Alison Farrington

TRP Travel Retail Style Index: September 2020



NARS Icons Sanya travel retail

Welcome to a new travel retail column for DRG by Alison Farrington aka The Retail Planner (TRP)

As global travel picks up again, we look at the business and shopping trends of the travel retail world. In particular, the beauty, fashion, accessories, and watches & jewellery categories, dipping into the product exclusives and digital strategies that often launch in Asia and give the rest of the world an idea of innovations coming soon.

DFS X WECHAT LIVESTREAM.  If you’re getting ready for a Golden Week shopping trip at the end of this month in time for the Chinese autumn break, then DFS is a go-to retailer with downtown and airport locations in Hong Kong and Singapore among others. Whether you still shop in physical stores or not, if there’s one thing Covid has done for consumerism, it’s to accelerate the trend for live stream shopping and this has been especially prevalent across China via WeChat. Now DFS has joined the live stream party. (more…)



Retail round-up: Lunar New Year airport pop-ups are a data-capture gift to beauty retailers



Lancome Renovated Absolue Cushion

DFNI associate editor, ALISON FARRINGTON reports on the travel retail beauty opportunity for Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is upon us and travel retailers across Asia have been creating special promotions designed to attract passengers for the biggest Chinese shopping opportunity of the year. Travel retail or duty free shoppers are big business. Often referred to as the ‘Sixth Continent’, in 2018 the global market was worth $79bn.

Beauty remains the biggest and fastest-growing product sector in travel retail, while Asia Pacific is the category’s main growth driver. In 2018 the region saw beauty sales grow 23.5% to a total of $31.5bn. Beauty and fashion accessories are the biggest pull for Chinese travellers eager to snap up seasonal limited editions at the airport. This year’s theme is Year of the Rat (sometimes interpreted as a mouse) and we’ve seen brands adopting characterful themes such as Rocket Rat and even Mickey Mouse. (more…)



Ask Alison: Is it time for indie beauty brands to get in on duty free shopping?



Niche beauty Duty Free airport beauty Dezeen

Earlier this week, independent beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury made its airport retail debut at World Duty Free in London Heathrow. The week before, the eponymous brand was one of four indie beauty companies (alongside Anastasia, Hourglass and POLA) to be showcased within the DFS downtown store T-Galleria at Galaxy, Macau.

It’s about time these types of self-made or direct-to-consumer beauty upstarts joined the action within the travel retail space. (more…)



The DRG retail index: Topshop, Benetton, H&M, Uniqlo




Here’s ALISON FARRINGTON’S latest monthly retail round up celebrating newness and innovation on the high street. Benetton is getting a reboot with a 90s nostalgia branding fest; Topshop is also dialling up a reboot for its Boutique collection; H&M’s latest Conscious Exclusive collection drops with new closed-loop fabrications and Uniqlo celebrates its LifeWear design principle with a Paris exhibition and pop-up

Topshop Boutique 2018


TOPSHOP REJUVENATES BOUTIQUE

Topshop wants to put its premium Boutique line back on the shopping agenda for a new generation of customers that are probably more grown-up and discerning than the retail brand has been talking to in recent years. Boutique is now about a point of difference, global design director Anthony Cuthbertson told the Evening Standard: ‘We are creating perfect wardrobe staples for the contemporary woman,’ he says, adding that the brand will offer investment pieces that are built to last. (more…)