France’s second airport has been rewarded for its global sales strategy, which includes the renovation of its terminals, the reworking of its offer of sales outlets, its customer satisfaction ratings and its strategic vision with brands and operators.

Nice Côte d’Azur overcame the competition from Schiphol and Heathrow.

On the occasion of the Cannes Tax-Free World exhibition, the independent retailing professionals from the world over on the jury of the 2018 Frontier Awards, rewarded the work that Nice Côte d’Azur airport has done over the past four years to rethink passenger journeys and to renew its entire commercial offer.

“Our starting point was the fact that our airport benefits from a unique location in the heart of the French Riviera, which is an internationally renowned tourist and business destination with a range-topping brand image,” Filip Soete, Sales Director of Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur.

“Nice Côte d’Azur has a duty to live up to its surrounding region, by offering the most surprising shopping experience of all Europe’s airports.”

The first step of this major programme consisted of refurbishing the two terminals to achieve two goals: smoother passenger movements allowing for more spare time, and a larger boarding area to propose a broader and more varied offer.

With expert advice from the Martine Leherpeur Conseil firm of consultants, Nice Côte d’Azur focused on four categories: Riviera essentials, French essentials, trendsetters and airport essentials.

In four years, the number of sales outlets has increased by 71% to 77: six duty-free shops, 33 stores, including four pop-up stores, 26 restaurants or take-aways and 12 service areas.

“The upselling of the airport is demonstrated by some achievements of which we can be proud. The Versace store is the first one on the Riviera. We also boast the first ever Fragonard and The Kooples shops in an airport. We have also attracted the talents of Thierry Marx, with his two Michelin stars, who opened La Plage in terminal 1, and of Mauro Colagreco, the world’s third-ranking chef, who created the menu of L’Estivale in terminal 2”, explains Valérie Chuong, Head of the Shopping and Services Development department.