Switching on in Singapore
Korea, China, Vietnam, Singapore, New Zealand and many more besides – Braun, it is clear, is a business with a considerable presence in Asia Pacific. Despite this, the supplier has not taken a stand at TFWA’s exhibition in the region for some years, although as duty free manager Klaus R. Mellin relates, this has had much to do with simple reasons of practicality.
“In the past I was overseeing the duty free business on my own and it was difficult to organise two shows in two months,” he says, alluding to the close promixity in scheduling of the Fort Lauderdale and Singapore exhibitions. “But now we are a team of three – two of us will be at the shows – it makes it easier to exhibit at both.”
As might be expected from a supplier that is continually refining and updating its product selection, Braun returns to Singapore with a considerable haul of new or recent products. Mellin and sales colleague Wolf Ayen will draw from Braun’s diverse product portfolio – which encompasses electric shavers, epilators, clocks and watches, travel hair-dryers, ThermoScan instant thermometers, blood pressure monitors and Braun Oral-B power toothbrushes – and showcase new items like the latest top-of-the-line Pulsonic shavers. Available in selected territories only until wider domestic roll-out in August/September, the Pulsonic line includes two shavers (9595 and 9585) that are supplied with the automatic – and frankly rather clever – Clean & Renew System.
Exhibition visitors should also look out for the latest additions to Braun’s selection of female grooming products, including the 2007 range of the Silk-épil Xelle epilators. The combination of the X’pert-épil hair-removal technology, SmartLight feature, New Active Massaging Rollers and a number of additional attachments, notes Braun, make these epilators “the perfect solution for total body hair removal”.
Last but by no means least, Braun will also draw attention to the latest developments in its Silk&Soft women’s shaver and trimmer range. New additions include fresh colours and features for the rechargeable lady shaver LS 5560 and battery operated model LS 5160, including the integrated SoftStrip – designed to stretch the skin for an even closer reach and lift problem hairs so that they can be shaved easily – and two new OptiTrim attachments.
“As our overall business is growing, we thought it might be a good idea to show our own flag again,” explains Mellin of the decision to return to Singapore, where Braun will be sharing a stand with Minox. “We don’t have a chance to travel in Asia all that much, so we clearly want to see as many of our existing accounts as possible. But I would expect we will also get some new people simply because they see us there.”
Korean success story
Underlying Braun’s decision to exhibit at the show once more, however, is a pattern of solid growth across the Asia Pacific region, most notably in Korea, which registered an impressive 30% increase in sales last year over the previous 12 months. “We had very good growth last year, particularly in Korea – inflight, at airports and in some downtown stores,” confirms Mellin. “We’ve had constant growth in Korea for many years, but for some reason the growth was even stronger last year than before.”
While establishing a presence in the Korean market brings with it a number of stipulations – the need to work with specialised agents foremost among them – the hard work is clearly paying off for Braun, which is enjoying especially strong sales of its shavers and dental care products there.
Elsewhere in Asia Pacific, Braun is continuing to reap the rewards of its association with the retailer King Power in China and Hong Kong, while Mellin notes that “the Philippines has also been starting to grow for us again in duty free”. The supplier has also hooked up once more with DFS at Auckland
and Christchurch airports in New Zealand: “It’s not as big as Korea, of course, but sales are coming on nicely there.”
Although the primary intention is to carry on growing in the Asia-Pacific markets that Braun already has a presence in, the company is keeping an eye out for other travel retail possibilities. Japan is a case in point, although it is clear that Mellin feels the country’s travel retail industry has yet to reach maturity. “If there is a chance to do something in Japan we will obviously do it,” he says. “But at the moment I have no indication that the overall situation has changed. Maybe after Singapore we will know more.”
Then there is the not-so-small matter of that enormous country now rivalling China for the generation of lucrative new opportunities for travel retailers and suppliers. “One thing that is obviously in the back of our minds is what we can do in India. We have started doing some business on Air India, for example, which is good. It is a start, and that is significant.”
Regardless of how the future plays out for Braun in Asia Pacific, its overall global duty free business continues to enjoy impressive growth. Taken as a whole, the company’s enduring success seems to confirm the wisdom of concentrating on well-defined product types (shavers, dental care, other health-related electronics) and not diversifying overly into more competitive areas of its chosen category.
As Mellin puts it: “We are electronics, but on the other hand not really electronics as we are not in that digital rat-race where you have to bring out new gadgets every three to six months.”
With a first quarter of strong sales in the book for 2007, there is every reason for optimism as Mellin and his team contemplate the onset of the hectic annual travel retail trade show season. “The first three months have been very positive, even above last year,” he concludes with satisfaction. “Overall it looks quite positive across the board.” n
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