SOUTH KOREA. Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) confirmed today that there were no valid bids for its retendered duty free concessions in Terminal 1, writes The Moodie Davitt Report Senior Retail and Commercial Analyst Min Yong Jung*. Rules governing public tenders mean that at least two bidders are required for each concession, which did not happen.
This is despite IIAC having pushed back the tender registration from 7-14 September to 14-21 September and providing more relief measures for existing duty free concession operators, as reported.
The Moodie Davitt Report reliably understands that Lotte Duty Free and Shinsegae Duty Free participated but in each case the bid process failed in the absence of a second bidder.
Both The Shilla Duty Free and Hyundai Duty Free decided against participating. The Shilla Duty Free said that “the prolonged impact from COVID-19 has created an extended period of uncertainty. We therefore decided against bidding for concessions in the latest tender and will focus on stable management with emphasis on existing businesses over external expansion.”
With both Shilla and Hyundai dropping out of the race, and only one or no bids for all concessions, it was impossible for IIAC to fulfil the Government Procurement Law that requires at least two bidders for each concession, as noted above.
IIAC confirmed that it would proceed with a retender, but before that would review the situation following this second round of failed bids. The original tenders were called in January.
*Note: Korean national Min Yong Jung, formerly based in London and now in Seoul, is Senior Retail and Commercial Analyst at The Moodie Davitt Report. His appointment in June 2019 was the first of its kind in travel retail media. It marked the creation of the Moodie Davitt Business Intelligence Unit, a new division designed to provide a previously unseen level of research and analysis for the travel retail channel.
Do you have research needs related to the Korean and Asia Pacific travel retail and luxury markets? Min Yong Jung can be contacted at minyong@moodiedavittreport.com
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