“Airports are a fantastic platform for growing our brands”

Francis Gros, Head of Global Channels, Luxottica

Francis Gros, Head of Global Channels, Luxottica: “At the heart of our goal lies a focus on the consumer and the notion of partnership; it’s crucial that we keep building a collaborative approach among all stakeholders and the call-to-action is simple. ‘Get REAL’: stay Relevant, focus on the Experiential, be Avant-garde, and provide Leadership.”

Francis Gros, Head of Global Channels, Luxottica, is speaking in this year’s ACI EUROPE Airport Commercial & Retail Conference & Exhibition, in the First Working Session, examining just how good airports are for brands. Ahead of the event, he shared his thoughts with Ross Falconer on how effective airports and travel retailing are for positioning and promoting brands in the sunglasses category.

The sunglasses category is among the most dynamic in travel retail, and 2015 was another year of growth. M1ndset Generation data shows that the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of the sunglasses category in travel retail from 2009 to 2014 was over 15%.

The pace of growth was softer in 2015, which is attributed to well-documented market challenges that the entire travel retail industry witnessed – particularly macro-economic factors surrounding Brazilian, Russian and Chinese travellers. Despite that dip, sunglasses has remained one of the most relevant and resilient categories in the channel and, consequently, Francis Gros, Head of Global Channels, Luxottica, is confident it is well positioned for more growth in 2016. “Sunglasses is a very accessible and universally relevant category, which means it can be a key contributor to sales growth at airports,” he comments. “At a time when over-premiumisation is a hot topic, and where the relevance of the travel retail offer to the majority of shoppers is being challenged, sunglasses can offer something for almost everyone, at affordable price points, with functional benefits and act as entry points into lifestyle, premium and luxury brands.”

Multi-formatting a key category differentiator

The First Working Session in this year’s ACI EUROPE Airport Commercial & Retail Conference & Exhibition poses the question “So just how good are airports for brands?” For Gros, the importance of airports for brand-building is two-fold. “Not only are airports a fantastic platform for growing our own proprietary brands, such as Oakley and Ray-Ban, and our license brands, but we’re also focused on building Sunglass Hut as a retail brand in its own right,” he explains.

Indeed, travel retail is productive with some of the best-performing Sunglass Hut stores, from over 3,000 outlets worldwide, located in airports. In Helsinki, Gros will share insights from his experience in growing the Sunglass Hut brand in such a dynamic channel.

Sunglass Hut continued strong momentum in travel retail in 2015 with 25 new store openings. The brand now has a global airport footprint of over 155 standalone stores and kiosks worldwide. Last year, nine new airport stores opened in Spain, including Madrid, Barcelona, Ibiza, Tenerife and Gran Canaria, increasing its airport presence on the Iberian peninsula to 20 stores. “This year we have already opened our first door in Dubai International Airport, in partnership with Dubai Duty Free at the fantastic new Concourse D facility, and two stores at Copenhagen Airport,” Gros adds.

Luxottica adopts a flexible business model, allowing a tailored approach location-by-location, depending on the contractual legacy and the relationship between Luxottica, the main duty free retailer and the airport authority. A great example of this collaborative approach is the Sunglass Hut stores operated by Dufry (and previously World Duty Free), as well as Lagardère Travel Retail in Italy.

Meanwhile, multi-formatting is one of the sunglasses category’s key differentiators, and an important factor in its growth. “Delivering the sunglasses category in different formats and tailoring it to all sorts of spaces along the passenger journey, there are countless opportunities at every location for us to grow our presence and drive revenues without cannibalising sales between the formats,” Gros explains.

Sunglasses are already developing into a core part of the fashion & accessories category, which itself is a core category. So they could be described as a “core of a core”. Gros asserts that by giving the category the space and care that it deserves, “we can really accelerate the pace of growth and contribute to any growth plan of our partners, no matter how ambitious that can be. We have huge ambitions, too!”

“Our strategy to achieve this objective is continued advocacy of the multi-formatting approach and dedicated regional action plans, supported by continued investments in training, promotions and permanent in-store environments,” he concludes.


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