BRAZIL. MAC Cosmetics (part of The Estée Lauder Cos) has opened its 20th travel retail door worldwide, at Sao Paulo International Airport. The company has been eyeing the Brazilian market with interest ever since MAC’s successful domestic market introduction there in November 2002 in the Iguatemi shopping mall. This was followed up in May 2003 by an opening in Ipanema, in Rio de Janeiro.
The Lauder group has made no secret of its high hopes for the brand in Brazil. Last summer, Estée Lauder Travel Retailing – Americas vice president, general manager Javier Simon told The Moodie Report.com (3 June 2003): “The [numbers] from these stores have been beyond our expectations”¦and are a result of the combination of an excellent launch strategy by our domestic distributor, Brasif, and the clear appeal that MAC has in Brazil. The Iguatemi and Ipanema stores are bound to be among the top MAC doors worldwide.”
MAC made its debut in the travel retail channel in 1996, via DFS Group’s Waikiki Galleria in Hawaii. Other key travel retail locations to date include London Heathrow and London Gatwick airports in the UK; Seoul Incheon airport in South Korea; Copenhagen Kastrup in Denmark; and Vancouver International in Canada.
Looking ahead, new developments are planned for Manchester airport in the UK. And the MAC brand will shortly enter London Stansted via a 500sq ft shop-in-shop (The Moodie Report.com, 5 February).
