retail concepts

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…)

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Retail safari: inside the Glossier London pop-up (updated)



Glossier retail store design

I finally made it to the Glossier London pop-up in Covent Garden. It’s been open for seven weeks and it closes on 9th Feb* at the end of the year, but I wanted to get the Christmas crowds out of the way. And the wait was worth it. Glossier is as famous for its pop-ups as its cult-like community and influential cool-luxe aesthetic. Having started out as an e-commerce brand, it has slowly built a strategy of opening pop-ups in key markets to test our products, meet its customers and build hype around the brand.

With still only 36 products in the line, the five-year-old old brand is still small, but the appeal is huge. (more…)

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High Street fragrance update: Zara X Jo Malone, Urban Outfitters, M&S, Glossier



Glossier You EDP

I just noticed that the Urban Outfitters Gourmand fragrances* that I raved about a couple of years ago (below) are back in stock. I assumed they had been discontinued. I get a lot of traffic from searches on this fragrance line, which isn’t that surprising; it’s £14 and very good. Sweet and marzipan-y if you like that ‘brunch-at-the-patisserie’ kind of smell, and the bottles are good looking too. (more…)

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Positive fashion: Maggie Marilyn introduces circularity-first wear-now-recycle-later basics



Maggie Marilyn Somewhere basics collection

Here’s a very cool concept I can get on board with. Maggie Marilyn, known for its sustainable but high-priced designs is introducing a new lower-priced offer of direct-to-consumer elevated basics. Think boxy blazers, organic merino wool sweaters and the perfect white jean.

While the proportions and fabrics look great, the ‘Somewhere’ concept goes further. Marilyn will introduce a “take-back scheme” in 2021, allowing well-loved pieces to be sent back to be recycled into new ones. This circularity-first concept (similar to For Days) feels like a real shift in how we consume. (more…)

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