Finally, the new Nicholas Culpeper pub and diner at London Gatwick’s North Terminal also caught the attention of the judges. This light, airy restaurant, cocktail bar and bottle shop features its own in-house gin distillery – a world first for an airport,
AIRPORT RETAILER OF THE YEAR (MULTIPLE LOCATION)
German travel retailer Gebr Heinemann once again caught the eye of the judges with its passionate promotion of regional wines at major hub airports such as Frankfurt and Sydney, as well as the recent opening of the world’s largest airport arrivals store at Oslo airport, which champions Norwegian craft beers, high-end cognac and more than 200 different wines.
World Duty Free (Dufry) is our second contender for this award. It won favour for its annual malt whisky festival at UK airport shops, as well as plaudits for new stores at Edinburgh, Manchester and Helsinki airports.
AIRPORT RETAILER OF THE YEAR (SINGLE LOCATION)
Currency devaluations and a drop in high-spending Russian travellers have proved challenging for Dubai Duty Free, one of our short-listed entries in this category. Yet the world’s single largest one-location duty free retailer, whose liquor sales totalled more than $297m last year, has come out fighting, staging price-driven promotions and raising the average price per bottle of liquor sold.
Meanwhile, Schiphol Airport Retail, our second shortlisted entry for this award, secured a major coup earlier this year by becoming the only European airport operator to open a Johnnie Walker House.
The stunning two-story outlet features an upper-floor sampling bar, multisensory exhibits and a wide range of travel exclusives.
FERRY/CRUISE LINE DRINKS RETAILER OF THE YEAR
Shortlisted entries for this award included an impressive effort from Guernsey-based Condor Ferries, which majors on its ability to offer passengers proper duty free savings, and the much larger P&O Ferries, which operates services between the UK and France, Belgium, Holland and Ireland. P&O Ferries has innovated within its beer, wine and spirits business with pop-up stores, beer festivals, sports-themed bar promotions, targeted marketing campaigns and staff training.
IN-FLIGHT DRINKS RETAILER OF THE YEAR
The space-constricted world of inflight retailing is a hard environment in which to shine, but our two shortlisted companies have done just that. Korean Air offers passengers a wide range of ways to shop, including online pre-order, and has even opened in-flight shops on some of its new A380 aircraft.
Virgin Atlantic has also excelled, offering passengers exclusive spirits onboard and opening upscale pop-up cocktail bars at its Heathrow Clubhouse in partnership with leading cocktail bars.
MARKETING CONCEPT BY A TRAVEL RETAIL OPERATOR
This award attracted some excellent entries, such as P&O Ferries’ clever Wedding Campaign, which targeted savvy shoppers travelling to France to stock up on wine and champagne for their wedding receptions back home.
Aer Rianta also submitted an impressive entry, detailing its efforts to promote Baileys at Dublin airport by offering passengers personalised bottles. The activation led to a 43% jump in average spend per passenger on Baileys.
