Bolivian fragrance specialist Distribuidora Aromas expands into full airport retailing with new Duty Fly subsidiary. John Gallagher reports.
Duty Fly, a wholly owned subsidiary of Distribuidora Aromas, Bolivia’s leading perfumes and cosmetic distributor, is the new duty free concession holder at the El Alto International Airport in La Paz and Viru Viru International Airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
Duty Fly is currently operating a 500 sq. meters departures store in Santa Cruz and a 350 sq. meters departures store in La Paz.
According to company CEO, Remer Antelo, the company took over the duty free concessions on January 1 of this year, following a lengthy [bidding] process.
Adding duty free to domestic market
“We are always looking at ways of increasing our business activities and adding to our perfumes and fragrances operation. Traveling though our home airports on a regular basis, we thought that we could do a very good job in the duty free stores in Santa Cruz and La Paz,” Antelo tells TMI.
“We let the government and airport managers know that when the contract of the incumbent concessionaire was about to end, we would be interested in presenting them with proposals to take the retail operations at the airport to a new level.”
When their contract commenced, the Aromas group started to renovate both stores through its own retail architect, Tito Chajtur.
“We are pleased to say that the shops are now operating with the furniture and fixtures that we planned, and that sales are in line with our initial targets,” says Antelo.
“Our corporate objective is to consolidate these stores over the next few months, but we will be looking to develop the Duty Fly brand in other places if the right opportunities were to appear.”
While arrivals duty free is a major factor in many Latin American airports, especially Brazil, there is currently no arrivals duty fee in Bolivia.
“But we are talking to the government about the possibility of Arrivals Duty Free. We know that many passengers who use our airports have that opportunity when they travel and we would like to offer this to them,” noted Antelo.
Although specialists in selling perfumes and cosmetics, the new Duty Fly operations will offer the full range of traditional duty free categories in the Bolivian airport stores.
Antelo says: “We will be selling all normal duty free categories that are sold in Latin America. Apart from fragrances, which is clearly a category we know, we will be selling the leading brands of liquor, tobacco, confectionery, accessories, and technology. These categories are new for the company but both the team and I have a fair bit of knowledge of these newer products and the brands that the travelers using our airports are looking for.”
Nearly 30-year history in prestige fragrance business
Founded in May 1996, Distribuidora Aromas has extensive experience in fragrance distribution and pioneered the growth of prestige brands in the country’s domestic market.
“Initially, we worked with Motta Internacional to ensure the best logistics performance. Up until the mid-nineties, high end perfumes and fragrances were sold in Bolivia alongside massively distributed personal care products. But the market was beginning to demand changes as the country’s economic situation improved – along with our partners we decided that the conditions were right to begin the distribution of new and prestigious brands that were not arriving in the country,” explained Antelo.
“We saw that there were clear opportunities for international brands such as Christian Dior, Carolina Herrera, Yves Saint Laurent, Cartier, etc., to name just a few. We took the decision to import new brands and sell them in a different way.
“The objective was to take the high-end brands out of traditional distribution and sell them in new stores specially designed for prestigious brands. We wanted to be the pioneers of a new style of retailing in Bolivia and we built new stores with the correct merchandising opportunities and specially designed furniture to project the right image for each brand.”
The introduction some eight years ago of the first shopping malls in Santa Cruz –centers built to the very highest international standards, says Antelo — contributed to the consolidation of high-end perfumes and fragrances in the market as well as a general increase in the standard of retail of all categories.
The company currently operates six retail points in Santa Cruz, three located in the best shopping malls in the city and the other three well located in the best commercial areas.
“This has allowed our company to become the leader of the luxury perfumes and cosmetics category in the country,” notes Antelo.
A leader in e-commerce
As well as traditional retail, the Aromas group has also expanded into e-commerce.
“Our company has been the pioneer of e-commerce retailing in Bolivia with the first virtual perfume store in the country. Our “Perfumeria First” brand is one of the sector leaders and an important reference point in high-end perfumery e-commerce in Latin America,” says Antelo.
The company marketing team is now completing a new e-commerce project for Duty Fly, using Aromas’ experience with “Perfumeria First.”
“We are planning to launch this for travelers to our airports very shortly,” Antelo comments.
Traffic figures
The Aromas group’s expansion into duty free retail comes just as the region’s airports are recovering from the pandemic and could promise some significant growth prospects, says Antelo.
Passenger traffic is around 1.5 million travelers in Santa Cruz/ Viru Viru and 600,000 at La Paz / El Alto. But as both airports recover from the COVID 19 pandemic and reach 2019 traffic levels, Antelo feels there might be room for further growth, especially at Viru Viru.
“The hubs at Panama and Lima in Peru are operating at very close to the maximum of their operational possibilities. There is no reason that prevents Viru Viru being an alternative for some airlines. Costs at Sant Cruz are considerably lower than competing hubs and this will be of interest to some airlines.”
