China Duty Free targets $600m

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China Duty Free Group (CDFG) is aiming to triple sales to $600m by 2005, group chairman Gai Xhixin said today.

Speaking at the Tax Free Asia Pacific conference in Singapore, he said the booming tourism industry would contribute largely to the rapid development of duty-free sales in China. "As China opens up, the duty-free industry will have more opportunities for development, and we plan to increase the number of outlets and improve the standard of retailing in those stores," he said.

Shopping as a proportion of tourism spend ($16.2bn last year) remained low in China, he added, but CDFG planned to help raise the level of spend, particularly in duty-free.
Strategic alliances such as the China Power alliance with King Power would strengthen CDFG's competitiveness in the duty-free market, and help the company attain better prices for its goods, said Gai.

The company also plans to restructure and streamline its operations, which he said were currently too complicated. New separate divisions will be created for purchasing, marketing and sales as well as business development and operations.
"We want to improve service standards and to standardise the way we do business," he said. "We are also examining ways of developing e-commerce to lift the speed and growth of sales."