Keeping Mr and Mrs Denmark Happy
Providing a comprehensive selection of brands and retail experiences to satisfy all customer needs is the key to travel-retail success, Copenhagen Airport’s Henrik Busch tells David Davies
IT requires only the briefest of conversations with Henrik Busch, Copenhagen airport’s director of commercial affairs, to become aware of his extraordinary enthusiasm for retail. At the time of this
latest interview with Frontier, he has just had lunch at the airport’s newest restaurant, København – an SSPoperated fine dining outlet in Terminal 3 – and wastes no time in documenting the new developments taking place at an airport widely regarded as one of Europe’s most dynamic.
Moreover, it soon becomes clear just how many projects are currently in progress. The refurbishment
of a central square in Terminal 3 necessitated by the recent creation of a new security check-point is now
nearing completion, with several new brands and approximately 500sqm of further retail space added to
the mix. Even more significantly, Busch and team are currently in the midst of a major development in the
area between Terminals 2 and 3. Several outlets have already opened their doors at the time of writing, with more than 20 set to be up and running by the time the project concludes in October. ‘Nytorv’, as the area has become known, will host a comprehensive selection of brands, a number of which – WHSmith, Polo Ralph Lauren and J Lindeberg among them – are making their Copenhagen airport debuts. Collectively, the area will provide approximately 2,300sqm of new retail and F&B outlets.
A well-known name in Danish retail circles for more than three decades, Busch’s previous career
credits include a 25-year stint at department store giant Magasin du Nord and nearly three years as CEO
of Royal Scandinavia Retail. He has been at Copenhagen airport for four years now and, by the sound of it, is still relishing every moment.
What is the underlying objective for the New Square project?
It’s been ten years since the last big expansion project in retail, and since that time passenger growth
has been very good [Copenhagen airport registered 21.4m passengers in 2007, an increase of 2.5% on the previous year]. Consequently, we felt that we needed to bring in some of the brands that passengers will be familiar with if they go through major airports such as Schiphol, Heathrow and some of those in the Far East.
What happens once this project has been completed in the autumn?
Well, I can tell you that I still have around 85-100 concepts and concessionaires knocking on my door,
saying they would like to open a shop the next time we have some space! I think we should have further
expansion and we are now looking into that. I would expect a decision to be made in the next half-year.
The last time we spoke, you said that your primary objectives at Copenhagen Airport were to bring “uniqueness and excitement” to the retail offer. Do you think that you have now achieved this?
I would say that maybe 80/85% of that goal has now been fulfilled. The new concepts we are opening
this summer and autumn certainly represent a big step forward, although of course there are still a few
brands that I would like to bring into the airport. We have definitely succeeded in clustering brands, so that high-end brands are next to other high-end brands, and so on. We have also made sure that we
balance the more high-end brands with those that can be afforded by what we call ‘Mr and Mrs Denmark’. A full price range is vital – for example, you can have a shirt for £20 and then also one for £100.
It’s up to others to judge, of course, but I think that this latest development [Nytorv] is probably the
most beautiful retail area in an airport. I have been visiting a number of the new airports in the Far East recently, and they are very clever in retailing, but I think we have really brought the design, layout, environment and passenger needs together, while making sure that all of the brands are able to present their branding like they can on the high street. It feels like a very complete area.
What are the most rewarding aspects of your job as commercial affairs director?
Firstly, to be a part of this development and to see changes in the right direction, informed by customer
needs. Making sure that retail at Copenhagen Airport is developing in the right direction and at a speed
we can afford is a very important part of the job. The other aspect is being close to many of the concessionaires. I have only been at Copenhagen Airport for four years, but I have been working in retail in Demark for 30 years, so I know many of the retailers very well. Of course, you don’t just need to be close to them – you also have to make sure that you can adjust the set-up and make amendments.
We are very active in concession management – we don’t just sign the contracts and say ‘we’ll see you in five years’. We’re an active player together with the concessionaire.
Do you have any unrealised ambitions in dutyfree/ travel-retail?
As long as I can be among customers and find out their expectations and what direction they are going
in, I will be happy. I am not someone who wants to be sat in the office all day; I need to be in the shopping centre and the terminal system to understand every aspect of what the customer needs. I have
been in the terminal four times already today, and I love it!
Is Copenhagen Airport’s centrality to European aviation – and travel-retail – now secure?
We have received many prizes over the last few years, but our strategy now is to be the best airport in the
world in our class, which is between 15m and 25m passengers. We are going back to that point to make
sure that we are fulfilling all expectations – from customers, passengers, airlines and so on. We have
a step further to get there, but I think we are now getting very close.
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