Mannah Duty Free
The inauguration of Mannah Duty Free’s walkthrough store in Silvio Pettirossi Airport
The renovated storefront at the flagship La Petisquera is actually just the beginning of a project that will see the entire store, outside and inside, renovated. “The store will be completely transformed with an eye toward customer service and satisfaction,” says Mannah. After work on the flagship store is completed, the operator will renovate its second La Petisquera store in Ciudad del Este. To ensure consistent branding, the façade will be brought up to date according the standards of La Petisquera 1. On the inside the Watches section will be expanded on account of its growth as a high-selling duty free category over the last couple of years and its potential for continued success in the years to come, says Mannah. Changes will also take place this year behind the scenes. In Asunción, Mannah SRL is planning on increasing the size of its offices, warehouse and vehicle fleet as a means of better serving Asunción and Gran Asunción.
“We’ll be opening two new stores this year,” Mannah tells us. “Very soon we’ll inaugurate the first of the two in Salto del Guairá, Paraguay. It’s a city that has witnessed a lot of commercial growth in the last few years.” The Salto store will measure 1,000 square meters. Mannah tells us that considering the city is on the border with Brazil, he expects business there to continue flourishing for some time. The second scheduled store opening for this year is in the Uruguayan city of Rivera. Mannah Duty Free is currently wrapping up the paperwork required for the new location before construction begins. The La Petis72
quera-branded store will be located on the border with Santana do Libramento in Rio Grande do Sur, Brazil. Finally, Mannah tells us that the distribution arm of the company, Mannah SRL Importadora, continues growing in line with the travel retail business. In fact, 2013 will see a large-scale personalization project across Mannah Duty Free’s major locations for Mannah-distributed brands such as Absolut, Label 5, Drambuie, Salvatore Ferragamo, Jaguar Ferrari and others.
Last year’s store openings and renovations notwithstanding, we took the opportunity that our conversation afforded to ask Mannah about sales and top-selling categories in 2012. “Generally speaking,” he says, “last year wasn’t as good as 2011 for the border store business in Paraguay. Nonetheless, Mannah Duty Free maintained sales in line with 2011. Although we saw slower months such as June and July, strong periods in May and at the end of the year made up for this.” Bestselling categories across stores in 2012 included Accessories (watches, sunglasses and wallets) and Spirits (vodka, sparkling wine and whisky). Mannah tells Americas Duty Free that the right product mix was crucial to the company’s success last year, as was a strong promotional calendar, which included two large initiatives—one for the stores in Ciudad del Este and one for the locations in Asunción. In Ciudad del Este, Mannah launched an impactful promotion called “La Petisquera takes you on an unforgettable vacation.” For every US$100 spent, shoppers received a scratch ticket that gave them the chance to win
THE AMERICAS DUTY FREE & TRAVEL RETAILING APRIL 2013
a number of instant win prizes. Each contestant that received a scratch ticket was also entered into a draw to win a Brazilian beach cruise for two. The draw was held in December with special guest Brazilian singer Marina Elali on hand to perform for attendees. “The promotion was a huge success,” notes Mannah, “and thanks to our gracious supplier partners, over 2,000 instant-win prizes were handed out over the course of the promotional period.” The other promotion in Asunción took place both at the airport and hotel stores. Called “Magic Days,” shoppers could find over 2,000 products on special discount. In terms of promotions in 2013, Mannah recently put on a successful Mother’s Day promotion in May. The operator is also planning to begin its end of the year promotion in October, and Mannah tells us that will be bigger and better than anything yet seen at his stores.
Mannah Duty Free has been a staple of Latin American travel retail for over forty years. In 1970, Mohamed and Atef Said Mannah started Grupo La Petisquera with the objective of offering shoppers high-quality, imported goods at fair prices. After years of hard work and perseverance, Grupo La Petisquera now consists of an impressive six thriving companies. We asked Mannah what his secret is. “A pioneering attitude, audacity and professionalism,” he told us. “After 42 years since the founding of Grupo La Petisquera, we’ve created a history marked with the drive to overcome, determination and success. Quite simply, this is our brand—this is Grupo La Petisquera.”