Nuance and Shoppers’ Stop win at Bangalore

Tina Milton

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The Nuance Group and Shoppers’ Stop have been awarded the contract to operate the duty-free and travel-retail concession at Bangalore International airport

The Nuance Group has won its first retail concession in India through a joint venture with Indian retailer Shoppers’ Stop. The company, which has earmarked India as one of its key strategic markets for expansion, will begin operations in April 2008.

Retail operations at the international terminal will be managed by a newly-created joint-venture company called The Nuance Group India, while Shoppers’ Stop will handle retail in the domestic terminal, supported by Nuance through a technical management agreement. The two contracts cover retail space of about 3,200sq m (34,432sq ft) and are valid for five years. The value of the concession is about $150m.

The retail offer in the international terminal will comprise five stores, covering 2,000sq m (21,520sq ft). One of these outlets is a 450sq m (4,842sq ft) arrivals store. Domestic retail will also consist of five stores and a total of 1,400sq m (15,064sq ft).

Nuance president and CEO Roberto Graziani said: “We are highly pleased to have been awarded the contract to operate at Bangalore International airport, which serves a fast growing and increasingly important business location. Nuance has defined India as a key strategic market for future expansion. We are confident that, through our partnership with strong local retailer Shoppers’ Stop, we are perfectly equipped to bring our know-how to the Indian market, and we are determined to expand our presence from this first fantastic foothold.”

Nuance executive vice-president business development and strategic marketing Carlo Bernasconi commented: “Our holistic approach to airport retailing will certainly benefit passengers passing through Bangalore airport and it is our clear objective, by combining international expertise with strong local market know-how, to create a completely new benchmark for Indian travel-retail.”

Managing director and CEO Shoppers’ Stop B S Nagesh said: “Shoppers’ Stop has pioneered quality retailing concepts in India, including Shoppers’ Stop, Crossword, Hypercity and Mothercare, over the last 15 years. The proposed joint venture with Nuance will bring a global standard of retailing to all travellers in the country. The contract win further demonstrates our commitment to Indian retail and the ability to serve our customers in our stores in all the cities and at the airports before and after they land.”

CEO Bangalore International Airport Albert Brunner explained: “The bid of Nuance and Shoppers’ Stop has combined an innovative design and a high quality of travel-retail outlets with an intelligent and competitive financial proposal. We are committed to a fair partnership approach between airport and retailer in order to maximise consumer satisfaction and commercial returns.”

Bangalore is India’s fourth biggest airport and is privately owned.In the year to April 2006, Bangalore handled 7m passengers of which 1m travelled internationally. In 2008, the airport expects passenger numbers to grow to about 15m.