ARI chief executive Jack MacGowan says the selection at The Loop will be wider than previous operators.
ARI chief executive Jack MacGowan says the selection at The Loop will be wider than previous operators.
A new duty-free operator at Auckland International Airport is promising a little less of the hard sell that annoyed travellers.
Former operators copped flak for staff being too pushy. Airport company shareholders complained at the last annual meeting that drink samples were being pushed at passengers and that was a bad look. Auckland Airport executives agreed to ask them to tone it down.
The new operators have been in place since last weekend after winning a seven-year licence, replacing DFS and JR Duty Free.
New operator Air Rianta International (ARI) which is trading under the name The Loop Duty Free, has rehired many of the staff from the old operators but says there will be a more subtle approach.
ARI chief executive Jack MacGowan said the Dublin-based business was not going to radically change the concept of airport retail but "we're going to do a few small things differently".
About 220 full-time-equivalent positions had been established, with many staff coming from DFS and JR.
"It won't happen overnight but we will strive to make sure our first interaction with customers is a question," he said.
There was a difference between sales-focused and customer-focused, he said. Although having a competing operator (fellow newcomer LS Travel Retail Pacific, a division of Paris-based Lagardere Services) just metres away heightened competition, nobody wanted to look desperate.
"Are we going to be shouting at people and throwing chocolates at them? No. I think that's a really bad way of introducing yourself."
MacGowan said his firm would carry a wider range of products than operators had before.
"Our global research tells us it's not a big risk for us to take. It's worked elsewhere so there's no reason why it can't work here." Price was important as Kiwi travellers in particular were bargain-hunters.
The Loop has a scaled down version of a Candy Cloud outlet that is aimed at enticing children and families who may not otherwise go into a duty-free outlet.
"That's a bit more risky but we know that some customers want that. With the right staff and the right staff training we know it can work."
ARI chief executive Jack MacGowan.
MacGowan said data provided by the airport company before the bidding process was "best in class" from around the world. "We have bid for 10 different airports in 10 different countries over the past 12 months so it's good to know that."
His company no longer factored tobacco sales revenue into its business plan, working on the assumption cigarette sales could be banned as early as in five years.
LS Travel Retail Pacific runs the Aelia Duty Free store, which it says is tailored specifically for Auckland Airport.
As a result of the duty-free tender, and other changes in specialty stores, earnings before interest, tax and depreciation in the airport's 2016 financial year were expected to increase by an extra $5 million a year.
New operators at Auckland Airport •Air Rianta International (The Loop Duty Free) is a pioneer, opening the world's first duty-free liquor shop in Ireland's Shannon Airport in 1947. Now in 11 countries and about 20 airports with concentration in the Middle East. •LS Travel Retail Pacific, a division of Lagardere Services, (Aelia Duty Free) operates in more than 30 countries throughout Europe, North America, Asia and the Pacific, with more than 4100 stores across the world. It has a presence at over 150 airports.
