ARI Global Head of Beauty Deirdre Devaney and ARI Ireland Marketing Director Anne Keane discuss how the travel retailer is relying on the strength of local brands to help drive growth in fragrances and cosmetics.
“Supporting local beauty brands is an important part of our DNA, linked to our strategic pillar to create a sense of place in stores.”
ARI Global Head of Beauty Deirdre Devaney commented on the growing role that local brands are playing in P&C in Ireland and ARI’s overseas locations.
That strong presence of local brands is reflected in ARI’s Irish presence, both in the Dublin Airport Duty Free and Cork Airport Duty Free stores. There are 17 brands, and some include Sculpted by Aimee, The Smooth Company, Max Benjamin or Poco Beauty have gained popularity and a following over Ireland.
Devaney adds, “There is a direct relationship between creating a sense of place, partnering with local brands and driving business.
“In an age of globalization where everything is easily accessible online, having local products with great stories and rich heritage appeals to the consumer who wants to take something home with them on their travels.”
But what makes a successful local brand stand out in a highly competitive landscape? A good product with a clear position and its point of difference as a ‘hygiene point’, and the ability to raise awareness among visitors is important. Here, the power of social media plays a big role.
“You can have the best product in the world, but if no one knows about it, it’s lost because there are so many beauty brands out there,” says Devaney.
“Brand-led or makeup artist brands do this well. A good example is Sculpted by Aimee. Aimee Connolly started out as a makeup artist, and made an impact through inspiration.”
ARI Ireland’s Marketing Director, Anne Keane, adds: “Authenticity is something founder-led brands can rely on because they are recognized as experts in their field.”
ARI relies on its local teams in each region to identify and work with local brands, often small, to adapt to the airport.
Devaney says: “ARI provides many tools to conduct research and insight in all groups and in all regions. We can generate a business proposition by offering stores and organizing positions; however, this approach does not take into account the details that come from ensuring the importance of the location of the selection of goods.
Keane says, “The likes of Poco and Sculpted have developed their SKU offering with the team’s guidance to change their shapes and sizes, knowing that people are adding their favorite products to travel stores.”
The product is still subject to change and improvement, added Devaney.
The search is on for an Irish fragrance brand to add to the portfolio. While ARI specializes in skincare and cosmetics, there is a clear opportunity to expand the fragrance category, including within the Irish brand’s platform, says Devaney.
“Opportunities across categories vary by location, and we adjust our approach accordingly.” In Cyprus, we have a strong fragrance business, with opportunities in skin and cosmetics. Portugal is the same. In Canada, skincare used to rule, but since COVID, the category has changed to fragrance due to changes in the status of passengers.
In Ireland, one of the negative aspects of any beauty or fashion brand is the inability to scale in Ireland. “It’s a big miss for me, and it would be great to have this as part of these kinds of stories, but it’s very expensive,” Devaney says.
It is compatible with the whole world
ARI’s focus on local people extends to other markets as mentioned above. In Canada, local names like Luc Vincent, Karine Joncas, Green Beaver and Watier resonate with shoppers in that market.
Cyprus Duty Free even created its own fragrance, Chypre Parfum du Temps, which won TREX Award in the Fragrance category from the Moodie Davitt Report by 2025.
All product and packaging information is available locally.
In the same process, Cyprus Duty Free will soon launch the first in the ARI network – a concept that rethinks how emerging and local products are presented and makes it easier for sales platforms in the airport terminal. More to follow soon.
Overall, scalability is another key ingredient.
Devaney says: “There’s a lot of work involved in developing this kind of variety and that’s where our local shopping structure is really important. Airport retail is a challenging environment and can represent a high-cost centre.
“We’re trying to work within a framework that can bring scalability and reach. How can we use fixtures? How can we share Brand Ambassadors, work with local marketing teams, advise if they can enter relevant platforms and enter local influencers? We support all of that at ARI.”
Ensuring proper condition in the store is another factor.
Devaney explains: “We don’t categorize Irish brands as a whole, as this doesn’t match our customers’ buying behaviour. Instead, some brands offer specific solutions, so we position them in the right way – where customers are most likely to be looking for those solutions – and allow each brand to highlight its unique advantages in terms of service, product or price in that context.
“If you’re in an environment that’s mostly high-end, popular and luxury brands, which we have, you can count on your advantages, whether it’s people, price or value-added services.
All of this helps attract an audience that, for many hot, emerging brands, is not the typical travel consumer.
Devaney explains, “We’re targeting social media-driven consumers who find job vacancies uninteresting or outdated.
“But that’s not all. Designed by Aimee and Poco Beauty, it has an audience that can be attracted to international brands and in a different way and we provide a platform and environment to showcase these compatible brands.”
That also speaks to the great ambition that many of these products have to go worldwide.
The Smooth Company, which specializes in hair products, recently won the Guaranteed Irish Business Awards Beauty and Wellbeing category (sponsored by ARI).
Keane says: “They were founded on a kitchen table in County Wicklow and are now going global. Sculped by Aimee is represented across the UK High Street market and supermarkets, so it’s great that we can support the exposure of those products at the airport.”
Devaney adds: “If you put something in front of 35 million people a year (at Dublin Airport) and it doesn’t work, then it’s not going to work.” How these brands work in our stores is a very good measure of how they will work more broadly.
Because we are a global business, we look at who is buying and where those people are traveling. For example, we have many British clients in Dublin, which means that there is no reason why you cannot set up a business for that center in Portugal or Cyprus. That supports access to these types as well.
That brings us to implementation and the need for new products to prove themselves.
“We had a record year last year, with double-digit growth, on top of the record for 2024. This was all based on driving innovation,” says Devaney. “It wasn’t just driven by local people, but these products played a key role in our success, and particularly in Ireland, the growth was driven by Irish products. Our performance would have been flat year-on-year if it wasn’t for innovation.”
Ensuring that there is a difference between the home helps to keep the product fresh and will remain a key requirement in the rapidly changing beauty market.
Devaney says, “The beauty travel business model is based on products that invest heavily in capex, and the margin is there to support a brand that is built to support high concession rates.
“If brands are investing in margin and capex, of course they want to get ROI normally over five years, but five years in beauty is a year these days. This is no longer the case with successful retailers on the High Street where beauty has become so powerful.
“While the model we’ve had for a long time may be difficult to change, we have to challenge ourselves and look at how it can change to stay relevant and attract new customers.
“I challenge our teams in each region to look at what’s happening locally. Local brands can bridge the gap by coming in, repositioning and making sure that what’s important locally is being served at the airport you’re traveling to. ✈
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