Chongqing-International tourism retail giant DFS Group won the bid for the domestic taxable retail franchise of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, with a plan offering an array of 18 luxury brands before the Chinese Lunar Year 2023, according to Sino-Singapore (Chongqing) Airport Commercial Management Co., Ltd on July 13.

Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport. (Photo provided to iChongqing)

DFS covers cosmetics, perfumes, watches, jewelry, alcohol, and tobacco as a world-renowned duty-free retailer. It has supplied 750 world-famous brands with its retail network distributed in 54 duty-free stores in 13 major airports worldwide and 23 downtown boutiques on four continents.

In Jiangbei Airport, DFS will operate 13 branded boutiques within 1,500 square meters in Terminal 3A, including Qeelin, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, Chloé, Boucheron, Montblanc, Longchamp, Armani, Versace; the majority of which are first stores in Jiangbei airports.

Jiangbei Airport possesses three runways and 1.66 million square meters of the apron (including the ramp, parking, and maintenance areas), which can meet the needs of 45 million passengers and 1.1 million tons of cargo and mail annually. According to statistics, in 2021, Jiangbei Airport ranked fourth in the passenger throughput of domestic airports at 35,726,200 passengers.

"We are very pleased that we were able to win this concession despite facing stiff competition from other operators," said DFS Chairman and CEO Benjamin Vuchot. "In preparing for the bid, our teams brought to life DFS' expertise in store design, retail operations, merchandising, and marketing, with a strong focus on luxury positioning."

The retailer plans to fully unveil its offering before the Chinese Lunar Year 2023 with a "stellar" array of 18 luxury brands, including those making their debut at Jiangbei Airport. In addition, there are brands already secured by the airport, including Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Gucci, and Burberry.

Meanwhile, it also introduced the DFS global service guarantee of "worldwide unconditional return and replacement service within 90 days, handling customer inquiries and complaints within 30 minutes, and offering solutions to customers within two days".

Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport. (Photo provided to iChongqing)

Chongqing is one of China's first five international consumption center cities, thanks to its city and population scale. It is crucial to enter the Chinese domestic taxable retail market after its success in Hainan duty-free retail market.

According to a representative for the Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, under the recurrent outbreaks of COVID-19 pandemic and world economic downward pressure, the entry of DFS fully reflects their confidence in China's economy and the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle. It also improves the international quality of Chongqing airport business and helps build Chongqing as an international consumption center city.

(Ge Rongchen, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)