WDF plans to grow beauty share to 60%

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The retailer announces bold plans for beauty as it adds a new fragrances area and two boutiques at London Heathrow terminal four

World Duty Free (WDF) is aiming to grow the beauty sector's share of its sales to 60% within the next three years. WDF managing director Mark Riches told TRW that "this would be a fantastic achievement". Beauty already accounts for 52% of WDF sales and is being allocated more space at the company's airport stores.

The company will welcome over 100 new launches in 2004, Riches said.

The company is planning the retail offer at London Heathrow's new terminal five. Riches described shaping the beauty offer as a challenging proposition. ?The question is how we can fit beauty in with the offer of sectors such as gifts and tobacco,? he said. ?There will be opportunities for new concepts such as The Perfume Gallery there.? WDF is opening a new L'Oréal store in February and a new La Mer corner in the new year.

The retailer has opened a new fragrance area at its recently refurbished main store at London Heathrow terminal four, along with outlets for beauty companies Molton Brown and Christian Dior. The £750,000 ($1.29m) overhaul has given the store 8,000sq ft (745sq m) of retail space, with new flooring and new personalised fragrance wall bays.

The Fragrance Boutique offers customers open selection merchandise and easy access sampling. The company said that the new boutique reflected the success of the beauty sector in travel-retail, and the demand for prime retail space in the category.

Riches said: ?Accounting for 50% of WDF's business, the fragrance and skin care cosmetics division attracts most of the world's finest brands.

?Luxury retailers Christian Dior and Molton Brown are amongst the latest brands to invest in prime retail space at the airport, with the demand for luxury goods and famous brands at the airport going from strength to strength.?

The new 225sq ft (21sq m) Molton Brown store, its first in airport retail, will be followed by another concession in March in the terminal one British Airways executive lounge. A new 350sq ft (32sq m) Dior outlet has also opened, which WDF said is the first stand-alone cosmetics unit of its kind in the UK.

• WDF director of product strategy Alyson Reilly is leaving the company but will stay on as a consultant. Her responsibilities will be taken by trading director Andrew Bailey.