SPACE, DIGITAL,
TRENDS AND CLASSICS.
THE 360° VIEW.

Excellence in Airport Retailing is not a destination, but a journey. We would be happy to accompany you on your way with our expertise – competent and reliably. Benefit from our experience at national and international airports: from Hamburg via Friedrichshafen to Istanbul, we have successfully implemented large as well as small projects. Together we will ensure that retail and food & beverage at your airport become a unique experience – for passengers and visitors as well as for investors and stakeholders.

Airport Operators

Food and beverage at the airport - ACS - Airport

Increase your yields through targeted space development and optimisation

Based on many years of experience in the development of commercial marketplaces at international airports and extensive industry knowledge, ACS is able to develop marketing strategies that are tailored to the respective spaces. Our goal is to increase the financial revenues from lease management at the airport by offering passengers and customers a unique shopping and dining experience at the airport.

Together with our clients, we identify best-practice solutions and develop future-oriented contract models. Based on a clear vision, we support you in developing a long-term commercial strategy to improve the performance of your airport location.

We help airport operators to define the optimal size and mix of retail and food & beverage areas. This will enable you to exploit the potential of your target markets and strengthen your customer loyalty through intelligent concepts. We develop convincing leasing concepts for you and – if desired – support you in your leasing activities or tenders.

Our services at a glance:

ANALYSIS & ASSESSMENT
  • Evaluate passenger and customer profiles and purchasing behaviour
  • Health Check: Analysing the existing mix of concessions and brands
  • Analyse key performance indicators such as SPP, turnover, space productivity and offering, rental rates, penetration rates and average turnover
  • Evaluate the sustainability of rents and the underlying economic risk
  • Space Audit: Checking the execution and suitability of a commercial offer
  • Benchmarking site-specific key figures in comparison with global standards
STRATEGY & PLANNING
  • Strategic Quick Wins: Identifying potential to increase sales within the existing commercial offer
  • Planning commercial activities in new or expanded airport terminals
  • Space optimisation and allocation
  • Developing a branch and tenant mix that is tailored to the needs of the location
  • Turnover and revenue forecasts
  • Concession planning and tenders
  • Tender management from the preparation of the RfP to the evaluation of proposals
  • Market and competitor analyses for duty-free & duty-paid, food & beverage and airport retail
  • Business area analyses to assess the performance of the respective non-aviation area

RETAIL AND
FOOD & BEVERAGE

Airport retail - ACS

Exploit your chances at the airport now!

Are you a retail or catering company looking for new sales channels? National and international airports offer you a permanent stream of potential new customers. But the expansion rule also applies to the high-frequency airport location: location, location, location. Whether passenger segmentation, landside or airside, departure or arrival level and secure supply chains – the parameters for an intelligent location decision at an airport are diverse and complex.

We accompany you competently and reliably from the business plan as well as during contract negotiations, benchmark and key figure analyses until the start of operations. Benefit from our figures, data and facts from more than 20 years of experience in leasing retail and food & beverage space at over 200 international airports worldwide.

Our services at a glance:

  • Systematic structuring of your expansion project
  • Analysis of the parameters for your location decision (including passenger segmentations on the landside and airside as well as on the departure and arrival level, identification of secure supply chains)
  • Advice on your lease and concession agreements
  • Preparing contract negotiations with the shop landlords
  • Develop a valid business plan with all relevant KPIs on both turnover and cost side – for your lasting business success at the airport
  • Support and advice regarding all questions related to the start-up of your operational business (e.g. direct connection of your EPOS and merchandise management systems to a central data management system)

AIRPORT
INVESTORS

Airport retail - ACS - investors

We are your competent partner for commercial due diligence

ACS has more than 20 years of experience from more than 150 airport projects for strategic airport investors, airport operating companies and travel market companies. Our expertise in airport transactions, transition projects and retail tenders enable us to support our clients in complex and challenging privatisation projects. Our commercial due diligence services include all specialist services that need to be integrated within the acquisition project on the investor side.

