FRANCE. Paris Aéroport, Lagardère Travel Retail and JCDecaux inaugurated two dynamic and eye-catching new concepts at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport Terminal 2E, Hall K on Wednesday.
The Société de Distribution Aéroportuaire (SDA) joint venture between Groupe ADP/Paris Aéroport and Lagardère Travel Retail revealed a striking 600sq m Buy Paris Duty Free Beauty concept created especially for the Paris airport environment. The ‘New Age Beauty’ concept blends strong personalisation with what the company calls ‘Parisianisation’, with many brands having developed bespoke concepts or line extensions just for this environment.
In a related move, with JCDecaux Airport, Paris Aéroport has deployed ‘La Place Digitale’ (The Digital Square), a digital platform of nearly 80sq m comprising two vast LED screens, and centred in the shopping environment. JCDecaux said that it is the largest digital platform in a duty free zone at a European airport.
Groupe ADP Chairman & CEO Augustin de Romanet, Lagardère Travel Retail Chairman & CEO Dag Rasmussen and JCDecaux Co-CEO Jean-Charles Decaux led the inauguration, and were joined by many brand partners plus local and international media, including The Moodie Davitt Report.
De Romanet said the vision behind the new areas was to create something new for travellers and to offer a taste of Paris, with the highest possible standard of luxury. “We aim for the ultimate Parisian experience,” he said.
Groupe ADP Executive Director and Customer Director Laure Baume said: “We owe it to our passengers to offer them the best. The best possible shopping experience, the best welcome and the best products, so that in the end they have the best memories of the time spent in our terminals. Airport sales are a vital element in the Groupe ADP strategy. Sales business turnover (rent from airside and landside shops, bars and restaurants, banking and exchange, and car rental businesses as well as turnover linked to advertising) was up +2.2% in 2017, to €459 million.”
She added later: “The open beauty space is new for this airport, similar to a department store. It houses a beautiful ceiling, and space that is luxurious and works harmoniously. We have the four major brands in beauty: Guerlain, Dior, Lancôme and Chanel, alongside new brands from around the world.”
“Service is the cornerstone to this concept. This beauty space lets passengers enjoy the ultimate experience, thanks notably to exclusive digital entertainment and personalised ranges and services” – Lagardère Travel Retail Chairman & CEO Dag Rasmussen
The beauty concept will be rolled out across Paris airport terminals based around the pillars of ‘expertise, entertainment and service’. Lagardère Travel Retail and Groupe ADP said that the concept “is breaking the mould on design and codes traditionally encountered in airports”.
Crucially, the retailer said that the concept epitomises the idea of ‘Phy-gital’ in an airport setting – combining traditional shopping elements (personalised customer care, advice and expertise) with digitalisation.
“We have tried to build a superb experience with digital screens in a duty free area, the biggest in Europe right now, but also second to none in terms of quality and resolution” – JCDecaux Chairman & CEO Jean-Charles Decaux
The store is open and without walls on three sides, with shops-in-shops on one side for ‘hero’ French brands Guerlain, Dior, Lancôme and Chanel. A big highlight is the beautiful ceiling design, inspired by the historic Grand Palais site in downtown Paris. The store features good visibility throughout, with areas of engagement, theatre and many ‘stop points’ to catch the potential shopper’s eye.
Dag Rasmussen said: “The new Beauty concept in Hall K of Terminal E corresponds to a customer philosophy at the heart of all our work. Service is the cornerstone to this concept. This beauty space lets passengers enjoy the ultimate experience, thanks notably to exclusive digital entertainment and personalised ranges and services.”
Lagardère Travel Retail Executive Vice President Purchasing Sabine Fagan said: “The open space gave us the opportunity to enlarge the assortment. We have introduced new segments and concepts across the range, from make-up and skincare to fragrances.”
