Lacoste has entered the Myanmar travel retail market with the opening of a store at Yangon Airport.
The 100sq m store, located in the airport’s new Terminal 2, features Lacoste’s latest concept design. The brand said the store aims to offer a premium shopping experience to local and international travellers.
Lacoste Asia Pacific Travel Retail Director Erin Lillis-Arrowsmith said: “We are very excited to break into this new market with this new standalone boutique in Yangon Airport. SMI [Singapore Myanmar Investco Ltd] has put together a great brand line-up and we’re looking forward to a great partnership.”
The Moodie Davitt Report recently caught up with Lacoste CEO Asia Pacific and Global Travel Retail Jean-Louis Delamarre, who joined the company two years ago, to find out about the brand’s next phase of growth.
“We have a huge network of stores around the world, over 190, and in my first year at the company we condensed the number of stores and massively improved the quality. Better doors, better locations and fewer at the beginning,” explained Delamarre.
“Results are great so we’re starting to move from ‘fewer, bigger, better’ to ‘bigger and better’ because we are investing more. The growth we are enjoying this year is ahead of my expectations so that means the strategy is working well.”
Lacoste’s strongest markets in travel retail are Asia and Europe. “Things out of our control like terrorist attacks are hurting the travel retail business big time but for us Asia is doing well,” noted Delamarre. “The partners we have, airports and retailers, are seeing that the Lacoste brand is becoming hotter and hotter.
“In 2016 we are focusing on our core markets of Asia and Europe, together the two make up 85% of our business. North America and Latin America are not a big priority for us at this stage.”
In Europe, Delamarre said that France is the number one priority for Lacoste this year, with the brand also expanding rapidly in the UK. “The store we recently opened at London Heathrow Terminal 4 has started very nicely so I think there will be more opportunities there. The UK will also be a big priority for us this year.”
“Travel retail is super-important in terms of branding,” said Delamarre. “The money we spend on media in the channel is disproportionate compared to the business. We over invest because we believe it’s really the window to the world for our brand.
“In terms of contribution to the group it is still relatively limited but it’s one of the fastest growing businesses we have. Travel retail is an engine of growth.”
Source: The Moodie Davitt Report
