SPECIAL FEATURES: KING POWER HK


King Power HK confident on CDFG synergies after 5-year Macau victory


A busy 20 months has resulted in King Power Group Hong Kong securing the duty paid retail business at Shanghai Pudong International Airport Terminal 2 and the Macau International Airport duty free contract in a joint venture with China Duty Free Group. Luke Barras-Hill assesses what’s next.


I


n comments made in the TRBusiness 2018 Global Industry Survey in January, King Power Group Hong


Kong (HK) Managing Director (Duty Free and Travel Retail) Sunil Tuli said the business was in the process of consolidating its activities. At that time, the message was


clear: expansion was on the cards, but not at any cost. Four months later and there


was clear evidence that it had strengthened its credentials in a manner proven to be effective – if history is any way to go by. King Power Macau (KPM), a part


of King Power (HK), linked up with the increasingly venerable China Duty Free Group (CDFG) to win the duty free operating rights at Macau International Airport (MIA). The joint venture, bidding as China


Duty Free (Macau) Limited, won a five-year contract for the concession. KPM would have been buoyed by


the words of CDFG President Charles Chen, speaking at the time: “With our network and expertise


of serving the Chinese traveller, we are confident that we will be able to provide MIA, our supplier


OCTOBER 2018


partners and, most importantly, the MIA customer with an outstanding retail experience. “The partnership with KPM adds


tremendous value to our bid, as the company has long-term experience and knowledge of the business at MIA. With this understanding plus their international reach as part of King Power Group (HK), we consider them to be valuable partners.”


Mutual benefits That the partnership with KPM adds value will come as no surprise to CDFG, which has a strong track record of working with King Power (HK). Tuli announced at the time of


the joint venture victory that the partnership would deliver mutual best value. Having operated the MIA business


for 23 years, KPM already boasts the inside track with regards to the demographics and buying habits of passengers served by the airport. As such, it says it remains confident


that it will be able to provide even more effective duty free operations at MIA.


Indeed, it will be CDFG’s unrivalled knowledge of Asian – and particularly Chinese – pax that will be most attractive to KPM. State-run CDFG, which runs


249 duty free outlets in China and overseas, can draw on the heavyweight insight and resources of its parent company China International Travel Service Corporation (CITSC), which merged with China’s largest tourism conglomerate, China National Travel Service Group (CNTS) in 2016.


“King Power has a long standing relationship with CDFG, having had other partnerships with them in the past, so the JV brings in a lot of advantages. The synergies of both parties obviously are a major advantage, given the experience of each with the main customer base.”


Sunil Tuli,


Managing Director (Duty Free and Travel Retail), King Power Group (HK)


TOP 10 OPERATORS 91


Above: Perfume & Cosmetics at Macau International Airport.


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