Extreme Make-over: A closer look at one store completely overhauled in the year-long Malpensa Airport project

The recent opening of the 8,000 sq m Piazza del Lusso mall, featuring a number of the world’s leading retail names, is the latest development in the revamp at Malpensa’s Terminal 1. One of the first stores to receive the makeover during this airport-wide project, was this complete category solution which was unveiled last year and fully project managed from the UK office of Concourse Display Management. It’s a great example of the kind of improvements seen throughout Milan’s Malpensa airport. 

The redesign reflects the prestige of the products on display as well as the expectations of the travellers themselves, who are increasingly from China, the US and Middle East. Ambient lighting and negative space clearly delineate the products being showcased and invite travellers to come in and browse the shop. Stand-alone displays highlight the premium and super-premium brands while menus guide customers through the selection process, echoing the personalised assisted-sales experience that’s always a feature with the most exclusive products. 

Travel retail specialists, Concourse Display Management fully managed the implementation of this complex project, working with the design agencies of the various brands, the airport concession (Dufry), airport architects, as well as local manufacturers and installers, to bring the vision of all the brands involved into a physical reality.  As Concourse Display Management CEO, Rob Penn, explains, “a quick comparison of the pre- and post-revamp photos clearly demonstrates how the same products suddenly become so much more attractive and inviting given the right environment. This is especially important within duty-free given the very small window of opportunity to capture the attention of the busy, hassled traveller.” 

The booming Russian travel retail market is high on the list of objectives for retailers and brands. A new store layout in Pulkovo St Petersburg airport featuring some of the world’s most prestigious whiskies offers the 4 million passengers travelling through Pulkovo each year a premium shopping experience.

Image 1: Connoisseurs' Lounge Pulkovo airport, St Petersburg, which offers the world’s finest (and most expensive) whiskies with private tastings.

While in most airport terminals, duty-free stores’ mix of products leans more heavily towards moderate price ranges with a small percentage of space given over to the super-premium top-end, where, for examples, a bottle of whisky may cost well in excess of $2000, at international terminals, especially those catering to the Russian and Chinese traveller, the product mix is often in the reverse. Duty-free display specialists, Concourse Display Management, sites the completed installations at international terminals in Moscow and St Petersburg as good examples.

The Connoisseurs’ Lounge at Pulkovo airport, unveiled in April 2014 by the Nuance Group follows a year of intensive work with local suppliers, brands and display management companies such as Concourse Display Management. The realisation of this project is an innovative retail concept, which, alongside premium and duty-free exclusives, has established a space entirely dedicated to offering super-premium brands through private tastings to the predominantly Russian and Chinese travellers passing through.

Rob Penn, Concourse Display Management CEO, explains that “the establishment of exclusive duty free spaces relies on two necessary features: understanding the travellers’ expectations based on where they come from and also taking into account the airport environment, to achieve the best display that effectively communicates the brands’ qualities”.

“For this deployment we knew the premium nature of the brands on offer and worked with those brand owners to ensure that the design of the display and the retail space accurately reflected those qualities. This is a vital element that contributes to the retail experience these high value passengers seek”.

Image 2: The main drinks section in Pulkovo airport, where even here, more space if given over to premium brands.

* Concourse understands the uniqueness of the duty-free experience for travellers and is committed to helping brands present their products in a way that emphasizes brands quality in a premium environment for a targeted clientele, with bespoke furniture. The company’s complete focus on duty-free and its global reach, with a presence in over 300 locations on the five continents, is a recognised quality label that has already convinced many brands.

DUNHILL AND LUCKY STRIKE IN SAO PAOLO AIRPORT

Duty-free display specialists, Concourse Display Management, recently completed several new installations and brand-updates across seven shops at Brazil’s Sao Paolo airport.