New brands include:
– Popular Korean brand Sulwhasoo, which is hugely popular among Asian consumers and with Chinese travellers in particular. The brand makes its airport debut in France here (it is available downtown through Galeries Lafayette) and will expand to a second space at T2E, Hall M in coming weeks;
– La Roche Posay and Avène (dermocosmetics) and Caudalie (natural cosmetics);
– Vichy, Furterer and Moroccanoil (hair care);
– Acqua Di Parma, Atelier Cologne, Margiela, Dyptique and Le Gemme Bvlgari (fragrances);
– House 99;
– Urban Decay and Bobby Brown (make-up).
In addition, services include an in-store barber shop and grooming station as well as make-up stations covering the entire range.
Rasmussen told The Moodie Davitt Report: “This store has the design, the Parisian architecture, the offer, the digital part, the service, and all of it combined makes up a wonderful concept. It is skewed towards French brands but is also an offer targeted towards Millennials, Asian and other emerging consumers.”
He hailed the input of the brand partners, many of which have delivered one-of-a-kind concepts or even exclusive ranges.
“They really understood what we wanted to do and that we wanted to create something unique. P&C is critical. We know that perfumes are challenged right now, and we see a rebalancing with make-up strongly on the rise, but we want to ensure all categories can continue to grow. We have invested in something unique, only in Paris.”
“The performance is already better than what we imagined when we created our global model for retail. Now we need to deliver the same performance when we recreate this concept in other terminals” – Groupe ADP Retail Director Mathieu Daubert
In fragrances, almost all leading brand partners introduced bespoke concepts or exclusives for this environment, either in their own dedicated showcases or in the retailer’s Fine & Rare mini-lounge in the heart of the store. Niche premium fragrance brands are given prominence in a new ‘Parfums d’Alcove’ area.
In a first for the brand at an airport, the Dior shop-in-shop houses a neat replica of the company’s main store on the Rue St. Honoré. “It’s a different way of presenting fragrance, with some exclusive products, candles and other nice gifting options,” said Fagan.
Guerlain’s store is a delight, with the brand having recreated elements of its downtown flagship store as well as a new exclusive line for the retailer, Paris par Guerlain, dressed in the French colours. This is mirrored by some highly impressive brand-related stories and design touches. Gifting is a key feature with engraving and gift wrapping options available. “The drive for personalisation is very much the direction we want to take,” said Fagan.
Lancôme has introduced its own impressive design and for the first time in Europe features a digital back wall in-store, where visuals will change several times a year. “It offers a lovely French touch, which we wanted in every shop-in-shop,” said Fagan. “Here you have a great sense of ‘la vie est belle’. It’s not standardised, it is customised. Differentiation was important to us.”
The company emphasised the importance of new services and engagement with the consumer.
Fagan said: “We have many new services such as the barber shop and shoe shine; there are flash make-up services plus we have concierge services and click & collect.
“Plus we feature content from brands on our staff iPads that they can share with travellers. Story-telling is a part of the future. This is a challenge for us now, to encourage more brands to provide content that resonates with the consumers. We will be working with the brands to do more of this, to tell stories about their novelties and to give more insight to passengers. Content offers a more natural way to interact with them.”
On the mix, Fagan said: “The assortment in beauty is more balanced between French and international brands here, compared to the strongly French-led range in Hall A-C or in Hall L (T2) for example. The shop-in-shops are all French with brands that have a high market share, because our shoppers make French brands their priority. But we have room for other major brands too, from MAC in its own unit to Sulwhasoo. It’s a good blend. The trends today are really international. Although make-up is driven here by YSL, Chanel and others, there are more and more strong international players. We need to reflect that.”
The newness in the store aims to target a new generation of shoppers as well as having a focus on Asian business. “The choices we made were taken in view of the premium, Asian customers we have here, meaning we emphasised designer brands from YSL to Armani Cosmetics. Make-up is moving very fast and in upcoming concepts we will showcase more of these designer brands.”
“A digital oasis”
Just before travellers enter the new beauty arena they encounter JCDecaux Airport’s Digital Square, whose screens are integrated into the architecture of the shopping area. The digital platform acts as a driver into the store and a prompt to purchase. The screens offer superb visibility for brands to an audience of potential shoppers with an average dwell time of over two hours, according to the airport company.