Our services at a glance:

  • PPP-consulting
  • Analysing and optimising the organisation
  • Second-opinion appraisals
  • Preparation of make-or-buy decisions
  • Evaluating documents available in the data room (e.g. contracts, revenue and turnover forecasts, CAPEX/OPEX requirements)
  • Preparation of due diligence reports on the performance of duty free, retail and food & beverage businesses
  • Evaluate contract and operator models
  • Feasibility studies and commercial master plans
  • Market and competitive analyses
  • Red flag reports
  • Benchmarking
  • Support in the preparation of the business plan incl. turnover and income forecasts
  • Analysing the risks and opportunities of the current mix of concessionaires and brands
  • Identify trends and factors affecting revenue potential
  • Retail/Commercial Audits

M&A-Adviser

Airport retail - ACS - M&A

Market expertise and expert reports

In your role as M&A adviser, do you support investors and decision-makers from the equity, airport and/or travel retail industry? We advise you on all questions regarding the commercially oriented airport business. For more than 20 years, ACS has been pursuing the market consolidation in the global travel retail sector through corporate acquisitions or mergers. We are happy to share our knowledge of markets, operators and business models with you. We accompany you competently and reliably – from the assessment and calculation of the purchase price to the final preparation of the offer.

Our services at a glance:

  • Expert interviews and reports
  • Market and growth analyses
  • Competitive landscape, differences and overlaps in the positioning of the major players
  • Business models, revenue drivers and contract concepts in airport retailing
  • Structure of airport concession contracts
  • Bidding and tendering procedures for airport concessions
  • Typical operational best practices in travel-retail incl. Duty Free, food & beverage and retail
  • Current and future trends in Duty Free and optimisation potentials
  • Best practices in the supply chain of tour operators
  • Typical cost structure of the travel retail supply chain

AIRPORT PLANNERS
AND ARCHITECTS

Airport Retail - ACS - Planner and architects

From the master plan to the terminal concept

Are you an airport planner or architect creating a master plan or a new terminal concept? We support you with a comprehensive portfolio of planning parameters. These are based on the forecast passenger volume, the passenger and customer structure and the location-specific purchasing behaviour. The focus of our conceptual work is on maximising turnover and earnings from the future marketing of commercial space offers.

Our services at a glance:

  • Develop a commercial vision
  • Identify relevant passenger and customer segments
  • Identify strategic success factors for retail and food & beverage
  • Create a sound and robust financial and business plan
  • Aligning the potential terminal layout with operational requirements of retail and food & beverage users
  • Developing marketplace-oriented space concepts for duty free, retail and food & beverage
  • Sound forecasts for CAPEX and OPEX requirements from the commercial areas
  • Recommendations for technical specifications for sales and ancillary areas incl. storage spaces
  • Capacity analyses for sector-specific space requirements

Luxury and
Premium Brands

Food and beverage at the airport - luxury and premium brands

Successful brand positioning at international airports

For brands in the premium and luxury segment, ACS offers a comprehensive service package to develop the sales channel airport. Over the past 20 years, we have built up an exceptional network of global airport contacts. Based on our know-how and expertise, we support you in successfully positioning your brand at international airports.

ACS considers itself as a competent partner of premium and luxury brands, regardless the fact if our clients are established, globally active brands or newly founded start-up companies. Together with our clients, we identify the optimal location that is in line with their expansion strategy.

Our services at a glance:

  • Identify suitable airport locations
  • Location analysis
  • Passenger and customer segmentation
  • Space requirements
  • Turnover and revenue forecast
  • Business planning
  • Establishing contacts with airport decision-makers
  • Contract design and risk assessment
  • Recommendations for rent negotiations
  • CAPEX and OPEX simulations
  • Regulatory advice
  • Logistics and supply management
  • Support in setting up an efficient operational structure

Interim-Management

ACS - Interim-Management - Jens Degner

Strengthen your team with professional and management competence

All market participants – airport operators as well as trading companies – need to answer the question: Does it make economic sense to hire new employees? Or does it make more sense to seek temporary and project-related external support?

ACS offers airports as well as retail companies and providers of food & beverage a comprehensive service package. This can be adapted individually to the respective customer needs:

CENTRE- AND LEASE MANAGEMENT
  • Developing a growth strategy for the commercial business in line with the overall strategy of the airport
  • Preparation of tender documents at the highest quality level
  • Project management for the allocation or acquisition of space and concessions
  • Development of space concepts as a basis for a site-optimised branch and tenant mix
  • Coordinating and controlling consumer-related commercial activities and improving profitability
  • Developing and integrating retail and food & beverage offers on the landside and airside of your airport
  • Further develop the centre marketing
  • Identifying innovative retail and food & beverage concepts
  • Representing airport interests at association level
  • Staff management and development
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND EXPANSION
  • Identification of suitable airport locations
  • Establishment of business relationships with airport decision-makers
  • Area and passenger flow analyses
  • Determination of decision-relevant KPI
  • Business and business model planning
  • Participation in (European) tendering procedures
  • Project management for tender preparation
  • Support in contract negotiations with landlords
  • Establishment of retail organisations at airports
  • Advice on customs and licensing law