ASIA PACIFIC. Luxottica Global Channels has partnered with DFS Group to open personalised Ray-Ban shop-in-shops at two downtown T Galleria by DFS locations, at Guam Tumon Bay and Macau City of Dreams.
In Guam, the new 29sq m space is adjacent to the general sunglasses area and features more than 300 pairs of sunglasses; this now constitutes the largest Ray-Ban assortment in the DFS network. The space marks an expansion of the sunglasses offer to an area previously devoted to accessories.
At Macau’s City of Dreams, a 33sq m shop-in shop was installed as part of a major renovation to the entire complex. Situated at the front of the main sunglasses area, the shop-in-shop provides an anchor point for the category through top-selling eyewear brand Ray-Ban. The area is segmented between best-sellers, new collections, special projects such as limited editions, polarized lenses and Ray-Ban Kids.
DFS Group opened its first Ray-Ban shop-in-shop at Hong Kong International Airport in April 2016.
Luxottica Head of Global Channels Francis Gros said: “The downtown duty free channel provides fantastic opportunities to diversify the sunglasses offer and maximise the expression of creativity of the major brands in the category. The combination of the powerful Ray-Ban brand equity with striking retail design, set within DFS’ first class downtown locations, make these two new openings among the most dynamic and compelling Ray-Ban experiences in travel retail.”
He added: “This kind of partnership between retailer and brand owner is crucial for the future of our category as we strive to make travel retail the expert channel for sunglasses, in line with Vision 2020*.”
DFS Group Director Merchandising Accessible Fashion, Watches, Jewelry and Sunglasses Jason Blejwas said: “It’s been a pleasure to work with Luxottica to once again enhance the sunglasses shopping experience at our T Galleria by DFS stores. In both Guam and Macau, the Ray-Ban shop-in-shops complement the adjacent multi-brand sunglasses areas. The incremental space reflects both our conviction in the category and willingness to embrace the very latest concepts to drive significant growth.”
*Launched in October 2016, Vision 2020 is a collaboration between sunglasses suppliers (De Rigo, Essilor, Kering Eyewear, Luxottica, Marchon, Marcolin and Maui Jim) to formulate and agree on key objectives for their category over the upcoming five years. These include:
- For the sunglasses category to account for 4% of overall travel retail sales in 2020, up from 2.7% in 2015 (according to Generation Research);
- To drive a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in sales of +15% between 2016-2020
- To be the ‘Expert Channel of Choice’ for sunglasses consumers; and
- To act as a pilot category for innovation in travel retail, particularly for omni-channel initiatives.
