Lagardère Travel Retail CEO, Dag Rasmussen told TRBusiness that the company’s global ambition is to become the ‘most admired travel retailer in the world’ and not necessarily the one with the greatest sales.

“Our big goal is to be the most admired travel retailer in the world,” Rasmussen told TRBusiness in an exclusive video interview during the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference last month.

“That’s our objective. Not necessarily to be the one with the biggest sales. We’d love to be both and we want to increase sales of course, but to be the most admired has a very global dimension. That’s why we want to understand the consumer better; continue to deliver on our B2C for B promise; to have the best contacts with airports and brands and to be an influencer ourselves. It’s a holistic approach.”

Watch the video below to hear Rasmussen’s thoughts on the rumour that the Chinese airport duty free market could be opening up to foreign operators…

Concerning Asia, Emmanuel de Place COO at Lagardère Travel Retail & Group Innovation Sponsor, said that the company is turning its attention increasingly to emerging Chinese brands as their popularity soars amongst young Chinese consumers.

“We need to learn and adapt as Western companies, not just to push Western brands in our travel retail stores. We are one of the leaders in fashion & luxury…and we believe that we can bring some trendy Chinese brands to Singapore, Paris and other European locations, to draw a younger audience into our stores.”