Confectionery takes centre stage at Belgian Sky Shops

Gavin Lipsith

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The category is set to boost penetration when Belgian Sky Shops renovates its non-Schengen stores at Brussels Zaventem airport early next year

Belgian Sky Shops' confectionery development plans will enter a new phase next year when the retailer overhauls its stores on the non-Schengen concourse B at Brussels Zaventem. The company, which has been steadily developing the category for over 10 years and even acquired its own premium brand, Corne Port Royal, will place chocolate in the centre of its shops' entrances, flanked by smaller liquor and tobacco offers.

Belgian Sky Shops commercial manager Marc Leemans told RavenFox.com that the move was part of a larger plan to boost confectionery's presence, and said that the space allocated to the category would be much larger than in the retailer's current outlets. "In 1992 [when the abolition of intra-EU duty-free in 1999 was decided] we looked at how to develop our categories, and took the view that confectionery would be key," said Leemans. "Since then we have grown it consistently and acquired a premium chocolate brand, and now we feel that confectionery has become a big enough attraction to place it at the front of the store."

The retailer has operated at Zaventem since 1958, and bringing confectionery to the fore?a marked departure from the traditional duty-free strategy of using liquor and tobacco to drive penetration?is a bold one for a business that Leemans admits has been built on a conservative approach. "Our profitability is a result of taking a long-term view and a cautious approach to the market. We do not look for results tomorrow when we make a plan; growing confectionery has been our intention for more than 10 years now. Sometimes you have to dare to grow," he said.