TOP 10 OPERATORS 2020: RANKING AND ANALYSIS


complain about in 2019, boasting sales of RMB47,361,262,879/$6.85bn, boosted by the milestone 10-year contract it won at Beijing Daxing Airport. In 2020, CDFG is the only operator to report gains during the pandemic and President, Charles Chen tells Charlotte Turner (p19) he is confident that sales made from its downtown Hainan island business will double by year-end. While the Chairman and CEO of


fifth-placed Lagardère Travel Retail is not offering 2020 sales forecasts just yet, he does tell Andrew Pentol (p23) that the company will continue to pursue international expansion through acquisition post-Covid. Last year was one of the best to date for the French operator, driven by the successful integrations of Hojeij Branded Foods (2018) and Belgium’s International Duty Free (2019). Hamburg-based competitor Gebr.


Heinemann also had plenty to be proud of in 2019, during which it saw retail sales rise a generous +7.2% to €3.9 billion/$4.4 billion. Liquor, tobacco, confectionery and fine food (55%) performed strongest, followed by perfume & cosmetics (34%) and fashion & accessories (9%).


Agility in adversity In contrast, DFS Group in seventh spot faced challenging circumstances well before the effects of Covid-19 began to take hold. Parent company LVMH Moët


Hennessy Louis Vuitton reported that the luxury travel retailer demonstrated ‘strong resilience in 2019’ in the face of a slowdown in tourism in Hong Kong due to anti- government protests, which plagued the region in 2019 (p31). Staying in Asia, King Power


International, which is ranked eighth in our table, enjoyed much more favourable trading conditions in 2019 and was able to secure a number of key airport commercial contracts at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK)


Rank


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9


10


WORLD’S TOP 10 INTERNATIONAL OPERATORS, 2019 Change (%)


Retailer


Dufry Group Lotte Duty Free Shilla Duty Free China Duty Free Group Lagardère Travel Retail Gebr. Heinemann DFS Group King Power International Duty Free Americas Aer Rianta International


TOP 10 TOTAL


Notes: *Reported like-for-like growth. • Sales for each operator have been converted into dollars using exchange rates averaged for 2019 calendar year. • Sales totals are informed by one-to-one


Sales ($bn)


8.90 8.50 7.80 6.85 4.80 4.40 3.70 2.90 1.76 1.30


50.91


+1.9* +27.0 +30.7* +24.0 +6.3* +7.2 +2.2 +7.4 +7.0 +8.0* +13.0


interviews with senior management at all of the above companies, plus officially-released data. • Only operators with retail business active in more than one country qualify for a ranking in this report.


8.90 8.50


and other regional locations such as Phuket, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai. At the end of the year the company said it was looking to the future with a feeling of optimism. Ninth-placed Duty Free Americas


(DFA) was also feeling optimistic in 2019, especially following the announcement of its new ship chandler business (UETA Ship Supply) under the UETA Group. In a wide-ranging interview, DFA President Leon Falic divulges to TRBusiness that sales increased by 7% from the previous year to about


Report methodology and important considerations


Sales totals are informed almost entirely on one-to-one interviews with top management at every one of the ranked companies, plus officially- released data for 2019. TRBusiness acknowledges that some operators include foodservice revenue or special retail concepts, while others do not. Some also include 100% of their joint


OCTOBER 2020


ventures, but not all, so like-for-like comparisons are difficult to make. In other instances, retailers also have duty paid operations, while others have bigger or smaller duty free businesses. Certain operators have traditionally


had greater exposure to more higher spending passengers, arrivals shops, downtown outlets and


higher allowances in some locations than others, so this can also distort comparisons. But the biggest distortions are


inevitably caused by sales made in local currency units, but then subsequently expressed in US dollars, such as Euros, HK dollars, Chinese Yuan, Swiss francs, Korean won, Japanese yen etc.


TOP 10 OPERATORS 5


$1.76bn in 2019. In the context of the current crisis,


tenth-placed ARI is grateful that at least 2019 was a year of strong sales growth and as the company’s CCO and Deputy CEO Anthony Kenny tells TRBusiness, ARI is just one of many companies in this Top 10 list that says it will increase its focus on click and collect, digital communications through social media and digital advertising. “We see digital and physical converging for a harmonised retail solution. That will be ever-more important to us.” «


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