The 20sq m pop-up launched on 1 March and will remain in terminal S4 until the end of April/beginning of May. L Oréal Travel Retail and Lagardère Travel Retail have officially unveiled the Armani Box travelling pop-up store at Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport in the presence of TRBusiness and other media. Located in Terminal S4 (Hall M) which is mainly used by Asian travellers, the 20sq m beauty pop-up was launched on 1 March and is a 90% make-up experience. It will remain in the terminal until the end of April/beginning of May before heading to Haitang Bay, Sanya and Sydney Airport in August. The red and black Armani Box has already been implemented in downtown and airport locations worldwide. These include Paris (downtown), London s Covent Garden (downtown) where it remained for six months and Hong Kong International Airport, the only other airport location. As visitors enter the pop-up, they are greeted by Uri the gorilla, its signature emblem. This resin gorilla came from a movie set and was a gift to Giorgio Armani. It now takes pride of place in his Milan home.
The Armani Box beauty pop-up will remain in the terminal until the end of April/beginning of May LIMITED EDITIONS before heading to Haitang Bay, Sanya and Sydney Airport. The gorilla has been especially reproduced by Italian artist Marcantonio Raymond Malerba for the Armani Box and is featured on a limited-edition Lip Maestro lip-stick and Armani Box shopping bags. Vincent Boinay, L Oréal Travel Retail Managing Director, who described the pop-up as a perfect cocktail of surprise, seduction and service said: When you have the quality of the staff, space, products and brand something like this is successful. Underlining the power of the pop-up concept in general, he added: It can be extremely powerful for several reasons. The first is image and the ability to meet what we call very qualified customers in a terminal. Second, is the experience brought to customers and the interaction with them. We can focus on this here in a very specific area, but it is often impossible in a main store due to elements such as time and space. Thirdly, you can bring new elements into this kind of pop-up such as the instagram wall and other digital features in this store. Offering an insight into the overall L Oréal Travel Retail airport strategy, Boinay emphasises the importance of bringing the best for customers. We can t deliver everything as they don t have the time to discover everything. We have to give them the opportunity to find the best.
Visitors entering the pop-up are greeted by Uri the gorilla, its signature emblem. ARMANI FACE DESIGNERS Meanwhile, passengers in-store can also have their make-up done by an Armani face designer. They can try the Armani Complexion range situated on one side of the store and full Armani Lip-Range on the other. The Armani lip range features the iconic Lip Maestro and latest Lip Magnet launch. The limited-edition Rouge d Armani shade (#501 Milano) is also exclusively available at the Paris pop-up, which offers a complete digital experience. This includes a photo-booth giving visitors the chance to take selfies with Uri as regular photos or animated GIFs and the Connected Mirror concept. This enables customers to record their make-up sessions and have the footage sent to them later. Regarding the overall pop-up space, Lagardère Travel Retail has quite high requirements. Sabine Fagan, Executive Vice President Purchasing, Duty Free Global told TRBusiness: This is obviously always a space with customer interactions.. This is why we are asking for personalisation and exclusive offers. We want to have a story to tell. It has to be very interactive. We already have high profile promotion (HPP) podiums where we interact with customers, but this is a level beyond. It is stopping the flow and creating a wow effect.
The Armani Box travelling pop-up is a 90% make-up experience. The pop-up has already exceeded sales target for the first month, according to Fagan, who added: Service and personalisation are key to this strong performance. The brand gained full rankings in make-up and the main Armani Sì fragrance line they are pushing is in our top-10 [fragrance] brands. In terms of target consumers in Terminal S4, French is the main nationality. That said, they do not dominate in terms of sales We have a lot of Asian customers from China, Hong Kong and Vietnam. There are also American passengers as well as there are flights to the US. Armani is also performing exceptionally well in the recently launched T2E New Age BuY Paris beauty concept (Hall K). The red [branding[ is eye-catching and very different from the rest, she remarked. Emphasising the importance of the digital element in-store, Fagan said: This is the trend today. You cannot escape digital. We want to attract the young crowd. At present, 30% of travellers in airports are millennials and we don t really know how to speak or relate to them. Digital is certainly one way of doing so. They want something dynamic and interactive so digital is very important. Digital concepts are also vital for HPPs in its main store. She explained: We have two HPPs. One is very classical and the other we are pushing is more interactive with digital elements.
The Armani Sì fragrance line is among Lagardère Travel Retail s strongest performing fragrances. Société de Distribution Aéroportuaire Director General/CEO Guy Bodescot commented: I am very proud of this concept. Our whole strategy to create that wow factor, transform people on the edge of happiness and anxiety and leave them with a positive impression of Paris is summarised in one box. This kind of experiment is a good way to mix beauty, culture and design.