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Travellers have reason to cheer. You will no longer have to buy television sets and mobile phones on your foreign trip as Delhi Duty Free will shortly start retailing duty free electronic products on arrival, adding another revenue stream to its existing portfolio. Delhi Duty Free hopes that the category will become the second largest revenue churner after liquor.
“We have noticed that every seventh or eight passenger brings an electronic item following a visit abroad. There is a growing market for the same and we worked on setting up one here,” Abhijit Das, Head of Marketing, Delhi Duty Free, said.
The store is likely to get operational by the next fortnight.
Das said that the products will be cheaper by up to 20 per cent on various categories.
“We are studying the consumer psyche to see what would get picked up the fastest. We will have about 200 stock keeping units to start with,” he added. These will be television sets, cameras, accessories and audio solutions such as MP3 player. Delhi Duty Free will be adding mobile phones and tablets in couple of months.
The store is likely to come up across 1,000 sq ft, according to industry watchers. Das didn’t specify the store size but said that it has been strategically placed adjacent to the baggage counter.
Employee training
He said that DDF is also undertaking employee training to specifically address the electronic retailing business.
Das said that this is the sixth category to enter the duty free space after liquor, tobacco, perfumes, cosmetics, confectionery and fashion.
Liquor contribution
Liquor contributes as much as 60 per cent to the revenues followed by perfumes and cosmetics with a 25 per cent of the overall sales. The balance comes from confectioneries and tobacco.
According to aviation consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, Delhi Duty Free is the largest duty free retailer in India with sales of $72 million in 2011. It is expected to complete 2012-13 with $90-94 million in sales turnover and expects to cross the $100-million mark in the 2013-14 fiscal. It has about 40,000 sq ft of retail space spread across the arrivals and departure area.
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