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IF WE LOOK AT THE overall travel retail sector, including airport shops, cruise liners, ferries and what is sold or given away on board aeroplanes, we are contemplating a champagne market of a shade over 9m bottles. To put this in perspective, in 2015 9.21m bottles of champagne were shipped to Belgium and 8.11m bottles to Australia, respectively the sixth and seventh largest markets for champagne. Travel retail then slips in between these two, but its importance as the premier ‘shop window’ for brand champagne worldwide makes it arguably extra special.

Bald statistics don’t, of course, give us the complete picture. While we can be pretty comfortable the figure for Australia is near to champagne consumption Down Under, we know that Belgian consumption of champagne is much higher than this.

It’s only around 170 miles from Brussels to Reims by road and a considerably shorter distance – barely two hours’ drive – from most of southern Belgium. If a Belgian champagne lover wants to stock-up on fizz, they just nip over the border and fill their car boot. Ask any grower producer who sells at the cellar door.

Wherever you put travel retail in the top 10 market pecking order, 9m-plus bottles is a significant chunk of sales, even if it’s slightly down on the 9.35m bottles IWSR says were accounted for by this sector in 2014. Travel retail has around a 3% market share of all champagne sales, which makes it important to the Champenois, and around a 7.5% share of ‘premium’ champagne sales – fizz that’s sold at U$30 plus – which adds to the attraction. As Jean-Christian de la Chevalerie, key accounts international director of Laurent-Perrier, points out: “Travel retail is known as the ‘sixth continent’, this is true for fashion, fragrances, cosmetics and tobacco. For spirits it’s massive, for whisky it’s huge.”

RAPID PACE

The travel retail sector is expanding, while it’s also changing and developing at a rapid pace as the major operators around the world apply an increasingly sophisticated approach in their outlets to seduce travelling consumers into buying. In terms of flying numbers, while low-cost airlines are driving the growth, says De la Chevalerie – he points to the huge order for 200-plus Airbus 320s by Indonesia low-cost carrier Lion Air – their passengers are still interested in the shopping opportunities. There’s plenty of evidence of further Asian development on and off the ground with Garuda Indonesia also confirming an order for 14 Airbus 330s earlier this year.

Like other producers DI has spoken to, he sees the Middle East and Asia as the areas where the growth is going to come from. “Abu Dhabi is planning a huge expansion with its new Midfield terminal, which will have 28,000sq m of commercial space, due to open in December 2017. This year it expects 10% passenger growth even before that expansion is complete. In China, while there are two huge hubs [Beijing and Shanghai], there are another 90 airports in the country and, although champagne remains a very small category there, the potential for growth is significant.”

The retailing approach in airports has evolved rapidly, says De la Chevalerie. “There are no longer shops with window displays, everything has become more open and fluid and increasingly passengers have to walk past all the retail outlets on their journey through the airport. You can see good examples of this approach in airports hubs such as Amsterdam and Vienna. It’s becoming more widespread.” This has, of course, changed the nature of an effective display for the champagne producers and they have been imaginative in their response – you just need to look at examples like the Laurent-Perrier Cage Ruban and Veuve Clicquot’s Journey to see this.

Despite the airport operators’ increasingly sophisticated approach and large increases in retail space, he makes the point: “On average only 5% of people travelling buy something and yet it’s already a huge market. It only needs to grow a few percentage points to bring massive overall growth.”

The Brut NV sector is key, says De la Chevalerie and, in a market where price and exclusive packaging are still important, you have to have a twin gift pack in bottle and half-bottle. Two other important lines for Laurent-Perrier are the Cuvée Rosé and prestige line the multi-vintage Grand Siècle.

The market also expects travel retail exclusives and limited editions and each of the past four years Laurent-Perrier has introduced the latter at Cannes for its rosé style, to go into outlets the following April. At the very top end of the range and only available in magnums and jeroboams, there’s even a place in travel retail for the first and only release of Reserves Grand Siècle based on the 1995, 1993 and 1990 blend of this cuvée, with more than a decade of extra ageing. In 2015 this went into the exclusive Le Clos outlet at Dubai International airport, owned by Emirates Group subsidiary Maritime Mercantile International, which has established itself as one of the leading travel retailers of fine wine and luxury spirits in just a few years.

“Our core travel retail business is in Europe where the likes of London, Paris or Frankfurt still account for a large part of our sales. But we are widely spread and enjoy significant growth in Asia, the Middle East and Africa,” says De la Chevalerie.

While price promotions are still important, the mix of product lines can be varied according to the location, taking into account the maturity of the local market, travellers’ habits and who the traveller is. The product range may vary too between arrival and departure shops. “Due to high local taxes places such as Dubai, Sao Paolo, Oslo and Mauritius enjoy strong sales on arrival.”

Only two or three years ago the biggest buyers were Russian travellers and Brazilians were number two, but since their respective economies have been hit, that has all changed and both retailers and champagne producers have had to adapt. France as a whole accounts for just over half total travel retail champagne sales with Paris the major airport hub while the UK comes second with nearly a 10th share, according to IWSR figures.

SPECIAL MEMENTOS

The desire of visitors to leave France with a gift or special memory is well serviced by the Moët Hennessy Boutique at Charles de Gaulle airport, now open for two years, that’s run in partnership with Aéroport de Paris and LS Travel Retail. Managing director of Moët Hennessy Global Travel Retail Donatienne de Fontaines-Guillaume confirms that Paris, in particular, and London are two of the most important European hubs.

“People want to take something with them as a reminder of French Art de Vivre, our objective is to be an ambassador [for the country]. While the house of Hennessy has an outlet in Taiwan, in Asia champagne is relatively young and the market underdeveloped. It’s much more European focused,” says De Fontaines-Guillaume.

