TOP 10 OPERATORS 2020: RANKING AND ANALYSIS
Top 10 grow combined sales by 13% to $51 billion in 2019
In the 22nd edition of this indispensable report, TRBusiness calculates that combined sales for the world’s Top 10 international operators reached US$50.91 billion in 2019, up a very respectable +13% year-on-year. Solid performances were enjoyed by the majority, while Lotte, Shilla and CDFG stood out for their double-digit sales rises, writes Charlotte Turner.
While 2019 was successful for many of the Top 10, 2020 will forever be remembered as the year when global air traffic - and therefore DF&TR sales - came to a standstill.
A
s most of the leading duty free & travel retail operators have increasingly pursued
international expansion in recent years, many have been able to
Those retailers that boast an impressive international network have had nowhere to hide, and no one region can compensate for the impacts from the global coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. TRBusiness
mitigate against region-specific crises or blips in performance caused by currency fluctuations, civil disruption, terrorist attacks, economic instability etc. However, these same retailers that boast an impressive international network have had nowhere to hide, and no one region can compensate for the impacts from the global coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. As every continent around the
world deals with the unprecedented human and economic costs of this virus, there are understandably few nations that have positive news to report, except for China where evidence of a recovery – at least for home-grown retailer China Duty Free Group – is becoming more compelling by the day. However, as is customary, the Top
10 Report ranks operators using sales figures registered in the prior year, which in this case is 2019 (calendar year), during which the majority of the companies in the ranking posted solid performances. This can certainly be said of the reigning GTR operator, Dufry Group,
which was able to compensate for a challenging trading environment in Latin America last year with notable sales rises in Europe (particularly the UK and Spain), Africa and Asia, with total turnover growing 1.9% to reach CHF8,848.6 million/$8.9bn. During 2019, the performance
in South America remained challenging, impacted by local currency devaluations, namely in Brazil and Argentina. However, Mexico performed positively, reaching solid results especially during the fourth quarter. While it’s fair to say that Dufry was
satisfied with its global performance in 2019, it could not compete with the remarkable sales gains registered by second-placed Lotte Duty Free, who describes 2019 as ‘miraculous’ in an interview with TRBusiness (p11). Whilst generating total DF&TR sales of KRW9.93 trillion/$8.5 billion, even the leading Korean travel retailer would admit to feeling the pressure from its main domestic rival, Shilla Duty Free, in 2019, which also enjoyed a ‘fruitful’ year.
Daigou influence grows Taeho Kim, Executive Vice President Korea Division, The Shilla Duty Free, tells TRBusiness that he was happy with the company’s performance last year despite a number of challenges. These include a proliferation in downtown duty free licences in South Korea; fiercer competition between duty free companies and dampened Chinese traveller volumes linked to the THAAD crisis. This has been made no easier by an increasing reliance on daigou-driven trading, says Luke Barras-Hill (p16). Daigou trading – where individuals
Top row: Julián Díaz; CEO, Dufry; Kap Lee, CEO, Lotte Duty Free; Taeho Kim, Executive Vice President, Korea Division, The Shilla Duty Free; Charles Chen, President, CDFG; Dag Rasmussen, Chairman and CEO, Lagardère Travel Retail. Bottom row: Max Heinemann, CEO, Gebr. Heinemann; Ed Brennan, Chairman and CEO, DFS Group; Susan Whelan, Senior EVP, King Power International Group; Leon Falic, President, DFA; and Anthony Kenny, CCO and Deputy CEO, ARI.
4 TOP 10 OPERATORS
outside of China make purchases for Chinese residents –has certainly been a sore point for fourth-placed China Duty Free Group, which has most to lose from a booming daigou industry. Still, CDFG had nothing to
OCTOBER 2020
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