Zhejiang Airport Group Corporation announced on 8th February that China Duty Free Group (CDFG) has been awarded the contract for the management of arrivals and departures duty free at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport Terminal 4.
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CDFG and Zhejiang Airport Group will leverage their respective resource advantages and establish a joint venture company to operate the stores. Together they will build a leading Chinese and world-renowned ‘first-tier’ airport duty free flagship store, CDFG pledged.
“As the first air gateway in Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport is a first-class airport and an alternate gateway for international flights open to the outside world,” CDFG commented.
2022 is a landmark year for Hangzhou with the 19th Asian Games being held in the city from 10th to 25th September. Construction on T4, a landmark transportation infrastructure project, started on 19th October 2018 and is set for completion in 2022 with the terminal becoming operational before the Asian Games.
The T4 terminal building embraces some 720,000 square metre of total space with the transportation centre area occupying 480,000 square metre. Passenger throughput is expected to reach 50 million in 2030.
CDFG said that it attaches great importance to the development of Hangzhou Airport’s duty free business. The new partnership builds on a strong 12-year cooperation with Zhejiang Airport Group, the group noted.
The existing CDFG Hangzhou Airport Duty Free Shop has an operating area of 1,207 square metre. However, in an underlining of the scale of the new terminal and of the commercial opportunity, the combined space of the T4 arrivals and departures duty free space is about 3,672.05 square metre (departures 3,561.05 ; arrivals 111 square metre).
CDFG said that by leveraging the strong resource advantages of its parent company China Tourism Group, it has been able to steadily boost its strength and experience in the duty free industry over many years. Through a combination of its world number travel retailer scale (based on The Moodie Davitt Report annual Top Travel Retailers ranking) and a partnership with Zhejiang Airport Group, the group said that the new store will become a “bright business card”, which will showcase the charm of Hangzhou and help the Asian Games.
CDFG plans to introduce a wide array of international products and on-trends brands at the stores across multiple categories, including tobacco, wines & spirits, fragrances & cosmetics, fashion and accessories, food, and luxury, in line with world standards.
The category range and brand structure have been comprehensively upgraded, the group said. “The new duty free shop will fully reflect the hi-tech characteristics of Hangzhou; demonstrate the digital vitality of CDFG; deploy integrated online and offline operations; realise a truly technological and modern new duty free format; create a new retail ecosystem; and help Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport become a first-class international airport,” CDFG added.
Under the leadership of China Tourism Group, CDFG said that it has made great efforts to grow its retail presence in large-scale hub airports over recent years. The successful Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport T4 bid will further consolidate CDFG’s advantage in China’s large and medium-sized airports, and help the group “become stronger, better and bigger; achieving high-quality development to become a world-class travel retailer with greater global competitiveness,” the retailer said.
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The new retail development will also help China’s duty free industry to make new contributions to the repatriation of overseas consumption and the development of internal circulation.
(Source: The Moodie Davitt Report)