‘Hungarian is trendy’: Sales of Hungarian products grew by 300% at Budapest Airport last year, thanks to ‘trinity’ promotions with Heinemann Duty Free, and local and international brands, with the Zwack Unicum promotion achieving a near 350% sales increase in sales of the Hungarian liqueur.
Amid ever increasing industry competition, Europe’s airports are using their regional individuality to stand out, and one of the best opportunities to do so is in the retail environment. Operators are going to great lengths to create a feeling of their cities within airport walls through elements of native architecture and culture, and the popularity of locally sourced produce is soaring.
At Budapest Airport sales of Hungarian goods rose by a phenomenal 300% in 2013, and enticing ‘trinity’ promotions with retailer Heinemann Duty Free and homegrown brands are increasingly attracting consumers to Budapest’s offering of indigenous fine food and drink. Goose liver, Pick salami, Szamos chocolates, Zwack Unicum liqueur and Pálinka Hungarian brandy have all become firm favourites among travelling consumers. “Hungarian wines are being recognised more than ever before for their richness in quality, and Herendi porcelain makes a valuable and unique gift,” added Kam Jandu, BUD’s Chief Commercial Officer. “If you’re a foreigner you are always looking to take home that ‘local flavour’ to your family and friends, rather than globalised brands that you can buy in every country.” Hungarians, meanwhile, are proud of their local produce, and buy Pálinka or foie gras airside to take as gifts when travelling abroad.
“It’s nothing new that the first impression is vital in shaping the opinion of a city on arrival,” Jandu said. “The airport is the first, and last, impression a traveller experiences, and that should be a heart-warming experience.”
‘Danish Architecture And Nordic Ambience’
Created in partnership with Heinemann Duty Free, Copenhagen’s Regional Area highlights Danish products, specialties and delicatessen items. Standing over five metres tall, a stylised version of the Little Mermaid dominates the tax free shop.
At Copenhagen Airport, localisation is at the forefront of its retail strategy. Since 2010 it has worked to develop its shopping experience and create a sense of place, by providing a mix of “local hero” brands and a typically Danish atmosphere for an inherently ‘Denmark’ experience. “Travellers truly appreciate the unique Danish architecture and the Nordic ambience that has become a Copenhagen airport trademark,” Carsten Nørland, VP Sales and Marketing, said. “They want to have a sense of where they are, and we feel that we meet this with our Danish interior design and variety of Nordic stores in the shopping area.”
Early last year Copenhagen Airport and Heinemann Duty Free unveiled the striking new Regional Area – an entire area in the main duty free store dedicated to Danish products, specialties and delicatessen items. Inspired by the famous Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen harbour, a five metre tall, stylised version made from ash wood presides over the store, filled with Danish produce. Danish heritage is an integral part of the store’s design, with a shop interior tailor-made for the airport and unique Danish aesthetics incorporated into the ceiling, seating and lighting.
Lego, Danzka vodka and Anthon Berg chocolate are among the brands CPH deems its ‘local heroes’. “They give the passengers coming to Copenhagen Airport the sense of Denmark and Scandinavia from the first minute they set foot on Danish ground. It is important to give the passengers the Danish feeling instantly to give them a unique experience,” Nørland said.
Innovative Dutch Design
Otto Ambagtsheer, Managing Director Business Area Consumer Products & Services, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol: “Besides the more regular offer in retail you find at many airports it is very important to differentiate, with concepts that are unique and that cannot be found at any other airport. The Dutch theme and the city of Amsterdam are unique, and we like to bring this forward and translate it into new commercial concepts.”
The recently renovated Lounge 1 retail area at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has been hailed as a visionary commercial concept, aiming to radically reinvent the categories of liquor, tobacco and confectionery. The product sub-sectors have been given their own room within the duty free space, each with its own music and design drastically different to the next, to “seduce customers and encourage curiosity,” Otto Ambagtsheer, Managing Director Business Area Consumer Products & Services, explained.
Innovative concepts are at the core of Schiphol’s retail strategy, and the forward-thinking airport has developed a distinctly Dutch sense of place for the many transfer passengers who spend a few hours in the commercial area. “We like to provide unique concepts within retail and food & beverage that represent typically Dutch culture and heritage in a modern way,” Ambagtsheer said. “Our flower shop in Lounge 3 is a great example, it is positioned in a central place and has a dedicated design to it. Secondly we provide on the Holland Boulevard many concepts which have a link to the Netherlands, such as the Rijksmuseum and its museum shop, an airport library where the book offer has a connection to Dutch culture, history, writers and Dutch design, and within food & beverage we have the Dutch Kitchen & Bar in which we offer typically Dutch food in an international setting.”
The Best Of British
English celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal will open his first airport restaurant in Heathrow’s Terminal 2. The Perfectionist’s Café will deliver a unique offering, which includes the first wood-fired pizza oven in an airport.
The Best of British is a theme resonant throughout the entire development of Heathrow’s new Terminal 2. The Queen’s Terminal will open in June and has been named in recognition of the 60-year relationship between Heathrow and Her Majesty the Queen – something that has been brought to life in every aspect of the airport experience. “You get a sense that when you’re in the terminal that you could be nowhere other than in the UK, and nowhere other than in London,” said John Holland-Kaye, Development Director at Heathrow Airport. Heathrow has captured the essence of the British High Street and feel of the London shopping mecca of Bond Street, in the creation of an offering that embodies iconic British retail. Terminal 2 will feature more British brands than any of the airport’s other terminals.
The new terminal also provides the opportunity for UK brands to showcase their products to a wide global reception. Already there is the hum of excitement around the introduction of definitively British department store John Lewis, which will reach an international audience for the first time from its only airport shop, while Fuller’s, which brews its beer just eight miles from Heathrow, will have its first pub in the airport, the London’s Pride. One of T2’s most iconic new sites will be in food & beverage, where English celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal will open his first airport restaurant. The Perfectionist’s Café will deliver a unique offering, which includes the first wood-fired pizza oven in an airport. The ambitious project demonstrates the emphasis the airport has placed on creating an extraordinary experience through commercial concepts in an industry environment where non-aeronautical revenues are key contributors to success.
