CHINA. International travel retail giant Dufry has expressed delight at Sunday’s opening of its first offshore duty free store in Hainan – a partnership with Hainan Development Holdings (HDH) at the Mova Mall in the heart of the provincial capital, Haikou.
HDH, the licence holder for the store – branded Global Duty Free Plaza (GDF Plaza) – is a fully state-owned company of the Hainan Provincial Government.
The two companies announced last month that they had signed a strategic cooperation agreement to develop opportunities in Hainan’s booming travel retail market. In addition to the supply of global brands, Dufry will share its global experience with HDH.
Dufry Group CEO Julián Díaz commented: “We are proud to see the first shop of our collaboration with Hainan Development Holdings now welcoming customers, who enjoy shopping in this attractive environment offering unique experiences.
“The combination of Hainan Development Holding’s in-depth understanding of the local market with Dufry’s global duty free expertise, customer behaviour insights and access to all the renowned global brands creates a unique combination of skills contributing to the successful development of this promising business.
“We are looking forward to continue our collaboration with HDH and identify further duty free opportunities in the fast-growing Hainan market.”
The store, which will be opened in three phases, has opened at a prime time during the run-up to the key Chinese New Year period, which begins on 12 February.
GDF Plaza offers customers an attractive selection of internationally renowned brands and local premium labels covering all core categories such as perfume & cosmetics, food and confectionery, wine & spirits and sunglasses. Customers can also pre-order via the online reserve and collect service.
After the successful first-phase inauguration, further openings are planned in Q3 2021 and in Q1 2022. The full complex will span over two buildings, Aquarius and Capricorn, of the Mova Mall and offer visitors what Dufry called “an extraordinary shopping experience” across 38,920sq m of retail space once fully completed.
For the second and third phases, an additional range of top luxury and lifestyle brands, extending the ultimate product offer to over 350 brands.
Mova Mall is a major tourism and shopping destination in Haikou’s city centre, featuring a wide leisure offer of shopping, dining and entertainment facilities, plus over 2,500 luxury hotel rooms within walking distance. The Mova Mall complex welcomed 22 million visitors in 2019.
Under the enhanced offshore duty free policy introduced in July 2020, Mainland visitors can buy duty free items up to an annual value of CNY100,000 (currently US$15,480) per year.
The opening of GDF Plaza represents Dufry’s first involvement in a Mainland China duty free operation, and a key foothold in travel retail’s hottest growth market. Dufry said that the HDH partnership is in line with a wider growth strategy in Asia and builds on the company’s existing and long-standing footprint in China. Dufry has operated travel retail businesses in China since 2008 and manages duty paid shops at Shanghai Hongqiao International and Chengdu Shuangliu International airports. Dufry’s presence in China also extends to Hong Kong and Macau.
Hainan Island: Travel retail’s global hotspot The Moodie Davitt Report will publish a Hainan Island Special Report with the China edition of The Magazine in February 2021. Written by Martin Moodie and Dermot Davitt, it will explore how the offshore duty free business in China has become critical to the world’s leading brands across many categories. 海南：旅游零售业的全球焦点 穆迪戴维特报告（Moodie Davitt Report）将于2021年2月随The Magazine的中文版发表《海南特别报道》。该篇由马丁·穆迪（Martin Moodie）和德莫特·戴维特（Dermot Davitt）撰写，将探讨中国的离岸免税业务是如何变得对跨类别的各大全球领先品牌至关重要。 报告将覆盖以下内容：
The report will feature:
Contact Irene@MoodieDavittReport.com to partner with The Moodie Davitt Report for this special edition. |
