China Report
Picture Gallery: Hainan Development Holdings and Dufry hail their Haikou breakthrough
We bring you exclusive images of Dufry’s first offshore duty free store in Hainan, a partnership with Hainan Development Holdings in Haikou.
31 January was a landmark moment for Dufry’s ambitions in Asia and China, as it opened its first offshore duty free store in Hainan. It is a partnership with Hainan Development Holdings (HDH) at the Mova Mall in the heart of the provincial capital, Haikou.
HDH, the licence holder for the store – branded Global Duty Free Plaza (GDF Plaza) – is a fully state-owned company of the Hainan Provincial Government.
The two companies announced last month that they had signed a strategic cooperation agreement to develop opportunities in Hainan’s booming travel retail market. In addition to the supply of global brands, Dufry will share its global experience with HDH.
Dufry Group CEO Julián Díaz says: “We are proud to see the first shop of our collaboration with Hainan Development Holdings now welcoming customers, who enjoy shopping in this attractive environment offering unique experiences.
Celebratory scenes on 31 January as GDF Plaza is inaugurated, another landmark in Hainan province’s extraordinary offshore duty free development
“The combination of Hainan Development Holding’s in-depth understanding of the local market with Dufry’s global duty free expertise, customer behaviour insights and access to all the renowned global brands creates a unique combination of skills contributing to the successful development of this promising business.
“We are looking forward to continue our collaboration with HDH and identify further duty free opportunities in the fast-growing Hainan market.”
The store, which will be opened in three phases, opened at a prime time during the run-up to the key Chinese New Year period, which begins on 12 February.
After the first-phase inauguration, further openings are planned in Q3 2021 and in Q1 2022. The full complex will span over two buildings, Aquarius and Capricorn, of the Mova Mall and offer visitors what Dufry called “an extraordinary shopping experience” across 38,920sq m of retail space once fully completed.
For the second and third phases, an additional range of top luxury and lifestyle brands, extending the ultimate product offer to over 350 brands.
More details will follow in the February edition of The Magazine, with a special report on the Hainan offshore duty free market.
At a time of deep turmoil for most travel retailers around the world, these scenes from Hainan offer an extraordinary contrast
Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail, fresh from the recent opening of its Maison Martell boutique with China Duty Free Group in Haitang Bay, also shows up prominently with the Cognac brand in GDF Plaza
Partner's message
The Moodie Davitt eZine Issue 291 | 9 February 2021
The Moodie Davitt eZine is published 15 times per year by The Moodie Davitt Report (Moodie International Ltd). © All material is copyright and cannot be reproduced without the permission of the Publisher. To find out more visit www.moodiedavittreport.com and to subscribe, please e-mail sinead@moodiedavittreport.com