CHINA. Camus Cognac yesterday (18 December) celebrated a return to retail operations with the Grand Opening of its luxury duty free boutique with long-time partner Shenzhen Duty Free at the Times DF shopping complex at Haikou Mission Hills in Hainan.
To honour the occasion and mark another milestone in the brand’s expansion in Hainan, representatives from Camus – including President Cyril Camus – and Shenzhen Duty Free led the traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The first Cognac house to enter the Chinese duty free market in the 1980s, family-owned Camus is expanding on its extensive experience gained through operating travel retail shops at Beijing Capital International Airport and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in the early 2010s. The Mission Hills flagship boutique offers a new opportunity for Chinese travellers to experience its Cognacs, the company said.
Camus President Cyril Camus commented: “We are delighted to open this new shop that will allow us to feature our super-premium Cognacs in the luxurious Haikou Mission Hill environment, and thus create a new opportunity to bring to our consumers the most refined experiences of the finer things in life.”
The Camus boutique features eye-catching, four-metre high integrated screens at the entrance and multiple layers of digital displays in-store, creating an immersive consumer experience. By engaging with the displays, shoppers can discover the unique features of each Camus product and fully experience the brand.
The interior design, anchored by a tailor-made chandelier, showcases a 360-degrees library of aged Cognacs. The use of copper and gold expresses the brand’s core values of passion, perfectionism, sincerity, and determination.
To stimulate engagement and excitement, travellers entering the Camus boutique start their journey with a giant wheel of fortune in the shape of the brand’s logo that reveals a special prize to be redeemed with any purchase.
Shenzhen Duty Free Group President Xingzhou Zhan said: “The Camus flagship store has a novel style and unique design that interprets the excellent heritage and development of this French Cognac family with a history of almost 160 years.”
Together with the brand’s classic range of intensely aromatic Cognacs, the boutique showcases the Borderies Single Estate Cognac, as well as rare Cognacs of “exceptional beauty” such as the Cuvée 4.160 ultra-premium expression from the exceptional Cuvée collection.
The boutique also provides a unique access to Camus’ most exclusive experience called ‘Master Blender’. A dedicated in-store area allows consumers to create their own bespoke Cognac.
By blending from four distinct eaux-de-vie (Grand Champagne, Petite Champagne, Fins Bois and Borderies), shoppers can learn the fine art of Cognac-making and create exclusive tailor-made Cognac fitting their own tastes.
Quoting from its vade mecum (corporate handbook), Camus said of the flagship’s opening, “Our priority is our customers, in their quest for meaning and excellence. We are committed to providing them with a responsible and authentic experience.”
The intimate relationship between brand and consumer is not confined to the boutique but also expressed digitally. By launching its brand portal with Shenzhen Duty Free on the Times DF e-platform, Camus said that it aims to bring an O2O campaign to all travellers in China.
Online shoppers can enjoy the full range of Camus super-premium Cognacs, while discovering more about the 160 years of Camus heritage and its new Mission Hill boutique.
Note: Every fortnight The Moodie Davitt Report publishes Hainan Curated, in association with Foreo, a selection of all recent stories from the offshore duty free sector in Hainan province.
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