Starting with Shop 10, sleek new units in steel, aluminium, polycarbonate and featuring a 12" screen replaced old shop furniture resulting in an improved overall look for the store, as well as increasing visibility for Dunhill and Lucky Strike brands. Concourse Display Management oversaw the entire project — right through to local manufacture in Uruguay.

Shortly after this successful installation, Concourse Display Management returned to Sao Paolo Airport to revamp existing furniture in a further 6 shops, again for Dunhill and Lucky Strike brands. Simply changing the lighting fixtures, interior shelves and exterior frames, breathed new life into out-dated units and ensured brand consistency for both Dunhill and Lucky Strike throughout all the airside shops in Sao Paolo airport.

Concourse Display Management project manages high-end display rollouts in duty-free locations all over the world. There's no location too exotic. Being 100% dedicated to travel retail means CDM’s clients can achieve their full potential in this hyper-lucrative but very demanding environment. Our goal is to unleash our clients' brand potential within duty-free, hassle-free.


 

New Kent Branding at Ataturk International Airport
 
This subtle colour-and-shape-branded wallbay for Kent was especially created for the arrivals lounge at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, (completed 21 January 2014).

Like the lounge shop project completed late 2013 in Sabiha Gokcen airport (also in Istanbul), this installation features Kent’s new branding architecture and includes a variety of high-spec finishes and textures from steel and aluminium detail to subtle LED lighting.

Both installations were fully project managed by Concourse Display Management right through to local manufacture in Turkey.
 
Concourse project manages high-end display rollouts in duty-free locations all over the world. There's no location too exotic.

Being 100% dedicated to travel retail means CDM’s clients can achieve their full potential in this hyper-lucrative but very demanding environment. Our goal is to unleash our clients' brand potential within duty-free, hassle-free.

Concourse Display Management in Cambodia for Johnnie Walker
 
Concourse Display Management is pleased to announce the completion of its first installation in Cambodia, at Phnom Phen International Airport for Johnnie Walker Explorers’ Club Collection. This premium range of whiskies, available exclusively within duty-free, was memorably launched last year at Charles de Gaulle airport with a fantastic pop-up concept-shop complete with tasting area (also produced by Concourse Display Management), which truly captured the mystique and exclusivity of the private members’ club.
 
This striking pillar unit features the same high-quality, hand-crafted finishes which have since become so well-associated with the brand. From design to installation, this project was fully managed by Concourse Display Management, including overseeing manufacture inJakarta. To keep the amount of disruption to an absolute minimum, the installation discretely took place over 4-nights during the allowable 3-hour “quiet periods.”
 
Concourse Display Management (www.concoursedm.com) project manages high-end display rollouts in duty-free locations all over the world. There's no location too exotic. Being 100% dedicated to travel retail means CDM’s clients can achieve their full potential in this hyper-lucrative but very demanding environment. Our goal is to unleash our clients' brand potential within duty-free, hassle-free.

Check out Dunhill’s new look in Dubai duty-free

Project managed by Concourse Display Management. This new wallbay was designed in Malaysia, manufactured and installed locally in Dubai. Completed on 6 December 2013 as part of a brand new airside-shopping space in the ever-expanding Dubai International’s duty-free shopping experience.

This display is the latest in a series of retail furniture projects CDM is managing for the Dunhill brand in the Middle East, including Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Lebanon and Qatar. To really appreciate the new look and feel of this very sleek, modern branding, check out the massive interactive installation we did earlier this year in King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.


http://www.concoursedm.com/case_studies/another-case-study/video

and

http://www.concoursedm.com/case_studies/another-case-study

Concourse is project managing high-end display rollouts in duty-free locations all over the world. There's no location too exotic. Being 100% dedicated to travel retail means CDM’s clients can achieve their full potential in this hyper-lucrative but very demanding environment. Our goal is to unleash our clients' brand potential within duty-free, hassle-free.

Baileys new “BB” logo on display in Munich airport!

