Duty Free Philippines targets more outbound Filipino travelers to shop at Fiestamall

MANILA, Philippines — Duty Free Philippines (DFP) plans to grow its Filipino international travelers (FITs) customer base as it partners with around 50 travel agencies for a marketing campaign that offers value for money deals.

In a statement, DFP chief operating officer Vicente Pelagio Angala said the marketing campaign would give a five percent discount to outbound tour groups who will shop at DFP’S flagship store- the Fiestamall in Parañaque City within 48 hours upon arrival.

The discount vouchers will be provided by DFP’s partner travel agencies to FITs prior to their arrival back to the Philippines.

“We target to increase brand awareness and to encourage FITs to shop for their pasalubong at DFP, instead of buying them abroad, by highlighting our price advantage and striking a chord with our customers’ sense of nationalism – that for every item bought at Duty Free, they help in the development of the Philippines tourism industry – as we are an attached agency of the Department of Tourism (DOT),”Angala said.

“This campaign is expected to build traffic in our flagship store to generate new sales leads and getting more revenue from our existing clientele,” he said.

Based on Mastercard’s Future of Outbound Travel in Asia Pacific 2016 to 2021 report, the Philippines ranked 8th in the top 10 list of fastest-growing Asia Pacific markets by international outbound trips from 2016 to 2021, with outbound travels that are expected to reach 4.3 million trips by the year 2021.

To keep with the trends in the travel retail industry, Angala said DFP has embarked on the renovation of the Fiestamall which is expected to complete on Nov. 30.

The renovation includes improvements in the food court, building facade, area “Go Lokal!” and Philippines’ Finest boutique, and the customer relations registration lobby and tourist lounge.

“This is just the phase 1 of this project. The second phase will start by the first quarter of next year, which will include improvements in the atrium, building exits,  and installation of LED screens,” Angala said.

He added that the confectionery section is also being renovated to become a chocolate haven for families.

The Fiestamall contributed about 35 percent of the total sales in 2018 and has a selling area of around 4,000 square meters.

DFP is also expanding the list of exclusive brands that it carries. Among these brands is Gucci Beauty, which it recently partnered with.

It said that Gucci has opened its first-ever high fashion cosmetics and fragrances collection in the Philippines through its partnership with DFP.

The boutique, which is located at the Duty Free Luxe in Pasay City, features the new lipstick collection under the direction of Alessandro Michele.

The creative director drew inspiration from iconic Hollywood movies and characters from the Gilded Era featuring unique formulations.

“We take pride that these giant brands choose to enter the Philippine market through our stores because of the trust and confidence built by the Duty Free Philippines brand over the years,” Angala said.

DFP registered total sales of $217 million in 2018, two percent up from total sales in 2017 of $213 million. The figure, however, was below its target of $225 million for the year.

For this year, DFPC is targeting to hit $220 million worth of sales.