Hachette plans redesign of Relay stores

Tina Milton

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Hachette Distribution Services believes the revamp of its familiar Relay news and books brand, starting in North America, will help it deliver higher spend per passenger in an increasingly competitive environment

Hachette Distribution Services (HDS) is to redesign its travel-retail news and gift concept Relay, carrying out a gradual renovation of its stores over the next couple of months. The move is part of a bid to increase market share in key regions such as North America.

The initiative is designed to give Relay a more targeted approach to news retail and will use graphic elements to incorporate a local flavour at each host airport. The concept is designed to fit around a theme for the storefront suggested by the airport authority.

Explaining the thinking behind the redesign, HDS Retail North America president CEO Jean-Baptiste Morin said any news concept has a limited shelf life. "Relay has become the world's largest newsstand in travel-retail in part because of its efficient and customer-friendly design. But as good as the original concept was, the time had simply come to revisit its design to keep it contemporary and fresh, specifically on the very competitive North American market."

Morin explained that feedback from airport landlords had been so positive that the company is finalising discussions to introduce the new design to more facilities later in the year and early next year. "For us and our airport partners this new customer experience will allow Relay to maintain its industry-leading productivity by delivering high spend per passenger," he insisted.

HDS operates 100 airport news stores in North America. It has built or renovated about 70 of its stores in the last two years, and Morin said that most of the store network was in "excellent shape". "Rolling out the new Relay design therefore makes sense on new projects or where we can renovate older stores," he explained.

Grid2 International developed the new design on behalf of HDS. Grid2 International partner vice-president marketing and communication Dimitri Vermès said Relay wanted to create an updated and refined environment that would encourage browsing. "Our design is sophisticated, yet fun. To achieve a destination experience with local appeal, we selected an understated palette and chose residential-like finishes and injected fun facts into the graphic elements. The major elements of design include an exterior brand identity that is consistent in every Relay, but the exterior mural, cash wrap and promotional/merchandise signage all play off local themes."