy on sale at the checkout), the profits from which will go to ACF to allow passengers to continue their involvement if they wish.

 

Photograph above taken on 27 September shows Ambroise Fondeur (tall CEO, Aelia), Pascal Ledroff (Regional Operations Director) and Guy Bodescot (CEO, SDA) closing the first part of this partnership by handing over the cheque to François Danel, Managing Director of Action Against Hunger.