Dufry celebrates South American travel resurgence with dazzling promotional blitz

SOUTH AMERICA. Dufry is responding to and encouraging the rapid revival of South American travel with a dazzling array of high-profile airport promotions.

The campaign has played out in recent months, starting this May in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay.

It has featured a range of superb prizes ranging from an Agusta Brutale Rosso 800 motorbike and luxury Canestrari 208 (a 28 feet power boat) – the latter a world-first in travel retail – in Argentina to an electric car in Uruguay, a Ducati Multistrada 1200cc in Chile and a Ducati Monster in Colombia.

“You’re gonna need a bigger store” – Buenos Aires Duty Free welcomes Ezeiza International Airport passengers with the world-first opportunity to win this Canestrari 208 luxury powerboat

“We are celebrating the comeback of travel and seeking to surprise our customers,” Dufry General Manager – South America Cluster Enrique Urioste told The Moodie Davitt Report.

“COVID accelerated many things in our industry. One of them was the change in our pax profile, with less baby boomers and more millennials and Gen Z consumers.”

“Through this promotional programme plus a range of other ongoing activities in our stores and online, we aim to surprise the passengers by providing a different, unique and interactive experience.”

Urioste said that Dufry is more than ever before putting the customer at the centre of everything it does. “This will enable us to increase penetration rates and SPP while engaging and delighting the consumer,” he said.

“The challenge today, is to be capable of increasing our sales. To achieve this we are working very successfully with our airport landlords and brand partners.

“Our common interest has aligned all the sector’s stakeholders to work more closely than ever – trying innovative ideas, sharing data and needs, and trying different things without the fear of failing. If it doesn’t work, we simply learn and do it differently.

“I am convinced that today the whole industry ‘Trinity’ is more aligned than ever before.”

The Canestrari 208 also took pride of place with Buenos Aires Duty Free at Aeroparque Internacional Jorge Newbery

The travel retailer has also been building awareness and usage of its loyalty programme, ‘Red by Dufry’. For example, customers in Uruguay had the opportunity to win a 100% electric car in support of Dufry’s long-standing commitment to sustainability. To participate, shoppers simply had to have downloaded the Red by Dufry app and made their purchases via the programme.

Driving sales recovery: (Left) Guayaquil Duty Free in Ecuador; (Right) Duty Free Uruguay at Carrasco/General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport departures

ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires Duty Free, Aeroparque Internacional Jorge Newbery

Now this is what you call a power promotion

ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires Duty Free, Ezeiza International Airport

CHILE: Santiago Duty Free, Arturo Merino Benítez Airport, Santiago de Chile

This powerful Ducati Multistrada 1200cc proved a show-stopping promotion at Chile’s main gateway

COLOMBIA: Bogotá Duty Free, El Dorado International Airport

Pure riding pleasure: The Ducati Monster delivered the wow factor in Bogotá

ECUADOR: Guayaquil Duty Free

This SUV from local dealers Toyocosta was won by a lucky shopper at Guayaquil Duty Free

URUGUAY: Duty Free Uruguay, Carrasco/General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport

A different kind of membership drive: Customers in Uruguay could win this 100% electric car in support of Dufry’s long-standing commitment to sustainability if they had downloaded the Red by Dufry app and made their purchases via the programme

On the record with Enrique Urioste

Martin Moodie: Enrique, sum up for me please the state of the travel retail recovery in South America. Does it vary significantly by market? 

Enrique Urioste: What we are seeing in South America is a passenger willing and wanting to spend more. A passenger that is open to new experiences and who is demanding a deeper interaction and unique experience.

Tell us about the impact of the various promotions in terms of driving penetration and spend per pax.

Once you generate the ‘wow’ in the passenger, you have the chance to transform him/her into a great customer. Today’s passengers have a great approach; they want to be surprised and start the journey with experiences that exceed expectations.  If you are capable of creating this feeling, you will immediately see an increase in our two key indicators.

How did the winners react? I doubt there has been anything like this in South American duty free before.

Surprised, very much surprised! These surprising executions, backed by our aspirational prices, generate a very positive mood not only among the passengers but also within our staff, something that is key to succeed.

How did you promote the campaigns? Just in-store or more broadly?

No, on top of the in-store activations we used many different digital channels, as well as the airport’s network and digital platforms. The reaction was so fantastic that one airport deliberately created a video promoting the campaign and pushed it through its digital platforms. Influencers were also a key promotional tool.

Knowing you, I am sure you’re not going to stop there. Any hints on what is coming up next?

This is just the beginning. We will do more of this but also different ones, all of them focusing on surprising the passengers, before, during and after their trip. Expect many more surprising executions and plenty of fun.

I am interested in the Trinity comments you made earlier. They are very encouraging. Tell us more about the reaction of brands and your airport partners to such initiatives and to collaboration in general post-pandemic.

I think the travel retail and airport industry and every business that operates in this channel have learned the importance of close collaboration and all players are acting with a much stronger sense of partnership. We see airports collaborating in everything they can to allow retail operators to sell more with crossed benefits for all. The same is true for brands adapting and investing when they see the opportunity to grow.

Moreover, in negotiations with airports, the concept of ‘MAG per pax’ is now an acceptable alternative for discussion and not a prohibited topic as it was some years ago. I see all three parties aligned in pushing hard to increase sales.

Changing tack entirely, I’m sure many of our readers will have one burning question – how the heck did you get a boat into an airport?

It was a real challenge. The first reaction was that it was impossible but being of Basque origin that word does not exist.

We dismantled the building glasses that face the runway, dismantled the engine and windshield of the boat, used two forklifts and finally got the 28-foot boat inside the store.


As a motorcycling aficionado, did you get to road test the bikes?

I was very tempted, but unfortunately not.

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