AFFORDABLE LUXURY


‘Treats’ for all budgets at Gatwick I


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Gatwick Airport’s Head of Retail, Rachel Bulford quite rightly extols the range of affordable luxury brands and products available at London’s second busiest airport and lets Charlotte Turner know that passengers can expect yet more in due course…


n your experience heading up the retail program for Gatwick Airport, how would you define


the area of ‘affordable luxury’ in the context of duty free & travel retail? ‘Affordable luxury’ is naturally a bit of a subjective term, as what is affordable or luxurious is likely to differ from one person to the next. For me, ‘affordable luxury’ when


related to travel retail is that pre-trip purchase, that is within budget, but is a treat. The airport shopping environment


is completely unique, due to the tax- free savings available, and so for me the airport is home to ‘affordable luxury’. The cheaper prices enable some passengers to buy a brand or item they wouldn’t typically purchase on the High Street. However, there is perhaps an opportunity to increase understanding of the savings that can be made when shopping at the airport.


Which brands or product categories fit into your definition? Following the definition of ‘affordable luxury’ being a pre-trip treat, this can be applied to a range of product categories here at Gatwick. With Gatwick, having perhaps the greatest variety of passengers and airline types than any other UK airport, we have to cater for the different desires and needs of our varied passenger mix. At Gatwick, we see passengers


brands for those who are looking to spend a little bit more including Harrods, Hugo Boss, Chanel, Fortnum and Mason.


Do you think the affordable luxury offering is sufficient at international airports at the moment or do you think more could be done? At Gatwick, I am delighted to say that we have consistently been focused on affordable practical purchases at the airport. We really strive to achieve balance


in our offer at Gatwick, combining luxury brands, including Hugo Boss, Harrods stocking brands including DKNY, Armani and Michael Kors, Ernest Jones with luxury brands, with High Street brands. In addition to these ‘affordable


luxury brands’ our fashion retail offer comprises many affordable High Street brands, including Next, Accessorize, Fat Face, Ann Summers, Ted Baker and Superdry. Of course, these stores are able to offer a tax- free equivalent price at Gatwick. We are working on increasing


awareness of the value and services provided by airport shopping and shopping at Gatwick.


upgrading their accessories prior to their holiday, for instance purchasing a new pair of sunglasses, new headphones or a new piece of swimwear. To make sure we have plenty of choice for people looking to treat themselves we were keen to yet further increase the airport’s swimwear choice, for example, with Ann Summers which opened in November 2018. This is the brand’s first airport store. We also have more premium


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Would you agree that the luxury goods/super premium offer is too extensive and unfairly balanced in favour of ‘aspirational brands’ in some duty free and travel retail locations? At Gatwick, due to the huge variety of passengers using the airport, we need to cater to a wealth of different needs and wishes. It just wouldn’t be in our passengers’ interests to be skewed too heavily towards one type of product category. As a result, our strategy at Gatwick has been to deliberately focus on a mid-market approach. We are continually polling our


passengers and asking what sort of brands, products and services they


Rachel Bulford, Head of Retail, Gatwick Airport


TRBUSINESS 35


Mara will soon be arriving into Harrods South Terminal. «


‘Affordable luxury’ is naturally a bit of a subjective term, as what is affordable or luxurious is likely to differ from one person to the next…For me, ‘affordable luxury’…is that pre- trip purchase, that is within budget, but is a treat.”


would like to see at Gatwick, with many new arrivals a result of this passenger surveying. We really strive to achieve balance


in our offer at Gatwick which receives consistent high scoring in our regular passenger satisfaction surveys.


What more do you think can be done at Gatwick Airport to better serve its current passenger profile? We are further adding to the gifting offering for our passengers with Oliver Bonas arriving into Gatwick’s North Terminal in March 2019. Later in the first quarter of 2019


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Karen Millen will be joining the fashion brands at Gatwick, further adding to the airport’s options for pre-trip treating for both holidays and business trips. On the luxury brand side, Max


Above: Gatwick Airport will open the first Ann Summers airport store.


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