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THE NEWS
Canada’s Frontier Duty Free Association has officially announced that its annual convention will return to a live event this year in Toronto in November. More details on page 1.
If anyone still needs a reason to attend this year’s Summit of the Americas—which kicks off this coming Sunday evening in West Palm Beach, Florida – perhaps the booming travel and sales numbers originating in the Americas might provide that push. More travelers translate into greater sales and many operators report that spend per passenger is still higher that before the pandemic.
The U.S. airport recovery continues strong. Airport Council International (ACI) World’s ranking of the busiest airports worldwide, released last week, indicate that five of the top ten busiest airports by passenger volume are in the U.S. Even more impressive, nine of the top ten busiest airports measured by aircraft movements are in the U.S. See full story on page 1.
BY THE NUMBERS
In another indication of the strength of the recovery in the United States, U.S. retail sales could reach a much as $5.13 trillion this year, says the National Retail Federation.
While this growth rate is down from the 7% registered in 2022, the NFR says that it is above the pre-pandemic average annual retail sales growth rate of 3.6%. And brick-and-mortar stores continue to reign – store shopping still accounts for 70% of total retail sales. Page 2.
Delving into a specific product category, prestige beauty sales in the U.S. grew 15% YOY and reached $27+ billion. Prestige beauty was the fastest-growing industry segment across more than $ trillion in general merchandise spending tracked by NPD in 2022 – a trend reflected in travel retail as well. And as is being seen throughout the region, fragrance was a standout category in its own right, says NPD. Read the story on page 3.
SUPPLY SIDE – BEAUTY
In more beauty news, L’Oréal signed an agreement with Natura & Co. to acquire Australian luxury brand Aesop. Page 3
Jimmy Choo sparkles at the point of sale with DFA in Panama (Essence Corp. ) Page 3
Gucci Beauty’s The Alchemist’s Garden – a perfect example of the trend to beautiful higher-end niche fragrances – unveils its new Eau de Parfum, Where My Heart Beats. Page 4.
SUPPLY SIDE – TRAVEL ACCESSORIES
Marcolin has exclusively launched its 2023 Travel Retail exclusive sunglasses collection for Guess Eyewear with Motta Internacional’s Attenza Duty Free airports stores – and named a new Style & Product Development Director. Page 3.
Go Travel has launched a new 3-tier strategy for its travel pillows focused on “right product, right place, right price.” Page 5
SUPPLY SIDE – SPIRITS
Haleybrooke International has signed a deal to represent Centinela Tequila in Duty Free and Travel Retail. This is significant because Centinela owns its own agave fields and has one of the largest inventories of aged tequilas in the world. See it at the Summit of the Americas. Read more on page 4.
Blue Caterpillar has added Japanese Whisky ONIKISHI to its portfolio. Page 4.
INDUSTRY – WiTR
The Women in Travel Retail networking group has announced that its charity for 2023 is the KOMA KARANTH Foundation in the Philippines. See page 5 for information.
