Estée Lauder withdraws from stand presence at Cannes show

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By Martin Moodie

The Estée Lauder Companies has decided to withdraw from its stand presence at this month's TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes.

The US beauty giant's decision was prompted by the commercial impact of the September 11 US atrocities. In a statement, Estée Lauder Travel Retailing Worldwide vice-president and general manager Fabrice Weber said:  "As well as the many thousands of people affected by this catastrophe, countless commercial enterprises will also suffer. 

The travel-retailing industry is already experiencing the fallout, with numerous businesses struggling to provide quality product and service while functioning in as normal a manner as possible in the face of such adverse circumstances.
 
"To this end, the Estee Lauder Companies' presence at this year's TFWA World Exhibition will be very much toned down and there will be no major stand at this year's exhibition as has been the case in previous years.  Instead, we will explore other avenues through which we might work with our retail partners--and the travel-retailing industry in general--to drive the business towards the position it enjoyed prior to the events of September 11.

"Estée Lauder Travel Retailing will work with its retail partners in determining a strategy to see us all through what will be a new period of turbulence in the history of the business.  This requires a close examination of our objectives in order to establish the best way to achieve our collective aims."

The company reiterated its commitment to the industry and to TFWA. "The Tax Free World Association and its members have our full support in the difficult year ahead of us.  We know that we are all working towards the same goal and we will do everything within our power to ensure that the business regains its footing as soon as possible."

TRW understands that key Lauder travel-retail executives will show their support for TFWA by attending the event at the start of the week.

More positively, several key Middle Eastern buyers have reiterated their commitment to attending the show and as of this morning, the leading Asian buyers were still intent on attending.

The e-mail Crisis Update: Executive Summary, out this Friday, will update Duty-Free News International subscribers on all the latest Cannes and industry news.

• The Nuance Group today confirmed its participation at Cannes. The Swissair travel-retail subsidiary is continuing to trade as normal, despite the well-documented problems of its parent company. Nuance will host a party on the Monday night of Cannes in which it will announce its Pizazz Product Design Award.