Diageo GTME (Global Travel and Middle East) said that the strategy for the revamp was to redesign key categories in the 12,000 sq ft store to reflect the changing passenger mix.
LAX is the seventh largest airport in the world and the airport operator sees the airport as the gateway for and to Asia. The Tom Bradley terminal (TBIT) has seen a sustained change in its passenger mix, with more new international flights bringing a significant influx of North Asian passengers plus strong growth from Australia and New Zealand, as LAX is the principal gateway to and from the Asia Pacific region.
John Hoover, global vice president- merchandise manager spirits, wine and Tobacco at DFS said: “The changing passenger mix is a positive opportunity to do something radical with our store space. We asked Diageo to help us leverage the latent power in the leading brands across key categories. As such they looked beyond their own portfolio and indeed beyond liquor to help us create a holistic approach that provides subtleties of flow and navigation, making the shopping experience both easy and a pleasure.”
Each category showcases the drive brands. So Diageo’s flagship blended scotch whisky gets pride of place on the whisky stand with Gold, Green, Blue, Black and Double Black taking the centre ground and the top-of-the-range John Walker on a special revolving plinth holding the centre ground.
Adam Irvine, customer marketing manager, Diageo GTME said: “We believe the gateway American airports can offer an amazing ‘canvas’ for travel retail to engage shoppers with a premium retail experience and premium brands. Passenger dynamics are changing dramatically and will continue to do so. There is now an opportunity to really leverage the region’s potential in ways previously undreamt of.
“The DFS store at TBIT sets a new benchmark for that and is a prime example of our ambition for both North America and for global travel in general and we’re delighted to have partnered with DFS yet again, building on the success of previous Trinity projects at Changi and Abu Dhabi,” said Irvine.
