AMERICAS LEADING OPERATORS: MOTTA INTERNACIONAL
“Concession fees are becoming really high and you have to be very efficient and focused on what you are doing to make a profit.”
Erasmo Orillac, Motta Internacional
[between duty free and domestic] is quite good. People were buying when they came into the country which means we had a positive year.” The addition of new routes in recent years – Air Madrid, for example, commenced flights between Quito and Madrid in November 2016 and Air Europa began operating various routes out of the airport from this January – has meant, ‘more passengers and better conversion rates’. Moving on to Panama, where the
company is headquartered, there is plenty to look back on. Motta ended up securing one of the three 700sq m 10-year duty free concessions (package three) in the existing Terminal One following a fiercely fought tender. He says: “We had a good year
in Panama. Our contract ended in December and we won one of the blocks on offer in the Terminal One tender. All duty free shops were closed for around one month. Now we have two stores open and doing okay. ” Orillac continues: “The main store
will open in April and not much will be different. The others are due to be operational in September.”
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Tocumen Terminal Two Looking ahead to the opening of the new Panama Tocumen Terminal Two, originally scheduled for 2017 but put back until early 2019,
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period in the countries we are operating or a great economic period. I foresee currencies being stable which is what people want to plan their trips. ” Further elaborating on the issue of currencies, Orillac does not see the Colombian Peso decreasing in value against the US Dollar and believes it could even increase a little. “The Brazilian Real is also
Motta Internacionals’s perfume and cosmetics operations at Bogota El Dorado International Airport.
46 TRBUSINESS
improving and I foresee the overall economic situation in Latin America being about the same or maybe a little better.” Looking ahead to the rest of the
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Orillac comments: “The airport will significantly change when the whole expansion including the new Terminal Two is complete.” Having recently participated in the ‘clear, open and transparent’ Tocumen Terminal One tender, Motta is hoping to win as many duty free concessions as possible in the new Terminal Two. “Tenders are likely to be issued
between now and September and we will bid on the categories we currently work with. We will win some and lose some but are very optimistic.” With no surprises to report in
Salvador and Nicaragua, attentions turn to Trinidad and Tobago, where it secured a five-year contract last year to operate three duty free shops at Piarco International Airport. Orillac reveals: “We opened last April and it has done very well, particularly in the liquor category. We are finding out the mix of products people want there. There will also be demand for perfumes and cosmetics and we are adapting the inventory accordingly.” Despite the success of the Trinidad
and Tobago operations, further Caribbean expansion seems unlikely. “We sort of stumbled across this concession opportunity and [are] not seeking further expansion.” All things considered, 2017
was a satisfactory year for Motta Internacional following a challenging 2016 and Orillac is not expecting much different in 2018. “We don’t see great changes.
Nothing outstanding is going to happen. We foresee this year to be fairly even compared to last. “I don’t see a weak economic
The shops in Bogota were re- modelled following the arrival of the Dufry/DFASS joint-venture last year.
year, Motta is set to open a new MAC store in Panama Tocumen Terminal One as part of the ongoing development following last year’s tender win. “This follows the success of the
MAC stores in Quito and El Dorado which have done very well. It was a good decision to open them.” The MAC stores are between 55sq m and 60sq in size and separated from the regular perfume and cosmetics sections in store.
‘High operating costs’ Meanwhile, Brazilians and Argentinians are also expected to remain the top-spending consumers, “as they buy the most expensive items”. Orillac, cites liquor perfumes
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and cosmetics and sunglasses as the top selling categories, suggests business across the region is not presently being challenged by legislation. But in 2008, Panama became the first country in the Americas to enact a complete ban on the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products. “In Panama, tobacco products
cannot be advertised and visible to the public, but we have been managing the situation for a long time now. The worst-case scenario would be if they stop us using standard labels.” Adding his thoughts on the LATAM
market in general, Orillac says it is becoming very expensive to operate DF shops in the region. “That is the only thing I can tell
you,” he remarks. “Concession fees are becoming really high and you have to be very efficient and focused on what you are doing to make a profit. The model definitely needs to be changed,” he concludes. «
MARCH 2018
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