Earlier today, Schiphol Airport Retail (SAR) – the operator of liquor, tobacco and confectionery concessions at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol – unveiled the final form of its most prestigious wine and spirits store, Exquisite, just ahead of the key Chinese New Year sales period.

 

The 120sq m retail unit in the Holland Boulevard area between the E and F piers – frequented by a large number of Asian travellers – has a prominent corner position and houses a highly curated collection of wines and spirits – plus a large walk-in cigars humidor – all of which SAR believes can take on the best anywhere in the world.

 

Among the many prestigious products presented at Exquisite is a collection of so-called ‘masterpieces’ celebrating the main drinks categories in the store, each having a pride of place. The four are: Hennessy Beauté de Siecle (Cognac), The Dalmore Constellation Collection (whisky), Diamonds the Rothschild Champagne; and Mouton Rothschild 1945 (wine).

 

A former masterpiece of whisky was The Dalmore 1926 Brilliance which, in October last year, was sold for €250,000 ($340,900) – the most expensive bottle the store has sold to date.

 

While sales on that scale are few and far between, Exquisite customers are spending about 3.5 times more on purchases, compared to SAR’s other stores according to Peter-Jan Rozenberg (below), Director of SAR [a full subsidiary of Schiphol Group since 2007].

 

SAR had revenues last year of almost €90m ($123m) from its 13 stores: three multi-category units in each of Schiphol’s three terminals; two chocolate speciality stores; seven last minutes shops; and the standalone Exquisite boutique.

 

MALTS ARE DRIVING SALES

At Exquisite, malt whiskies make up the core offer with a sales share of 40%, followed by Cognac (22%), cigars (16%), fine wines (12%) and Champagne (6%). To strengthen the concept and customer experience, tastings of nearly 100 bottles of malts and Cognacs are available.

 

Welcoming media and brand partners at the launch today, Rozenberg puts in context the luxury nature of the liquor offer that had been developed since the first inception of Exquisite in 2011.

 

“Since 2005, we realised a paradigm shift within our company… focusing primarily on the needs of our international customers by offering them more premium products with the great support of our business partners,” he says.

 

With Rozenberg at the helm, SAR has transformed its positioning from what he describes as “a supermarket orientation” towards specific customer profiles and an inevitable assortment shift into luxury and premium items.

 

A major change took place in 2011 when “we noticed the enormous increase of Asian passengers, mainly driven by Chinese customers” recalls Rozenberg, who claims that Schiphol today has, thanks to KLM and its SkyTeam partners, the most daily flights to mainland China of any international airports in Europe. “That’s the reason why in our large stores we are selling more and more exclusive products,” he believes.

 

This change in the passenger profile encouraged SAR to develop Exquisite “to create a true landmark for liquor and cigars at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol,” says Rozenberg. “Our ambition is to become the leading liquor and cigars store for connoisseurs at an airport in Europe.”

 

FURTHER FINE-TUNING

The results of the first concept were so good that SAR refined it further. In its current form, there is a relaxed tasting area [where 2cl samples range in price from €15 to €130 for Rémy Martin’s Louis XIII (refunded if the customer buys a bottle)], a separate fine wines room (right) dominated by French Bordeaux [which are mostly rated over 90 on the highly influential Robert Parker scale], plus elaborate presentations of special editions and exclusives.

 

Tastings for media on the launch day included: Champagne Barons de Rothschild Blanc de Blancs, Hennessy Paradis, Balvenie 25 year old Triple Cask, and The Dalmore 25 Year Old. They were led respectively by Frédéric Mairesse, ‎Managing Director at Champagne Barons de Rothschild; Marc Boissonnet, Brand Ambassador Hennessy; Sam Simmons, Worldwide Brand Ambassador of The Balvenie; and Richard Patterson, Master Blender at Whyte & Mackay.

 

On the French-skewed wine selection – whose prices reach €10,000 but open more modestly at €45 – Marc Gatoux (left), Category Manager Liquor & Tobacco tells TRBusiness: “We also have some New World exclusivity with Penfolds which is in great demand by the Chinese, and we will expand further, but only with exceptional names, for example Pingus (from Spain) and soon an Italian label.”

 

Rozenberg says that, last year, Chinese New Year generated a sales uplift of +15%. That may not materialise this year due to the government’s clampdown on flamboyant spending, but he is confident that Exquisite has a solid position in the retail portfolio nonetheless – and accessible to a wide range of nationalities including the home Dutch market.

 

“The heart of Exquisite was, and always will be, an assortment presented in a store which is humble and welcomes everybody who is interested,” he says. “Today, in the Chinese year of the horse we are very proud to show you the improved expression of Exquisite with more emphasis on wine, extended malt assortment and the possibility to taste nearly all that assortment. We believe we have to offer an exceptional experience to all our passengers.”

 

[From left: Marc Boissonnet, Brand Ambassador Hennessy; Frédéric Mairesse, ‎Managing Director at Champagne Barons de Rothschild; Richard Patterson, Master Blender at Whyte & Mackay; and Sam Simmons, Worldwide Brand Ambassador of The Balvenie.]