Pandemic Forces Airports And Travel Retailers To Pivot To Domestic Consumers

One of the world’s biggest airport retailers, Gebr Heinemann, and top Asian airport hub, Singapore Changi Airport, have taken steps to widen their retail offers to domestic consumers in order to claw back some of the lost revenue caused by lockdowns and flight restrictions. At the weekend, Germany-based Heinemann opened a pop-up store in the downtown Central district of Hong Kong, which will be open for a whole year. The outlet will showcase “some fun new brands in a flexible and fresh environment” according to Victor Chan, General Manager at Heinemann Hong Kong. “This store will allow us to re-open and recover at the airport while managing and mitigating inventory risks,” he said in a social media post. Heinemann has multiple confectionery stores at Hong Kong International Airport where traffic has plummeted. In September passenger numbers were down by 98%, similar to preceding months according to the Civil Aviation Department of the Special Administrative Region of China. Read more at Forbes.