DFS follows Chinese tourists to boost sales
With big-spending travellers venturing farther afield, duty-free giant aims to open outlets at key destinations to build on local strategies
The world's largest duty-free retailer DFS Group will add more outlets outside Asia as mainland travellers, who now contribute more than half of the firm's global sales, find tourist destinations farther away from home.
Mainland tourists, who barely made an impression on DFS' income even a decade ago, had overtaken the Japanese as the biggest customer group for the company, DFS chief operating officer Michael Schriver said. Overall sales grew more than 165 per cent in this period.
Japanese tourists now account for just 20 per cent of the company's revenue.
The 83 million mainland tourists who went overseas last year spent US$102 billion, replacing Americans and Germans as the biggest overseas spenders, according to China National Tourism Administration.
In the first five months of this year, the number of outbound tourists jumped 17.3 per cent year on year to 37 million, on par with the growth last year, the agency said.
Imagine if we can divert 1 per cent of the traffic in the airport to our shops
Hong Kong remained the biggest tourist destination for mainland outbound tourists. The city's contribution accounts for more than a fifth of total sales at DFS and will rise to 30 per cent this year. The "conversion rate" of shoppers to buyers at DFS Galleria in Sun Plaza, Tsim Sha Tsui, showcases the potential of the market.