For the group which boasts the five brands – Moët, Ruinart, Krug, Veuve Clicquot and Dom Pérignon – that she describes as the “jewels of Champagne”, it’s been an action packed summer. It’s launched three cuvées aimed at pushing the boundaries of champagne consumption, two Rich styles from Veuve Clicquot and Moët’s Ice Impérial Rosé, and bursts of activity have been organised around these new wines.

The latter pink style is a partner to white Ice Impérial, which has been specifically promoted in travel retail over the past five years. Targeted locations during the peak summer season include Ibiza, Malaga, Palma, Barcelona, Nice, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore.

“Feedback from travellers is excellent, as most of them experienced it in beach bars and clubs and are delighted to find it at the airport to bring it back home,” says De Fontaines-Guillaume. “At the airport, we recreate the atmosphere of a summer beach club with deck-chairs, palm trees and live music. Travellers are invited to discover a perfect serve of Moët Ice Impérial in a large Cabernet glass with three ice cubes. Ice Impérial Rosé was launched this summer in a few selected locations, with very limited quantities, keeping the sense of exclusiveness and the excitement around the Ice Impérial collection.”

It’s a similar story for Clicquot where the rosé style has been introduced to join Veuve Clicquot Rich, first launched in 2015, in domestic and travel retail markets in Paris, London and Sydney. In 2016, Rich has conquered new airports with the launch in Hong Kong and Singapore, while Veuve Clicquot Rich Rosé has been introduced to complete the collection exclusively in travel retail Europe. Although this is a summer campaign, it’s always summer somewhere in the world and De Fontaines-Guillaume makes the point that one of the strengths of travel retail is that sales aren’t heavily slanted towards the last quarter of the year as in so many domestic markets.

While these sweeter styles are specifically designed for summer drinking, more like a cocktail, mainstream brand Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut gets a new travel retail campaign in the shape of the Clicquot Journey, in line with the brand’s usual clever, innovative marketing.

There are 20 city destinations in the Clicquot Journey Collection. The tins, in the shape of an arrow, list the name, be it Amsterdam, Istanbul or Kyoto and give the distance in kilometres from Clicqout HQ in Reims on the box – respectively 351kms, 2,147kms, and 9,504kms, as I’m sure you’d want to know. A very simple but smart idea.

MARKETING INITIATIVES

Pernod Ricard, with its GH Mumm and Perrier-Jouët brands, has also been increasingly active in this sector with initiatives including pop-ups designed to bring a sense of theatre to airport outlets. “During the last edition of Design Miami, Perrier-Jouët invited international travellers to discover the Enchanted Garden, a multisensory pop-up space at Miami International airport,” says François Plantecoste, MMPJ business acceleration director. “Travellers were offered the opportunity to buy an exclusive product set with bottles of Grand Brut and Belle Epoque plus two flutes, priced at US$180.

“Offering a full brand experience to consumers with events such as our Perrier-Jouët pop-up store in Sao Paulo or the Mumm Melbourne Cup experience in Sydney boosts customer store penetration and sales.”

For the larger house of Mumm, French domestic sales remain key, but notable successes in the fast-growing Australian market, helped by sponsorship of the Melbourne Cup and F1 (until very recently), have seen that become the brand’s first export destination. “Within the top 10 champagne houses, Mumm is the fastest-growing in Australia,” says Plantecoste. “And globally, our two brands are the fastest growing, gaining 0.4% market share, according to IWSR 2015 figures.”

He sees Asia, Latin America – specifically Brazil – and the Gulf States as the main drivers of travel retail growth among the emerging markets, but also notes “a strong growth in Spain in 2015, due to a surge in luxury tourism in Madrid and Barcelona and greater industry focus on the super-premium sector.”

Juliette Allain, commercial director at Nicolas Feuillatte, the third largest international brand, is also bullish. “Globally we have had a dynamic start in 2016 in the global travel sector, with significant growth in all sectors: airlines, cruise line and duty free,” she says. “Our main customers are still airline companies.” While European markets are central, Allain says there’s been a nice development in sales in the US this year. “We still need to do better in Asia, but we are working on this.

“The duty free market is a showcase for all the grandes marques. This is why it’s important to Nicolas Feuillatte to be a strong player in this sector. It offers us contact points in an extremely qualitative environment with our consumers, plus great sampling opportunities. Being only 40 years old, we are the youngest grande maison de Champagne and we still need to attract new consumers and invite them to taste our cuvées.”

Feuillatte has worked hard on producing the exclusive packaging for its range, from Brut Réserve to its iconic prestige cuvée Palmes d’Or, that travel retail demands. But in a new development to be launched this year at Cannes, it has started working with the Camus group to introduce a special champagne, only available in travel retail: Collection Particulière Champagne by Nicolas Feuillatte.

For Olivier de la Giraudière, travel retail director at Lanson: “Travel retail exclusives are an essential part of trading in this channel. From September we are introducing the limited-edition Lanson suitcase, which will contain a bottle of our Black and Rosé Label wines at all Charles de Gaulle and Orly stores in Paris. We must be able to offer travellers a point of differentiation from the high street.”

For the more premium cuvées in the range it’s important to get listed with the top operators in the right outlets. And, while value remains important, particularly in some of the more mature markets, there’s a notable trend towards premiumisation, says La Giraudière. “In special stores such as the Lagardere outlet in Charles de Gaulle airport and in places like Dubai, that’s where wines like the Lanson Collection range (of older vintages) in magnum can feature and the recently released single vineyard Clos Lanson.

“It’s all about the shop window.”