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INTERNATIONAL. Irish travel retailer Aer Rianta International (ARI) has entered into a pioneering partnership with UK firm The Design Solution to develop a commercial revenue offer for Virgin Galactic, the privately funded space company owned by Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments PJS.
Virgin Galactic is the world’s first commercial spaceline and plans to commence flights in 2018. The pioneering space travel company’s second SpaceShipTwo – named Virgin Spaceship (VSS) Unity by Sir Stephen Hawking – was launched in Mojave CA on 19 February.
To help fund the development Virgin Galactic has been evaluating onboard retail and advertising opportunities on the ground, in the sky and at the International Space Station. The inflight (pre-order) and Space Station offers will enjoy duty free and tax free status under the French concept of ‘Espace Voyageur’.
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“Knowledge of retail space has long been our core expertise. Now we are moving into space retail.“ |
Jack MacGowan CEO Aer Rianta International |
ARI has entered into a long-term concession (the contract tenure has not been disclosed) to run a ‘ground shop’ at Mojave CA, the VSS launch site, and, excitingly, the world’s first global spaceline offer. The latter, dubbed the VSS Space Store, will be attached to the International Space Station.
The new retail proposition is part of a multi-faceted commercial response to a funding crisis faced by the ageing International Space Station, with retail, food & beverage and (via a soon to be tendered concession) advertising revenues deemed vital to financing the expensive infrastructure development.
ARI CEO Jack MacGowan said: “Knowledge of retail space has long been our core expertise. Now we are moving into space retail. Contesting and ultimately winning the perfume & cosmetics tender at Abu Dhabi International Airport’s state-of-the-art Midfield Terminal forced us to set our sights higher and higher so this is a logical consequence. Thanks to this opportunity we are hugely excited to be the first travel retailer to translate duty free into gravity free.”
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Space, the final front ear: The Design Solution’s Nick Taylor is driving the design of the new enterprise |
Two categories are being developed; the first for visitors and tourists to the launch site, which will feature a range of tax paid destination merchandise; and the second, unique to paying astronauts – and eventually commercial passengers – will include a small selection of pre-order ultra-premium tax and duty free items. While the latter’s turnover is likely to be small, the high-visibility shop window status of the International Space Station retail offer is attracting intense interest from the world’s most prestigious brands.
ARI has commissioned London-based The Design Solution to design the stores; initially for the visitor shop with a second stage for the International Space Station (with pick-up upon landing back on earth).
The Moodie Report has been given exclusive access to the well-advanced retail plans. The Design Solution has created a special ground-based walk-through store at the start of the passenger journey to educate shoppers about space and to aid the acclimatisation process for those about to enter the space capsule. Director Nick Taylor said that work has also begun on the International Space Station boutique.
“We wanted to better understand the challenges that we may encounter when designing the space-based shop so that we could incorporate the spirit of this design into two ground-based stores to ensure that the three outlets live as a unique family of designs,” he told The Moodie Report.
“We wanted to give the impression that the gondolas ‘defy gravity’ in the landshops. This will not be a problem in space, where they will, of course, authentically defy gravity. We also had to work through the challenges of ensuring that, for instance, fragrance bottles remained ‘grounded’ on the space-based gondolas. Finally, and crucially, we wanted to give each of the three stores a true ‘Sense of Space’.”
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The final frontier: ARI and The Design Solution win the space race with stunning designs that will feature in the intergalactic venture |
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Brand interest high
The Moodie Report understands that several leading brands are set to join the retail space race. They include Chanel and Versace with contrasting limited-edition commemorative personalised space suits; and Louis Vuitton with a trademark ‘LV’ capsule ruck sack to address carry-on luggage constraints. Eyewear giant RayBan is working with ARI and Virgin Galactic to develop a range of branded space helmets featuring unique designed technology in the visors.
Diageo will offer a travel retail exclusive Johnnie ’Space’ Walker as the latest addition to its popular Explorers’ Club Collection. Not surprisingly, confectionery house Mars has seized the opportunity to develop a range of intergalactic snacking solutions, which it believes will be a major purchase motivator to this new shopper demographic.
ARI will reveal the new retail offer exclusively next week at a press conference in Cape Canaveral to coincide with the IAADFS Duty Free Show of the Americas in Orlando.
Higher and higher: Fragrance merchandising will never be the same again |
