The Trinity Award for Non-Airport Retailer of the Year: cdf Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex (China Duty Free Group)

A world-class retail arena. A magnificent multi-storey amphitheatre. A tourist destination in its own right. These are just a handful of descriptions that rightfully apply to the cdf Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex in Hainan, which was revealed to the world by China Duty Free Group (CDFG) on 28 October.

It is a landmark opening for the global travel retail sector too. The development features the world’s biggest duty free shopping complex, across 280,000sq m, with more than 800 renowned international and local brands, many opening their debut stores in China.

Alongside brand partners, CDFG (a subsidiary of China Tourism Group) poured in heavy investment and resources to create this hugely ambitious travel retail complex based on a fusion of ‘duty free shopping + culture and tourism’.

That blend is an important one. The cdf International Duty Free Shopping Complex is designed to wow visitors through its multi-faceted range of experiences. The complex integrates retail and catering and offers a seamless combination of online and offline services. Among the many highlights is AURA, a unique customised atrium designed by Wētā Workshop. This attraction brings imaginary worlds to life by delivering concept design, visual effects, collectables, immersive visitor experiences and games.

As a project, cdf Haikou cements – and is likely to extend – CDFG’s global leadership in the travel retail sector. It has created what the retailer neatly refers to as a “duty free shopping heaven”, which already looks destined to become a must-visit attraction in the tourist hotspot of Hainan. For its sheer majesty, groundbreaking design, profoundly ambitious vision, and luxury and craftsmanship, cdf Haikou International Duty Free Shopping is an irresistible choice for this Trinity Award.

The Trinity Award for Visual Design: cdf Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex

The cdf Haikou complex is also our Trinity Award choice for Visual Design in 2022. The creative vision, design and fit-out, with its culturally rich and respectful narrative, carries a notably grand ambition: to treat the customer both as participant and audience member. That can be seen in the wonderfully executed mall design and the branded store concepts within.

As we note above, Wētā Workshop played a key role in delivering this new retail stage. Sir Richard Taylor, the New Zealander who co-founded Wētā Workshop and serves as its CEO and Creative Director, summed up the thinking as the store was preparing to open in late October (see also video below).

“We are taking our audience on a journey to somewhere unique and by enhancing the emotive experience of a shopping complex, we take people beyond the expected and into the entirely unexpected.

“So I feel entirely confident that CDF have created one of the great architecture and retail experiences on the planet.”

The wider design strategy devised by CDFG builds on this story of vision and ambition.

The company says that the “uniqueness” of cdf Haikou lies in creating “a storytelling, stickiness, content-driven retail business experience”, where different formats, IP, brand, spatial forms and art are mixed and blended.

The company notes: “For consumers, is cdf Haikou just another ultra-luxury shopping mall? Through in-depth insight into consumer behaviour and the emotional driving force behind it, we found that only a retail business experience with its own creativity and continuous output of content can truly capture the current and future consumers”.

What an outstanding statement of creativity and imagination captured (and executed) in one stunning location.