Fragile, handle with care
There is a strange anomaly in the flagging china and crystal sector. While many travel retailers are overlooking this small category in favour of more profitable and exciting product types, there is nevertheless a sense of buoyancy and optimism amongst the handful of suppliers who keep coming back with new ideas and edited assortments. For them, at least, there is still profit and potential in china and glass.
That is not to say that the sector is without its challenges – in fact, it has rather more than most. Bulky, breakable products, most often displayed behind glass with no salesperson in sight are the category’s major bugbears, though hefty competition from sectors generating substantially more US$ per square metre is pretty significant. The answers, say home decoration’s most successful players, lay in continuous re-assessment of product offer (small and gifty are in… large, bulky and traditional are most definitely out), the lure of quirky new designs teamed with strong brand image, and merchandising tailored to travel retail.
Unsurprisingly, Swarovski is at the forefront of pushing out the boundaries of the sector. For vice president travel retail Peter Zottl, the main challenge faced by the Swiss company – famous for its crystal Disney figurines and its latest range, Lovlots – is getting its product out from behind the glass. “We are doing two things,” says Zottl. “We’re going for personalised space with trained sales
assistants, or installing self-service turning units that allow travellers to choose, pick and pay. Based on the success of the self-service concept for Swarovski jewellery, we anticipate similar success for a specially edited crystal assortment. By nature, crystal is very much a ‘gifty’ category, and as such will always be in demand in travel retail. If brands and operators do their homework together, the potential for sustainable and substantial growth is there.”
The onus for this “homework”, and the creativity required to breathe life into the sector, believes Zottl, is very much on the brands themselves, not the retailers. It’s an approach embraced by other suppliers. Lladro, for example, has just introduced a new line called Re-Deco, which combines traditional Lladro with a fashionable twist. The white porcelain figurines in this line are decorated in platinum to give them a more sculptural dimension.
“We hope Re-Deco will open up new doors for Lladro,” says Francisco Navarro, area sales director for South America, the Caribbean and the Middle East. He believes that the strength of the Lladro name combined with a marketing strategy that promotes complementary product offers and strong point of sale material will help the brand to forge ahead in this difficult market.
It is brand strength to which Villeroy & Boch attributes its travel retail success. Though readily admitting that airports are not ideal outlets for homeware products, the company nevertheless plays on the familiarity of the Villeroy & Boch name and style, and has had success with smaller products like the New Wave cup in this selling environment. Its Christmas ornaments and Easter assortment also have a strong gift appeal, and have worked well in airports like Luxembourg and Schiphol. For export director Charles Antoine de Theux, however, the travel retail market extends far beyond the airport doors. Any traveller buying a Villeroy & Boch product while away from home is considered a travel retail consumer, and it is at these customers that the brand’s latest product offerings – Vivo tableware, Ethno, the latest new wave pattern, and Colours of Africa – are aimed.
For Scandinavian company Georg Jensen, a whole range of new homeware products are on the board and, believes global travel retail manager Tomas Rosén, meet the requirements for brand success in this sector. “There is a huge market for good quality gift articles in a commercial price segment,” he says. “A focused visual merchandising can tempt the travellers to impulse buys.”
Georg Jensen has focused on innovative, surprising and functional designs with Aya, its new thermos concept; Flora, a vase concept; Forma, a cheese concept; Glow, a candlestick; and Barbry, a carving set. “The main challenge for companies is to have a focused assortment that is displayed nicely and to have a range of small products that meet inflight requirements. We develop innovative products in the travel
retail price segment with special packaging. The products are supported by advertising in both travel retail and domestic markets.”
Norwegian company Christiania Glasmagasin has combined product and design with a very focused approach to travel retail. In fact, the company has only one TR shop – at Oslo airport – where its designer-led products and Norwegian appeal have seen such success that the company has just renewed its contract with the airport. “As long as the designs are right and we can offer different sizes, prices, and of course Norwegian-made articles, we do not experience the usual challenges,” says marketing manager Anne Aanensen Karlsen. The latest new product on offer is a glass vase designed jointly by Hadeland Glassworks head designer Maud Gjeruldsen Bugge and famous Norwegian florist Finn Schøll. “We are seeing a trend for mix and match,” she says. “A mix between casual and design pieces. You do not have to have 12 of each and only the finest crystal and china when you lay a table. Functionality is also very important, and multi-functional items are popular, such as a glass that can also be a vase, a sugar bowl or a candleholder.” A brand’s own creativity, she says, is its only limit.
In fact, adds Lladro’s Francisco Navarro, with the challenges of the sector properly addressed, limitations become much less significant.
“Awareness and innovation are crucial. We need to be on the lookout for global trends and possible changes to the market, and try to lead them by launching innovative products that capture the eyes and the wishes of our customers. As long as this is exercised, the sky is the limit.”
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