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Despite geopolitical issues, Qatar Duty Freeis doing better than ever

By Hibah Noor on May, 30 2018 | Retailers

Thabet Musleh, Head of Qatar Duty Free

Thabet Musleh, Head of Qatar Duty Free (QDF), is excited about the future. “We’re going on a journeyat the moment. A lot is happening in the industry and the region. We’re just trying to be as adaptableand as flexible as we can.”

As for his opinion on the five-star retailer’s past performance, 2017 was “tough”, he asserts, “but wefinished the year very well – better than we anticipated.”

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And more is to come. During the week of the TFWA Asia Pacific show alone, QDF welcomed a newSamsung store and a new Estée Lauder promotional site, featuring Tom Ford, Jo Malone and Crème dele Mer. The US beauty brand’s 200 square meter activation upwill be trading for two months. Thecompany has opened similar pop-ups with other brands, such as Christian Dior’s Maison Dior andL'Oréal’s Grand Hotel concept.

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With the Samsung store, QDF looked at what its consumers are buying, as “electronics is big in travelretail at the moment”, he reveals. There are two stores side-by-side, catering to travelers. The outletcarries a wide range of headsets, headphones and accessories. Meanwhile, in the generic electronicsstore, QDF carries top brands, such as Beats by Dre, Sony, and Bose, again taking care to look at whatits passengers are buying. The store is in an excellent location at the bottom of Concourse C, whichsees 59% on average of the overall terminal passenger traffic.

A new Tumi store is opening in June, and a further opening is scheduled in September, but Thabetcan’t share more details yet. Meanwhile, the airport itself is undergoing future expansion to deal withthe demand and growth of Qatar Airways.

More innovations planned

Global airport firsts are another feature of QDF. The retailer’s partnership with Dior meant that it wasthe first airport to launch the Maison Dior pop-up concept in the Middle East, which included twofragrances created exclusively for Middle Eastern consumers. “This concept has been hugely popularwith our passengers,” he enthuses.

Other recent store openings include Gucci, a second Harrods outlet, Moncler, Penhaligon’s, Polo RalphLauren, a third Gold Shop and Swatch. Last month, the company celebrated a new Gucci Bloomfragrance pop-up. More such innovations are planned.

QDF always aims to innovate and adapt its offering to its customers in line with shifting demographicsand in response to changes in technology, with a focus on providing customers with five-star serviceand memorable experiences. They include a resident tailor to ensure that customers can have theirnew suits adjusted while they wait, and express nail and hair treatments for passengers. QDF recentlybecame the first airport retailer in the Middle East and Africa to offer the Alipay mobile-basedpayment system to Chinese passengers.

QDF constantly reviews and evolves its retail and F&B offer. For example, one of its mid-range diningconcepts, Marche, was recently reconfigured and rebranded to cater to a wider range of dining tastes.

The aviation blockade has presented a challenge in terms of its supply chain, but thanks to itsstrategic relationship with its core suppliers, the operator was agile in minimizing the impact on itssales and profitability, delivering outstanding results compared to previous year, according to Musleh.

“As a result of the ongoing geopolitical situation, we’ve seen a definite shift in customer demographic.We’ve seen a significant growth in the number of Chinese, Russian and other Eastern Europeanpassengers. We’ve worked with the airport and Qatar Airways and we’ve used dynamic businessintelligence to understand the changes in our customer demographic.”

For example, QDF worked with Hamad International Airport (HIA) to move flights departing toGuangzhou Baiyun International Airport to one concourse, ensuring that Chinese passengers couldenjoy the Chinese New Year pop-up at QDF.

QDF also customized its retail offerings by collaborating with Qatar Airways to provide targetedpromotions to passengers traveling to some of the airline’s recent new destinations, includingHelsinki, Kyiv and Prague.

A happy and engaged workforce

QDF’s retail offering is reflected in the diversity of its team of over 2,000 multicultural staff fromalmost 50 countries, who are trained to deliver outstanding service to passengers and propel sales

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growth. Its continued investment in its staff to develop a happy and engaged workforce through theQDF Learning Academy was recognized at the 2017 VeryEast Summit, China, where Qatar Duty Freewon the Best Employer in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry award.

The company also uses digital platforms to communicate with its customers to inform and educatethem about the latest brands and products they can discover in its stores.

In 2017, QDF became the exclusive supplier for Qatar Airways’ inflight duty free service. Thisseamless integration with Qatar Airways enables QDF to predict passenger behaviors and tailorproduct needs. An online pre-order service enables customers to pre-plan purchases and collect theminflight.

Musleh, who became Head of QDF in early 2018, remains optimistic about the future for this five-starbusiness. QDF recently announced that it would be the sponsor and exclusive retail partner of TaxFree World Association (TFWA) Golf Tournament, taking place at Cannes’ Royal Mougins Golf Club, onSeptember 30. “I’m proud to work for a five-star airline like Qatar Airways. QDF is an amazingbusiness, and we have an amazing leader who is very supportive and passionate and who has veryhigh standards. He’s very involved in the business,” he concludes.