Terminal 2E handles 22 million passengers a year, of whom 60% are international passengers and 33% are business travellers.
Jean-Charles Decaux said: “La Place Digitale allows us to make a decisive leap forward with our digital strategy within Paris Airport. The platform’s unique format redefines communication in the airport and gives brands the opportunity to showcase campaigns that are as spectacular as they are memorable. With La Place Digitale, JCDecaux Airport Paris is delivering on its mission: making Paris Aéroport one of the most digital and successful airports in the world.”
The digital screens in the Digital Plaza are highly flexible, offering communications opportunities for brand partners that can be tailored by period of time, by flight or passenger type.
Speaking to The Moodie Davitt Report, Decaux said: “We have tried to build a superb experience with digital screens in a duty free area, the biggest in Europe right now, but also second to none in terms of quality and resolution.
“The second point is that we want to have fewer brands on those screens. Rather than multiply the numbers on display, we want to offer the chance to key partners to promote their action and brands. That’s why you see LVMH, L’Occitane and L’Oréal Group as the first three clients. We want a seamless experience, not a bombardment of messages. That is important in this environment. It should be dynamic and impactful.”
He added: “What’s important is that you can give to the brands and passengers a Sense of Place. You have key brands before you enter duty free and that is different. There is a flight to scarcity and quality, and that is important to brands worldwide.
“We will have other initiatives in 2018 in our environments. We started four years ago with LED screens at Terminal 2E here in Paris. We want to develop this around the world, offering a qualitative environment, whether before check-in or airside. Our aim is to give the passengers the chance to have a visual experience that will impact their ultimate choice of product buying.”
On the digitalisation of the store and concourse, Rasmussen said: “We have worked recently on developing some common offers to grow the pie in partnership with JCDecaux.”
Chief Business Officer Ambroise Fondeur said: “The digital display of JCDecaux offers a huge opportunity for the brand but also the retailer. It works very well here.”
On the principles behind the new environment at Hall K, Fondeur added: “To perform in retail you need to customise. The old days of deploying the same things everywhere are over. This is the future of travel retail: customising each environment whether in terms of design, brands and even assortment. You will see that as we remodel other terminal in Paris in the coming years.”
Crucially, the retailer said that the concept epitomises the idea of ‘Phy-gital’ in an airport setting – combining traditional shopping elements (personalised customer care, advice and expertise) with digitalisation.
Groupe ADP Retail Director Mathieu Daubert told The Moodie Davitt Report: “With Buy Paris Duty Free Beauty we aimed for a premium, high-end concept. It has been almost a four-year project. We agreed to put beauty directly into the terminal, creating a Parisian department store without walls. The challenge is to keep the same average basket size as before but with more customers.
“We want to create an experience, engage with the travellers, create an interaction that you cannot do so well with a closed shop. We didn’t want a walk through. That format has advantages but when you make it very complicated it’s not so good for passengers in a hurry.
“The performance is already better than what we imagined when we created our global model for retail. Now we need to deliver the same performance when we recreate this concept in other terminals.”
On Groupe ADP’s stated aim of hitting €23 in retail spend per passenger by 2020 (from €18.20 in 2017), Rasmussen said that the challenge of reaching that target could be met.
“Of course Lagardère Travel Retail can only control some of that increase as it covers multiple categories, but we think it’s feasible. If you take the projected sales growth, half will come from new sales areas in CDG and Orly (around 40,000sq m in the next three years -Ed), and we need to make new offers, new brands, new merchandising with Big Data making an interesting contribution to our thinking on for example our liquor areas. We’ll be testing more with that soon. Big Data gives us a lot that we could not find out ourselves.”
Rasmussen concluded: “We want to always improve and put simply, we want to have stores that are not boring. We want to surprise even frequent travellers and that means not replicating from one place to the next. What the consumer sees should be innovative and different, offering new experiences each time. This store testifies to that.”
