Tyko Travel Retail has reported its strongest first quarter in three years – and the second most successful in the company's history – with significant growth in listings both in the air and on the ground. 'Particularly encouraging is that the growth has been organic; that is with existing product rather than because of new brands introduced,' explains Director Global Travel Retail Martin Lovatt. 'Our Breo and Hippie Chic watches are continuing to sell exceptionally well inflight and we are really making inroads into airport, border and ferry listings now.'
In 2012/13 Tyko Travel Retail launched its multi brand strategy with the introduction of two new brands Hippie Chic & One Tribe, seeing the company’s portfolio grow from just one brand, Breo, to three within the space of 12 months. With a portfolio of complementing brands Tyko Travel Retail aims to offer the global travel retail sector choice, from current fashion trends to original classic pieces in both watches and sunglasses. 'This strategy is clearly paying off,' continues Lovatt. 'Business has grown 36% in Q1 compared to the same period in 2012/13 and year on year we have experienced a very encouraging 80% growth.’
Inflight remains the company's core business and this year's launch of brands to the Americas market via agency WorldClassBrands is already paying dividends. 'We have secured a number of key listings including LAN Chile and United, where sales have been exceptional, further supporting Tyko’s belief that our brands are the ideal impulse purchase onboard,' adds Lovatt.
Lovatt says growth outside the company's core airline business has been spurred by the introduction of the Breo Free Standing Display Unit earlier this year which enables retailers to sell a variety of watch models and sunglasses from an attractive, compact and easy to manager floor unit.
In the Americas, through WorldClass Brands, we've now got a total of 13 FSDU's in place, two with independent border store operators PacCan and 1000 Island and 11 with DFA – seven on the southern US/Mexican border, three on the northern US/Canadian border and one at Miami International Airport,' continues Lovatt. 'The PacCan outlet alone gives us fantastic passenger potential with 1.5m customers travelling through the location in peak months from April to September,' he says.
In the UK and Europe, Tyko is seeing excellent sales through its partnership with Nuance. The retailer added an FSDU in its Manchester T2 (Temptation) store at the end of May 14 and, says Lovatt, sales year on year are already up 125%.
In addition, a Counter Spinner introduced in Nuance’s latest offering at Manchester
Airport T2 (Attitude store), has seen sales exceed expectations since its
launch a couple of months ago; leading to a similar unit going into its Cardiff Airport DF
Store at the beginning of June.
'During the month 259 units were sold at Cardiff which was an incredible result,'
continues Lovatt, while several of Nuance’s locations in Europe are said to have
performed very well following the introduction of pedestal based BREO units.
Locations include Zurich walk through L2, Arlanda, Lisbon, Geneva, and Toulouse.
Paul Donaldson Nuance’s General Manager UK commented: ‘The BREO brand fits very well with our passenger and Center Parcs guest profile. Young, Colourful and on Trend,
the product offers great quality and value for money. The sustained growth of the
brand over the summer period allows us to further develop our partnership and we
look forward to continued expansion in 2015.’
Continues Lovatt: 'The idea is that Tyko can offer a turnkey solution for any size or type of retail location from the Counter Spinner for smaller shops – which can sell watches or sunglasses or a combination of both – to the FSDU which allows a more extensive range of both to a wall unit where the combination options are even more flexible. A redesigned wall unit with Brittany Ferries, for example, has seen sales v budget up by 176% within just two months.’
Meanwhile, Hippie Chic and One Tribe watch brands both continue to outperform expectations. Designed as inflight brands, Lovatt says Tyko has been 'both surprised and delighted' by the interest from ground shops and ferries for both brands. Consequently a Counter Spinner is now available for Hippie Chic and a merchandising unit for One Tribe is under development.
'We're really pleased that Nuance is taking Hippie Chic for four locations in the UK while Stena has launched One Tribe onboard 30 vessels across the UK, Ireland and Europe from June 1. Initial sales have been so positive that Stena is also now adding Hippie Chic to the mix from August,' says Lovatt.
In the run up to this year's TFWA World Exhibition, Lovatt claims that Tyko has never been in such a strong position: 'We're introducing a number of strong very exciting, on trend new brands in Cannes this year which are really different, innovative, and which capitalise on current trends,' he says. 'We've got a new stand in the Green Village K38; a dedicated and very knowledgeable team; and – as a company – are looking at different ways to serve our customers better, including new proposal forms designed to help buyers and make their selection process easier. Tyko is fast becoming a key player in the watch and accessory market in travel retail and, through working smarter and staying ahead of the competition, we're looking forward to one of our most successful years ever.'
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