Wellington airport retailer reports "unprecedented" sales drop

Gavin Lipsith

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Duty Free Stores New Zealand's sales at the airport fell by 22% in November as international passenger numbers dropped 10.5%

Duty Free Stores New Zealand has reported a 22% decrease in sales at its Wellington International airport stores in November, the result of 10.5% decrease in international passenger numbers. The operator, which recently filed on injunction to stop the airport appointing a second duty-free retailer in its current tender, said the results were the biggest decline in a single month since its contract started in 2000, reflecting the increasingly difficult retail environment at Wellington.

Duty Free Stores operations manager Grant Archibald told RavenFox.com that a change in flight scheduling at the airport had led to the decrease in afternoon departures. "Such a drop is unprecedented for Duty Free Stores New Zealand at any of the airports where we operate," he said.

Duty Free Stores also operates at Queenstown, Dunedin and Hamilton airports in New Zealand, and at Queensland's Gold Coast airport and Adelaide airport in Australia. The company also runs a downtown duty-free outlet in Wellington.

Duty Free Stores' telephone and internet sales in Wellington increased by 90% in the month, a fact that Archibald said pointed to some "serious issues for retail at Wellington airport".

See DFNI December 15 for more details on the dispute between Duty Free Stores New Zealand and Wellington International airport.