Designed and project managed by Concourse Display Management, these gondolas for Baileys, featuring the brands’ new “BB” logo can be seen at the duty-free departure stores at levels 4 and 5 at Munich International airport.

Made of clear and opal polycarbonates and finished in black and cream powder coat with champagne-gold paint. Baileys’ new and very distinctive “BB” logo was routered into the Corian glorifier and is further highlighted with soft rear illumination. The new “BB” logo has also been incorporated into the well-known and established arc logo as well. It’s a great new look that will be rolled out worldwide over the coming months.

Concourse project manages high-end display rollouts in duty-free locations all over the world. There's no location too exotic. Being 100% dedicated to travel retail means CDM’s clients can achieve their full potential in this hyper-lucrative but very demanding environment. Our goal is to unleash our clients' brand potential within duty-free, hassle-free.

Johnnie Walker duty-free exclusive in Donetsk (Ukraine)
Concourse Display Management is proud to present this super-looking wallbay for Johnnie Walker Explorers’ Club range of whiskies. Completed on 27 November, this wall bay is one of the first large installations for the international terminal at Donetsk (Ukraine) since its refurbishment.
 
Concourse Display Management managed all aspects of this very logistically-challenging project, including design and engineering in the UK, manufacture in Milan with logistics and installation organised locally in the Ukraine from Concourse’s brand new logistics office based near the airport.
 
This display is part of a worldwide rollout for Johnnie Walker Explorers’ Club premium whiskies, a range of whiskies exclusively available within duty-free. As part of this rollout, Concourse Display Management has managed the development, manufacture and installation of large-scale permanent and temporary installations in some of the world’s busiest international airports. These displays feature a great deal of hand-crafted finishes using luxury materials to reflect the brand’s prestige, and have been featured in several magazine articles in recent months.
 
Concourse project manages high-end display rollouts in duty-free locations all over the world. There's no location too exotic. Being 100% dedicated to travel retail means CDM’s clients can achieve their full potential in this hyper-lucrative but very demanding environment. Our goal is to unleash our clients' brand potential within duty-free, hassle-free.

In time for President Putin’s grand opening: the first display into St Petersburg new international terminal!
 
Concourse Display Management is proud to be first-in again — and in time for President Putin’s grand opening of the brand new terminal at St Petersburg international airport! With just one week to get the completed units into Russia and installed, this gorgeous wallbay for Johnnie Walker Explorers Club range of premium whiskies is the first installation for this highly-anticipated new terminal in St Petersburg, scheduled to open in time for Christmas 2013.
 
The project was fully managed by Concourse Display Management: designed and engineered in the UK, manufactured in Moscow and installed by CDM’s local team — all part of the company’s extensive global supply chain.
 
This display is part of a worldwide rollout for Johnnie Walker Explorers’ Club premium whiskies, a range of whiskies exclusively available within duty-free. As part of this rollout, Concourse Display Management has managed the development, manufacture and installation of large-scale permanent and temporary installations in some of the world’s busiest international airports. These displays feature a great deal of hand-crafted finishes using luxury materials to reflect the brand’s prestige, and have been featured in several magazine articles in recent months.
 
 
Concourse Display Management project manages high-end display rollouts in duty-free locations all over the world. There's no location too exotic. Being 100% dedicated to travel retail means CDM’s clients can achieve their full potential in this hyper-lucrative but very demanding environment. CDM’s goal is to unleash their clients' brand potential within duty-free, hassle-free.
 

Concourse Display Management opens dedicated duty-free logistics office in Ukraine

Concourse Display Management has just opened its new logistics office in the Ukraine providing on the ground support for import/export of duty-free furniture into Ukraine’s international airports.

For more information on how this new local office can directly address the challenges of moving large units in and out of this expanding but sometimes tricky market, please contact CDM’s international logistics HQ on +44 1992 500651.

For more information on this and other stories, please contact Danica Wishkovich on +41 78 947 4228 or danica@concoursedm.com.