The Modern Marco Polo

It was September 2016 when Andrea Belardini, Dufry´s Chief Commercial Officer, shared with Dufry World his excitement about moving to Hong Kong to lead the Asian and Middle East Division. Four years later he is back in Europe with a backpack full of learnings and experiences and a great new challenge ahead of him: leading the integration of all commercial activities, from shop design, trade and digital marketing, category management to supply chain.

By Jorge Muñiz

Welcome back to Europe Andrea! With the experience you’ve, had you could be considered a kind of modern day Marco Polo, who’s travelled across Asia in the 13^th century and in return brought a wealth of knowledge about that part of the world translated into innovation.

Comparing myself with Marco Polo could be very pretentious! But, to some extent, the comparison quite describes my experience. These past four years in Asia have been an enriching experience, both personally and professionally and I´ve learnt a lot, not just about our business, but also about lifestyle and behaviors of customers in Asia and the Middle East. It´s a vast region with a huge variety of cultures, expectations and shopping preferences – probably the most diverse Dufry region in this sense.

However, as you may expect, it’s not just about cultural differences. The sophistication of tastes, with Chinese travelers being increasingly discerning customers, the higher proportion of millennials and the intensive use of technology are all trends which seem to be more accentuated in this region and are clearly showing the direction the retail world is heading in.

What´s your view about the deal with Alibaba? What do you think this will bring to Dufry?

There is no doubt that joining forces with Alibaba is a great opportunity for both Dufry and Alibaba. Their unparalleled expertise in the digital domain, paired with our consolidated positon in the more ‘traditional’ channel of travel retail will permit us to introduce innovative solutions for our customers, affecting both the in-store and online experiences.

In the middle term for Dufry, this will mean more great opportunities beyond that of developing travel retail in Hainan, which we are currently focused on, including an acceleration of the digitalization of our stores and processes; the improvement of our online consumer experience and digital marketing in general; the expansion of our available range across many more of our touch points; an improved ability to target travelers outside the shops; and finally a more personalized offer.

Now back in Europe, you arrive to find quite a challenge ahead of you as the new Chief Commercial Officer…

It is indeed a challenge, particularly considering the disruption brought by the pandemic. My new role combines several single elements of areas of responsibility I had in my past life, combined into one new role that now is scoped at global level and gives me the opportunity to stay very close to our three main industry stakeholders – our customers, the landlords and the brands. It´s of course a change – a big one. But life is about change, and all the more at Dufry!

The new organization integrates the ‘vertical’ functions (such as category management, shop development, digital etc.), where we hold key competencies and leverage our global influence, with the ‘horizontal’ market coordination. The latter is part of the responsibility of regional commercial directors, who are fully integrated with the global team.

In addition, new and streamlined processes allow timely and more effective coordination between the commercial teams and Eugenio Andrades’ teams who manage the operations.

We are going through unprecedented circumstances in the travel industry. How do you see Dufry getting through this crisis?

Covid-19 has taken the whole world into the unknown. And the uncertain component that the pandemic has brought to our lives, with very little or no visibility of what it is to come, even in the short term, is the most unsettling feeling current generations have had to go through – both at a business and a personal level.

But the capacity to deal with the uncertain is what makes a better or worse leader. In this sense, Dufry has taken the necessary steps to overcome the situation and emerge as a stronger player in our industry. Our new organization, aimed at simplifying procedures, increasing our business agility and shortening the decision-making process, has created efficiencies at all levels, and putting Dufry in the best possible position to face the current situation and to recover. It gives us the necessary flexibility that any business requires in such extraordinary times as these.

I strongly believe in the resilience of the business, so it’s up to us to adapt to the new requirements. I think that with the new set-up of our company we’ve created the right conditions to drive performance going forward.

The online sector has emerged stronger during the pandemic as customers
couldn´t visit traditional stores. Do you think these online shopping trends will remain as strong once we leave Covid-19 behind?

The online retail sector came into our world years ago and is most definitely here to stay. During the pandemic, restrictions on our movements and retail businesses, as well as - for some people - the fear of interacting with others has worked in favour of the online world, helping it to attract new customers that previously may have had little or no contact with this retail channel. For many companies in the retail industry this phenomenon has been a call to action to accelerate their online strategies. Dufry is no exception to this, and we are now accelerating the journey towards digitalization which we started years ago.

On the other hand, I’m optimistic about the role of our stores going forward. Based on research we recently carried out at 45 airports, we can see that our customers are generally feeling comfortable browsing the shops and interacting with staff. I believe this also boils down to the significant and coordinated efforts that all stakeholders have made to build and maintain a safe environment across all the points of the travelers’ journey in the airport. We have implemented significant changes in our shops to create a safe environment with the highest levels of hygiene.

Moreover we have seen that the appetite for travel remains, and as soon as government restrictions have been lifted, and flights have been made available, customers have resumed travelling. This is a key element and most important news, as it underlines the resilience of our industry.

In your last interview, you mentioned you were a sports fan and making inroads into kite-surfing. However, Switzerland, a great country for many reasons, does not look like a kite sufer’s paradise…

There are plenty of sports to be enjoyed in Switzerland and as far as kite surfing goes (hopefully soon), plenty of flights to experience!

Andrea, what´s your favorite hobby? What do you like doing during your free time?

Spending time with my three wonderful kids: Eleanor, Margherita and Giorgio

Your years in Hong Kong may not have changed your preferences since the last time we interviewed you… but the “Minute” questionnaire is one of the most popular sections of Dufry World… even if they are your second choices this time around, I´m sure our readers would love to know!