DFS India Private Ltd. has told TRBusiness it is increasing the space and product assortment in its duty free supermarket located at Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport’s (CSIA) Terminal 2 Arrivals.

Manishi Sanwal, Managing Director of DFS India, which operates under the trading name Mumbai Duty Free, confirmed local reports of the expansion that includes a plan to capture spends from Middle East-returning Indian passengers seeking low-priced convenience and beauty products.

The duty free supermarket area was originally implemented with a basic fixture offering in November, before being expanded to offer a complete section featuring dedicated wall bays and an increased product assortment.

Passengers can expect to find products spanning health and wellbeing supplements, milk powders and premium Bateel dates to mass consumption items including soaps, shampoos and hand wash with DFS India looking to apply duty free prices.

“While the current supermarket is already functioning from a section of the arrivals store, we are constantly expanding our offering and dedicated spaces within the supermarket section,” Sanwal told TRBusiness.

“It is an expansion of the existing duty free footprint itself; owing to its popularity and exceeding expectations of our customers, we are now looking at expanding our offering.”

‘ISAY’ RESEARCH PROGRAMME

DFS India, which operates as part of a joint venture agreement with Flemingo International at Mumbai Airport – operated by a GVK-led consortium and Airports Authority of India – says the expansion is informed by its internal research programme, ‘i-say’.

The programme assists Mumbai Duty Free with consumer insight, helping to cater its product categories to arrivals passengers.

“Further dwelling into this study, we identified two key segments to be catered to,” Sanwal explained.

“One set of set of customers demanded more refined selections of non-core categories such as imported cheese, premium dates, Italian spices, imported pasta’s and wellness and health supplements.

“While the other group consisted of Indians returning from Middle East locations, who particularly buy low-end products like milk powders, soft drink powder, shampoos and creams for their mass consumption.

“The USP offered to these customers are availability and price advantage, apart from the convenience factor.”