The new store at Rabat Sale Airport, opened January 21, will be the site of a new Wine and Cigar concept store scheduled to launch later this year
IDFS
High season calls
With a focus on customer service and numerous renovations ongoing and planned, IDFS is in good shape for its peak season in Morocco BY RYAN WHITE
n our last interview with Revic Tantoco, General Manager of IDFS, we discussed the large-scale reorganization of the company, which included streamlining through a concentration on business development, a redoubled focus on fostering a good relationship with the Government of Morocco, ensuring the sustainability of the business as a whole, meeting the company’s financial objectives and making sure all departments are aligned toward the common goal of continued growth. We caught up with Tantoco just before this year’s TFWA WE in Cannes to speak about sales, passenger traffic at the airports where the company operates, upcoming renovations and new stores. It’s clear that a year after the reorganization of the business, IDFS is in a better position than ever going into high season in Morocco.
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Gulf-Africa Duty Free: Can you give me the most recent passenger traffic statistics at the airports where you operate? How does this compare to previous months? Revic Tantoco, General Manager, IDFS: The month of August registered the highest passenger traffic so far this year. However, this is just a 0.42% increase from the total number of passengers registered during the month of July. In terms of monthly passenger traffic, there has been an average monthly increase of 25% since January, but the growth declined during the month of August, possibly due to the observance of Ramadan, which occurred from July 20 to August 19. 24
GADF: In terms of sales/average ticket/penetration, can you give me your latest statistics? How does this compare to the previous months this year? Are sales ahead of passenger numbers? RT: Sales for the month of August are 2% higher than the previous month’s sales. Notably, however, this figure is 21% more than last year’s sales during the same month. In previous years August contributed the highest sales over the course of the year but due to the effect of Ramadan this year, the month only ranked fourth among the first eight months of 2012. Average ticket for the month of August is 0.32% more than last month, but 1.16% less than the average year-to-date expenditure per customer. The average market penetration for August stood at 8.24%, which represents an improvement of 6% versus market penetration in July. Furthermore, this figure is 17.27% higher than what was registered in August of 2011. Finally, sales are ahead of the passenger numbers. During August we posted an increase of 21% over last year’s sales of the same period, as opposed to passenger number which posted a decline of 7% compared to the same month of last year. GADF: What are your forecasts for sales for the rest of the year? RT: We are expecting a higher sales turnover for the rest of the year as our peak season has just started. Provided the passenger numbers don’t suddenly start declining, we
GULF-AFRICA DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING OCTOBER 2012
expect to hit our sales targets for the next four months. GADF: Can you tell me your top three selling categories? RT: Our highest selling category is Tobacco. Some popular brands within the category include Marlboro, Winston and Philip Morris. Fragrances & Cosmetics comes in second, with brands such as Chanel, Christian Dior and Paco Rabanne. Finally, Wines & Spirits is third place in terms of sales and popular brands include Heineken, Johnnie Walker and ABSOLUT Vodka. GADF: In terms of purchasing habits, are you noticing any major shifts lately? Who are your main customers? RT: There are no major shifts to speak of. Our main customers are French tourists. GADF: Can you explain some recent or upcoming promotions? Which brands are involved and what are the mechanics of the promotions? RT: We recently concluded our first ever tieup with Ryanair, wherein we offered an exclusive 15% discount to all Ryanair passengers. This great discount was offered from May to July in three of our locations—Marrakech, Agadir and Fes. Indeed, this tie-up promotion was successful as it increased customer traffic and customer spend at these three locations. In terms of other activities, in order to have strong brand recall, we are currently focusing on our institutional promotion,