Kochi, May 17:
The duty free
shop operated by Cochin International Airport Ltd has registered a 30 per cent
growth in its sales turnover to Rs 97 crore for FY 12. The turnover for the
previous financial year was Rs 73.36 crore.
Mr V.J. Kurian,
managing director, CIAL, said the improved performance has come on the back of
keen focus maintained in enhancing non-aeronautic revenue of the airport.
The company has
from the beginning focused on non-aeronautic revenue and has initiated a slew
of measures to drive growth through sources such as duty free shop, lease for
shopping space inside and outside the terminals, convention centre, MRO
services, he said. Around 2.59 million international passengers (arriving and
departing) travelled through CIAL during the last financial year. The growth in
international passengers was around 10 per cent compared with the previous
year, he added.
The growth in
duty free sales points to the fact that expatriates from Kerala have started
spending more on duty free merchandise, Mr R. Venkiteswaran, executive director
(finance), CIAL, said. Cochin Duty Free offers products of international
quality at lesser prices compared with other duty free shops.
Online biz
model
The CIAL Duty
Free is also working on an ‘online business model' to be implemented in the
near future. Customers abroad would be able to place pre-orders through the web
and can take delivery of merchandise on their arrival at the Airport from the
duty free enabling them to save a lot of time.
As part of the
Integrated Airport Management System, the specialised software for duty free
business is under installation at CIAL and is expected to ‘go live' soon.
Anticipating
further growth in the duty free segment over the coming years, CIAL has
commenced the construction of a large warehouse spread over 50,000 sq ft at an
estimated cost of around Rs 8 crore.
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