Flemingo Duty Free reiterates commitment to Sri Lanka

Flemingo International, parent company of Flemingo Duty Free Sri Lanka is one of the fastest growing travel retail and duty free operators in the world. Flemingo is currently present in over 34 countries with around 150 operations, with a focus on emerging markets. Today, Flemingo is present in 34 countries with over 150 operations in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America.

Flemingo operates across different formats such as duty free shops in airports, cruise ships, borders, downtown, seaports, UN commissary shops, diplomatic duty free in addition to inflight supply as well as convenience stores, food and beverage and luxury retail outlets at airports.

Flemingo International is a Dubai based global duty free and travel retail operator with a focus on emerging markets and a vision to achieve $ 2 billion sales by 2020. 

Nearly two decades ago, realising the potential in the trade routes between East Africa and the Middle East, Flemingo opened its first outlet in Africa and its distribution business in Dubai. This was followed by further expansion in Africa. In 2003, Flemingo entered Asia with its first outlet in India. The company also manages the Mumbai duty free, the largest duty free in the country covering an area of 50,000 Sq Ft along with its partner DFS. The JV also has fashion and accessory shops in Delhi. 

In 2010, Flemingo acquired Baltona and entered the European region followed by the acquisition of Iris Ekspres, the Turkey based in-flight duty free operator. In 2013, Flemingo acquired Chacalli-De Decker, a specialist in the supply of duty and tax free goods to diplomats, UN organisations and military missions. In 2014, Harding Retail became part of the Flemingo group. 

Flemingo Duty Free commenced operations at the Bandaranaike International Airport in November, 2011 and since inception, Flemingo has been working with leading suppliers and partners to bring in exciting promotions and offers to its customers. With the launch of Flemingo in Sri Lanka, duty free retail got a face lift and has undergone a huge transformation. The quality of retail, fit outs, furniture and last but not least customer service improved tremendously which resulted in an overall improvement of the Sri Lankan duty free complex with the other operators too refurbishing their shops to keep up with Flemingo’s standards.

Given Flemingo’s experience in the Indian Subcontinent region, they have a thorough understanding of the market, trends and customer profiles. “Flemingo understands the need for luxury brands and product lines and also the need for variety for the customer to choose from, and with this in mind we pioneered the listing of many luxury brands and product lines in Sri Lanka thus giving the discerning customer a variety to choose from,” said Flemingo Chief Operating Officer – Asia P.K. Thimmayya. 

Flemingo , through its innovative campaigns and exciting consumer promotions have been able to engage well with passengers and have built up a reputation of coming up with  the best duty free offers in the region, thereby enhancing the image of the Colombo airport as a favourable duty free  destination. Thimmayya stressed the fact that customer delight and satisfaction were paramount to Flemingo and he said they would endeavour on a continuous basis to offer the best deals and promotions within the region. 

“One of the main marketing objectives is to ensure that there are continuous promotions planned through the year across categories thus ensuring continuous innovation and excitement on the shop floor.” 

In the recent past Flemingo has introduced many exciting promotions and tied up with leading industry/non-industry partners, availing customers of exciting and unbeatable offers.  The first A promotion in partnership with Diageo resulted in a mega prize of 500 g gold for the lucky winner, while white goods, cars, electronic products such as Apple Phones, laptops, Samsung smartphones, travel vouchers, etc, have also been given away. In fact recently Flemingo gave away $ 5,000 travel voucher to one of their lucky customers. 

Yet another popular promotion launched was with Pernod Ricard where luxury branded watches such a Rolex and Omega, travel vouchers, LED curve TVs, etc were given away to several lucky winners. Similar promotions with popular confectionery brands Nestle and Toblerone where Scooties, phones, gold, TVs, etc were given away were also conducted.                                                                                                                                      

Apart from these, Flemingo has partnered with payment gateways to offer its customers special deals and also implement exciting raffle draw promotions specifically for them. To this effect, Flemingo has in the last five years tied up with Master Card, VISA, NTB and recently with Unionpay to offer discounts to their cardholders. 

The Flamingo success has been its ability to stay local as it grows increasingly global. They ensure local culture, knowledge, sentiments and people are part of the operations. As Thimmaya proudly stated, “We don’t believe in half measures; once in a country – be it big or small, we are committed to customer delight and engagement and have made huge investments in improving retail theatre and focusing on highly visible promotional activities. Innovation in customer interaction and engagement is an important focus with Flemingo. Latest technology is used to ensure speedy and efficient check outs keeping in mind consumer convenience and comfort.