High-end foreign labels plan airport shops in India

With rising number of Indian travelers shopping at international

stores for high-end labels, top global brands are now looking at opening stores at leading Indian airports. US-based lingerie and beauty products retailer Victoria’s Secret, for instance, is close to opening its first beauty and cosmetic store at T3 terminal, in New Delhi. And Armani Jeans, a fashion brand marketed by Genesis Luxury in India, is opening a stand-alone store at the Delhi airport.

Channeled through Delhi Duty Free Services, the stakeholders in Delhi Duty Free include Delhi International Airport, GMR Group and Yalorvin, a 100 percent subsidy of Aer Rianta, an Irish travel retailer that manages and operates duty free and duty paid airport retail outlets in Europe, Asia and America. An increase in the number of travelers with a lot of spare time on their hands and the need for doing some last minute shopping is leading companies to consider retail space at airports. Brands like Benetton and Samsonite already witness good business at their airport stores. Samsonite South Asia currently operates seven stores at different airports. The company’s next store is slated to open at the Mumbai international airport and it plans to open more stores at other airports.

Even Hidesign, which sells goods in major airports such as Bangalore domestic, Cochin, Delhi (domestic), Hyderabad (domestic) and through shop-in-shop outlets in Shoppers Stop at Raipur and Bangalore International has been witnessing positive sales at airport stores.

According to consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa), in 2013-14 domestic traffic was up 6 percent while international traffic, for the first eight months, was up 10.7 percent. The firm said it expects domestic growth to be in ‘low single digit’ at 1-5 percent for the coming fiscal year but projects international traffic to grow at 10-12 percent. Products like cosmetics, perfumes and single malts are most sought after at Delhi Duty Free. Now even luggage and apparel is picking up.