CHINA. The expanded and much-enhanced Zhuhai Duty Free Gongbei Port arrivals duty free store was unveiled yesterday (24 May) at a Grand Opening ceremony. Below we present an extensive Picture Gallery with more photos to follow soon.
The arrivals store, designed to leverage Zhuhai Duty Free’s high-quality operational strength and sound market reputation, features a wide array of high-end international and domestic fragrance, tobacco, liquor and fashion brands.
Its opening will generate a new vitality for tourism consumption in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the travel retailer said.
The store, located in a prime position in the port, covers 3,889sq m over two floors, making it Asia Pacific’s largest single duty free shop at a land port, Zhuhai Duty Free noted.
Six product categories are on offer, including perfume & cosmetics, tobacco, liquor, fashion boutiques, food and consumer technology. The ground floor features a wide array of high-end international cosmetics and fragrances, and popular tobacco and spirits products.
The first floor offers an array of leading foreign wines, luxury and fashion watches, international brand-name sunglasses and a range of other quality and accessibly priced consumer goods.
The upgraded shop is one of Zhuhai Duty Free’s key commercial projects. It represents a seizing of the opportunity to fully integrate the project into the strategic development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the company said.
It also represents an important step in deepening the zone’s reform and opening-up and promoting the high-quality development of its enterprises, Zhuhai Duty Free said.
High-specification layout
The store creates a new ‘business card’ for tourism consumption in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Zhuhai Duty Free commented.
“The Gongbei Port arrivals duty free shop is not only our ‘place of origin’ and our ‘place of foothold’, it is also our ‘place of power’ for future high-quality development,” said Zhuhai Duty Free Group General Manager Chen Hui in a speech to guests.
“We are committed to building the Gongbei Port arrivals duty free store into the best tourism consumption destination in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and a model benchmark project that showcases the vitality of commerce in the Greater Bay Area.”
The store is positioned as an important ‘window’ and ‘testing ground’ for China’s opening up to the outside world, boosted by Gongbei Port’s status as China’s largest land port in terms of customs clearance flow.
Gongbei Port has been transformed from a small fishing village in the 1980s to China’s number one land border crossing and ranks as one of the country’s most dynamic travel retail markets, the company noted.
The port also serves as an important intersection for the flow of people, logistics, information and capital in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
In 2020, leveraging the opportunity provided by Gongbei Port’s upgrading, Zhuhai Duty Free Group decided to upgrade the structure, optimise the layout, and improve and innovate the business and operational models.
The newly unveiled store’s design features waves, shells and sailing boats as its themes. The category layout is optimised and upgraded from the original counter-type operation to an open-floor model, notable for a much more comprehensive product range, a stronger sense of customer interaction and better service functions.
Chen Hui said the arrivals store will be transformed from a “transit shop” to a “target shop” for tourism consumption. It will play a leading role in the upgrading and transformation of travel retailing at ports and help the duty free economy flourish.
Boosting consumption
A 2023 government work report emphasises that the recovery and expansion of consumption should be given national priority, Zhuhai Duty Free said.
In the first quarter of 2023, the retailer’s sales rose sharply year-on-year, including a +112% increase in February over the same month in 2022. The key fragrances & cosmetics category surged +246% year-on-year in the same month.
Since the store’s trial operation began on 16 May, sales have increased by about +20% year-on-year and the average transaction value has increased by around +10%. Fragrances and boutique sales have increased by nearly threefold.
Set against this background of ‘expanding domestic demand and promoting consumption’, the upgraded shop offers a powerful platform for the revival of duty free purchasing in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the return of high-end consumption from overseas, the company commented.
High-quality expansion
Zhuhai Duty Free is working with brands to further upgrade the consumer experience by offering a series of shopping incentives from 24 May until 6 June. These include shopping coupons, a variety of discounts and lucky draws.
Such promotions will allow visitors to enjoy shopping mixed with pleasant surprises, helping to attract greater traffic, Zhuhai Duty Free said.
“The biggest difference between the upgraded duty free shop and the previous one is the increase in beauty products – there is a wide range of brands and categories,” noted one customer, a Ms Chen, who had just bought a La Mer set, adding that the prices compared very favourably with Macau.
Zhuhai Duty Free said that in recent years, the Chinese beauty products sector has developed into one of the most world’s most dynamic and promising high-end beauty markets.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), retail sales of cosmetics reached RMB393.6 billion (US$55.7 billion) in 2022. The NBS revealed that nationwide cosmetics sales in April rose +24.3% year-on-year to RMB27.6 billion (US$3.9 billion), with the consumption trend continuing to improve since.
