Shilla Duty Free opens its 23rd store in Changi Airport

Shilla Duty Free opens its 23rd store in Changi Airport. November. 08, 2017 07:58. by Eun-Seo Park clue@donga.com.

Shilla Duty Free is gaining momentum in expanding its duty-free business overseas, setting an ambitious revenue target of 1 trillion won next year only from its overseas operations.

Shilla opened its duty-free store at Terminal 4 in Singapore's Changi International Airport at the end of last month, said Hotel Shilla, the operator of Shilla Duty Free. With the opening of its cosmetics and perfume section last month, the retailer now operates 23 stores in Changi airport, occupying a space of 8,000 square meters. The retailer has been venturing into overseas markets, starting with its first overseas store opened in Changi airport in 2013.

Terminal 4 is a newly built passenger terminal, from which foreign airliners, such as Korean Air, Cathay Pacific Airways and Vietnam Airlines, operate, and is a gateway many passengers from Korea, China and Southeast Asian countries pass through.

Shilla Duty Free conducted an analysis of customers' purchasing behavior and placed popular cosmetic brands including Chanel and Estee Lauder in the front for effective display. Hera, a domestic cosmetic brand, has been also added to the list of brands it sells.

“We have taken extra care in choosing brands, as the terminal has been designed in a way that all passengers coming from the immigration desk must pass through the duty-free store,” Shilla Duty Free said.

The retailer is set to open duty-free store in Hong Kong International Airport in Chek Lap Kok in December. Shilla Duty Free won the deal in April to operate perfume, cosmetics and fashion duty-free stores in the airport. It is also running a duty-free store in Macao International Airport, while it opened off-airport duty-free shops in Phuket, Thailand in November last year and in downtown Tokyo in April.

With its duty-free business expanding overseas, Shilla Duty Free is expected to record 1 trillion won in sales only in overseas markets. From the total sales of 3.3 trillion won last year, 500 billion won came from its overseas business.

"We expect this year's overseas sales to be similar to that of last year," a Shilla official said. “But the number will soar from next year once we open stores in major airports in Asia.