A central issue
As ASUTIL prepares to invite duty-free players in central America to join its ranks, Nicki Saunders talks to vice-president Francisco Heredia about what is set to be a crucial year in the Association’s history
For the first time in its history, the Asociación Sudamericana de Tiendas Libres (ASUTIL) will venture out of South America this year to the shores of Panama, where it is to hold its 11th annual conference. The move reflects the Association’s intention to open up its membership to retailers and operators in Central American and Caribbean states – a new approach that was outlined at the Association’s board meeting last year.
The meeting also saw the election of Aldeasa international director Daniel Montero as president to replace Walter Zeinal from Zeinal Hermanos. Francisco Heredia Lafuente, commercial director of London Supply, was confirmed as vice-president. Heredia, who has sat on the ASUTIL board of directors for over a decade, is confident that the opening up of the Association to include Central America was the right move.
“It will be a very important year in the history of ASUTIL,” Heredia tells Frontier. “The duty-free players in the Central American region are not covered entirely by any association at the moment, so we will invite them to join – this is the reason that we are preparing the next conference in Panama.”
The extension of ASUTIL will cover all that is Latin America, through Central America and the Caribbean, up to Mexico. “There is a huge interest by the retailers of this region. When I was in Panama the main operators there welcomed the arrival of ASUTIL to the region,” Heredia says.
ASUTIL was formed in 1995 in order to represent the interests of the duty-free operators, retailers and suppliers in South America. Its members include London Supply, Aldeasa, Duty Free Americas, Dufry, Zeinal Hermanos, Interbaires and a number of key duty-free suppliers in the Americas. The first conference was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1997.
One of the Association’s functions is to encourage its members to raise the standards of retailing and the products and services they offer to consumers. This is particularly important in Latin America, says
Heredia. “We have to maintain the luxury and the glamour in our shops.
In South America the people see the duty-free business not just as an opportunity to access special prices, but also to access special products and a certain atmosphere – we have to maintain the position in the mind of the consumers.”
What operators must steer clear of, Heredia warns, is the “supermarket” style of over-emphasis on price campaigns, volume-driven strategies, and often unattractive, shopping environments.
“When you appear as a supermarket the most important thing is the price. But the tax savings are becoming lower and lower, and we often have problems with the local markets on prices, so we have to use our imagination to present the shops in a different way, and ask the suppliers to develop special products for travel-retail.
“In my vision, this is the most important quality to maintain in our region. All the operators have this objective, and the business is evolving on this basis.”
The 2008 ASUTIL conference will take place at the Intercontinental Playa Bonita Hotel in Panama from 3 to 6 September (see above). The first three days will be conference days, with the final day set aside for social activities, including a visit to the Panama Canal.
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