In order to promote duty free shopping in line with international standards and keep up with new consumption trends, the new store offers a much-enhanced array of fragrances and cosmetics.
More than 100 high-end international lines account for about 70% of the ground floor space, including names such as Estée Lauder, La Mer, Tom Ford, Jo Malone, Lancôme, Giorgio Armani and Clé de Peau Beauté. More than 50% of the product line-up is made up of brands making their debut in a Chinese land port store.
“Gongbei Port is an important benchmark for the duty free economy in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and L’Oréal Group, with its many premium cosmetics brands, sees this as another milestone project… reflecting our close cooperation with Zhuhai Duty Free over many years,” said L’Oréal China Travel Retail General Manager Adele Zhang.
Zhuhai Duty Free noted this is the first time that the French beauty group has introduced high-end brands such as Kiehl’s and YSL to the land port.
“Zhuhai Duty Free hopes to use the refresh and upgrade of the Gongbei Port arrivals duty free store as an opportunity to bring together more suppliers and partners, build a healthy competition platform and jointly strengthen and expand the duty free consumer market,” Chen Hui said.
In recent years, Zhuhai Duty Free has continued to improve its supply chain, including more direct sourcing, and increasing procurement of the key fragrance and cosmetics category.
It has also innovated constantly in terms of its business concept; stepped up its internal training; improved its membership system; and created and nurtured an online platform. The retailer has also promoted the construction of smart shops and intelligent storage centres, with the ultimate goal of providing a better consumer experience.
Next, relying on Zhuhai Duty Free’s global membership system, the arrivals will create an ongoing series of pop-ups, launch exclusive surprise activities for members and further optimise the Customer Service Centre, VIP tasting room and ‘Zhuhai Duty Free Reservation GO’ online reservation and pick-up area to enhance shopping convenience for members.
Building on a proud heritage
As one of the most well-known and influential state-owned commercial brands in Zhuhai, Zhuhai Duty Free has made great contributions to the economic development of Zhuhai and Macao for more than 40 years, the company said.
During that period, it has become an intangible asset rooted in the hearts of several generations of Zhuhai people. The Gongbei Port duty free store has played a leading role in the development of China’s duty free industry and been part of the country’s opening up to the outside world and subsequent rapid development.
With its upgrade completed, the new store will become a new benchmark for the development of the travel retail industry in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau by creating the “newest, most comprehensive and best” brand portfolio of any land ports nationwide, Zhuhai Duty Free said.
In recent years, duty free shopping has become an important industry to repatriate overseas consumption and promote the expansion and upgrading of consumption, the company said.
A 2023 Zhuhai government work report mentions that the port and duty free economy should be expanded and a consumption belt around the port built to promote Zhuhai’s high-quality development. As the only city in China connected to Hong Kong and Macao by land bridge, Zhuhai enjoys important ports of entry such as Gongbei Port, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Zhuhai Highway Port, Hengqin Port, Qingmao Port, and Wanchai Port all with the innate advantage of developing the duty free shopping sector.
Zhuhai Duty Free’s port store cover more than 80% of the channels for Mainland tourists to enter and exit Macau, and 100% of those for entering and exiting Hong Kong via Zhuhai.
“For more than 40 years, Zhuhai Duty Free has been committed to providing quality duty free services to transit passengers,” commented Diageo Head of Global Travel, Greater China Angela Chen.
“Their focus on business and talent cultivation, efficiency and their deep understanding of consumer insights have left a deep impression on us.”
As reported, Gree Real Estate is set to purchase 100% of Zhuhai Duty Free Group as part of a major asset restructuring plan announced last December. If the reorganisation is successfully completed, Zhuhai Duty Free will continue to enhance market competitiveness and sustainable development capabilities by introducing a steady stream of capital flow to boost Zhuhai’s regional development. This will provide an important driving force in building a regional consumption centre in Zhuhai, the company said.
A Cinda Securities Co research report pointed out that Zhuhai Duty Free has deployed a number of duty free shops at the Zhuhai-Hong Kong and Zhuhai-Macao ports of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, each occupying prime entry and exit points.
With the revival of inbound and outbound travel, Zhuhai Duty Free said it expects to benefit significantly in terms of income and operational performance driven by operating such multiple high-quality traffic entrances. ✈
