THAILAND. The Trinity Forum 2017, the world’s most influential airport commercial revenues conference, commenced today with a powerhouse line-up of speakers from the worlds of travel retail operators and brands, aviation, e-commerce and technology.
A packed theatre of almost 400 delegates heard from the likes of Dufry CEO Julián Díaz and Alibaba Managing Director K Guru Gowrappan; China Duty Free Group President Charles Chen; Lagardère Travel Retail Chairman & CEO Dag Rasmussen; and L’Oréal Travel Retail Managing Director Vincent Boinay.
The Trinity Forum has become the litmus test of the progress, challenges, opportunities and shortfalls of the travel retail industry, said The Moodie Davitt Report Chairman Martin Moodie as he opened proceedings for the day ahead.
Addressing the 2017 Trinity theme, ‘How does airport retail remain relevant in a changing world’, Moodie asked: “Are the e-commerce giants the barbarians at the gate of travel retail or are they the beacons lighting the way ahead? Is travel retail an accident waiting to happen at the hands of the disruptors or does it have the vision, boldness and capability of positively disrupting, or reinventing itself? Over the next two days we’ll be asking the industry those questions; we’ll also be asking what I call the positive disruptors; and we’ll be asking, of course, one of the world’s leading e-commerce players, Alibaba.”
Host partners King Power International Company CEO Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha and Airports of Thailand Senior Executive Vice President (Corporate Strategy) Sasisubha Sukontasap welcomed delegates to Bangkok.
In a fine opening address, Srivaddhanaprabha said: “In the last three decades, King Power has served more than three hundred million travellers across our ten branches in Thailand’s major destinations. Such rapid expansion is a result of our travellers’ thirst for those richer experiences. And they are experiences that are a product of the chemistry that exists between the stakeholders represented in this very room.”
Srivaddhanaprabha said: “In an age where technology and online access has created opportunities and challenges in an increasingly competitive and dynamic environment, travel retail continues to offer something special and unique. An authentic retail experience few sectors can rival.”
Setting the scene for the event, ACI Director General Angela Gittens outlined some statistics from the latest ACI Annual World Traffic Report 2017. Global passenger traffic grew +6.5% in 2016. In the most recent figures, for the first seven months of 2017, growth was almost +7%. As much as 85% of the world resides in emerging markets, and China and India alone account for 35%. Air traffic movements are moving to the East, Gittens said.
China focus
In the first of this morning’s key speeches, CDFG President Charles Chen revealed some fascinating insights into Chinese travel habits, noting how channels such as cruise will play a larger part in Chinese travel patterns, and that independent travel rather than group tours will dominate in the future. As the Chinese duty free market heads in a new direction, Chen revealed CDFG is embarking on a number of projects to cater to changing dynamics, including plans to open six new arrivals stores in the country.
Chen concluded his speech stating: “It’s a new era for China. There are many opportunities for all of us. If you miss China you miss the future!”
Heavyweights: Alibaba and Dufry
In a highlight of the event, e-commerce heavyweight Alibaba and travel retail giant Dufry were brought together to discuss digital and physical retail, the Chinese consumer and ‘new generation’ shopping. K Guru Gowrappan Global Managing Director of Alibaba Group shared insight into the Chinese and Asian emerging market consumer (we’ll bring you coverage of his address soon as it was embargoed yesterday due to the group’s results being reported last night).
Dufry CEO Julián Díaz said technology is facilitating travel retail to succeed in engaging with the customer. Digital advancements will improve two major concerns for travel retail: the penetration rate and average ticket, which will in turn improve spend per passenger (again, more from this pivotal session to follow).
Thought-leadership
After the coffee break, the second thought leadership session brought Lagardère Travel Retail Chairman & CEO Dag Rasmussen and L’Oreal Travel Retail Managing Director Vincent Boinay together on stage.
Both leaders stressed the importance of the experiential element in travel retail, without which consumers will turn to e-commerce. The speakers discussed how creating value for all parties is one challenge that needs to be addressed. Profit and risk sharing will be an important factor, said Rasmussen, adding “the days of minimum annual guarantees are over…and this model must change”.
Stephan Clarke, CEO of WH Smith, which has accelerated its international expansion including travel retail, discussed convenience retail and how it can complement other stakeholders in the airport environment by meeting the consumer needs of speed and convenience.
Digital disruption
First up after lunch, Thibault Villet, Co-Founder & Chairman of Mei.com/Glamour Sales provided an interesting insight into the knowledge he has gained from building a luxury sales e-commerce platform in China. Shopping channels as eco-systems, customer centricity, mobile commerce and the power of data and technology were his key takeaways.
The next session gathered key stakeholders in the travel retail journey to discuss how to drive and combat disruption – positive or negative – in airport commerce.
Moderated by Adil Raihani, co-founder & Partner at the BluePrint Partnership, the session brought together: AOE CEO Kian Gould; Nicole Foo, General Manager, Online Retail, Airside Concessions Division, Changi Airport Group; Jens Paul, Vice President E-Commerce, Fraport; and Richard Barker, General Manager Retail and Commercial, Auckland Airport.
Gould, whose company AOE has already established an omni-channel platform at Frankfurt Airport, said the only logical solution for travel retail to evolve is for the airport to become a marketplace, a true digital ecosystem, and partner with all service providers to create a holistic solution. This success, however, is dependent on the fundamentals of a great product selection, great product data and great services.
Corporate social responsibility
Sustainability and corporate social responsibility are important subject matters that should not be sidelined. Estée Lauder’s Olivier Bottrie spoke about the Hand in Hand for Haiti charity, which has been supported by many generous donations from the travel retail community.
The final panel of the day featured representatives from airports from around the world. ACI World Director of Economics Stefano Baronci led the discussion with: Sharon McCloskey, Vice President Marketing, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport; Khair Mirza, Associate, Modalis; John Pearce, Head of Retail & Commercial – Terminal, Adelaide Airport; and Yunjeong (Ashley) Jang, Manager – Concessions Division, Incheon International Airport Corporation.
