For the second year in a row World Duty Free Group has come top in the Beauty stakes in The Moodie Report’s annual Dreamstore eZine. In a survey of brand owners, each airport retail category was examined and the leading retailers compiled for those categories in specific locations. WDFG’s operations in Heathrow were singled out for the Beauty category honours, with specific reference to Terminal 5 for its promotions, offer and service, and the luxury approach in Terminal 3. One leading brand owner was quoted as saying “WDFG continues to set the benchmark for fragrances in travel retail at Heathrow.”

WDFG was also mentioned for its proactive approach to luxury retailing in the Fashion & Accessories category and came in for praise in the Liquor category. Suppliers noted the recently redevloped stores at Vancouver and Gatwick’s South Terminal, as well as at Heathrow’s T5. One brand partner said “The World Duty Free T5 main store always provides a balanced mix of retail theatre (through Contentainment) with innovative use of promotional areas (cocktail bar) and knowledgeable and engaging store staff.” Also praised were our World of Whiskies stores as “some of the best whisky retailing around; well merchandised with knowledgable and passionate staff.” Cancún and Vancounver’s operations came in for more praise for dynamic environment, strong promotions, solid merchandising and in-store programme activations.

You can read the full eZine here: http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?EID=ee611177-97f5-4b85-b75e-e705413895ae

In the Moodie Report’s inaugural airport social media, digital and mobile awards ‘The Moodies’, World Duty Free Group won big, coming top in three of the five categories for which we were shortlisted.

We were awarded Best Twitter Feed for an Airport Retailer, Best Use of Digital Media on the Concourse (for our innovative Contentainment programme) and top accolade, Best Use of Social Media Overall for our activities across web, social media and in-store digital marketing.

Elsewhere, World Duty Free Group’s parent company Autogrill Group was honoured as Highly Commended in the category of Best Use of Digital Media on the Concourse by a Food & beverage Operator, and our Autogrill sister company HMSHost won Best Marketing Campaign (F&B Operator), Best Mobile App (F&B Operator) and was Highly Commended in the category of Best Use of Social Media Overall (F&B Operator).

In their annual Product Awards programme, DFNI (Duty Free News International) judges have awarded top place to World Duty Free Group in two categories.

In the Liquor and Wines section, WDFG won Best New Store for our walkthrough store at London’s Gatwick Airport, South Terminal, opening earlier in 2012. The judges cited our ‘eye-catching displays…, digital content, a superb tasting bar and an uncluttered approach to merchandising’ giving us the edge. They also praised the Wine Collection, Rare & Vintage section, our third execution of this concept (after Heathrow’s Terminals 5 and 3).

In Confectionery & Fine Foods, the Group won the Best New Store accolade for Food Society in Madrid Barajas’ Terminal 4 where we have two outlets under this fascia. Opened in summer 2012, Food Society boasts over 200 Spanish products ranging from fine wines to cheeses and the world famous Iberico Spanish ham. The concept also contains an airport retail world first in the form of a professional ham slicer, underlining the Group’s commitment to excellence and expertise in all our retail outlets.

Additionally, our new store at Heathrow’s Terminal 3 was Highly Commended in the Beauty category for Best New Store, a category in which we won the Moodie Report’s e-zine Dreamstore award earlier in the year.

World Duty Free Group has secured all the duty-free and duty-paid concessions in Spain to become the only operator in the sector in Europe’s second biggest airport market.

The Group won the three lots competition from the world’s top operators. The adjudicated concessions will run for seven years and may be extended for a further three years subject to agreement with Aena. 

“We are satisfied with the result obtained and enthusiastic about this acknowledgement of the expertise and capability of our commercial and operating team,” said World Duty Free Group CEO José María Palencia. “With a duration of at least seven years and new and more effective commercial space we can significantly boost per passenger spending to the levels achieved in our best airports. For WDF Group this is a new start on which to build a strategy of diversification and growth in new markets.”

World Duty Free Group has received the Champion of Champions accolade at the Green Apple Awards for Environmental Best Practice, for our pioneering development of an energy assessment model for concession based retail organisations. The prestigious Champion of Champions award recognises the best overall venture across all categories. The project also won the Retail Green Champion award. World Duty Free Group will also now be considered to represent the UK in the European Business Awards for the Environment in 2013. Several Green Apple Award winners have progressed to win this important international recognition.

World Duty Free Group is committed to making its retail spaces more energy efficient.  Our construction team in the UK developed a unique new model for assessing energy consumption in concession retail spaces, from the design stage right through to post occupancy and store operation.  This has enabled us to deliver environmentally friendly stores for our airport partners, without compromising the in store experience for its customers and staff.

The case study used for the Green Apple Awards was World Duty Free Group’s walkthrough tax and duty free store in Birmingham Airport.  The 2100sqm space was 54% more energy efficient than the previous store and will save £27,000 per year in energy costs.  World Duty Free Group has gone on to use this model in two further store developments at Eurotunnel and Gatwick Airport.  The mechanical and electrical components were designed by Rediger Ltd.

Commenting on the win Andy Smith, Senior Construction and Design Manager at World Duty Free Group said, “Working in collaboration and partnership with Birmingham Airport was key to the success of this project, because as concessionaires, we have little influence or control over the base building provisions.  There was a real willingness from the airport team to work with us to achieve a single goal of a more energy efficient store.  The final result is a cool, bold, bright store environment which is a welcoming, comfortable and efficient space for customers and staff alike. We are honoured to have been recognised as the Champion of Champions and to have received the Retail Green Champion award”.

Richard Gill, Head of Market Development at Birmingham Airport concluded, “World Duty Free Group has unrivalled expertise in travel retail and we had confidence in their ability to deliver this more sustainable model of operation.  For us, this project represented a positive move towards reduction in overall energy consumption and a clear contribution to our Carbon Reduction Commitments”.