Checked baggage charge must pull small luggage sale

With the veto from the federal government to the exemption of charge for checked baggage on domestic flights, the small-sized luggage trade must rise in 2019. In order to advance the movement, the company of travel articles Le Postiche reformulates the portfolio and deals with suppliers with new partnerships. "We began to enter into a process of readjustment of our portfolio due to the new norm established by the Brazilian Association of Airlines (ABEAR). We begin to develop together with our suppliers bags that fit in the aircraft compartments in order to meet customers who do not want to pay to dispatch the luggage, "said the product superintendent of Le Postiche, Alessandra Restaino.De According to it, the expansion in this category of items within the business was of the order of 30% this year. Currently, small and medium luggage models represent 40% of the total volume traded by the group. "We noticed a few months ago a migration of consumers from large suitcases to medium and small items. There is also a compartment in our stores precisely for the client to simulate the accommodation of the product as if it were inside the airplane, "she argued, noting that the average ticket of large suitcases is around R $300. The value of the smaller bags of the brand is sold range from R $99 to R $199. At the request of the DCI, the OLX Marketplace platform conducted a survey regarding the movement. According to the balance sheet, when comparing the first semester of last year to the same period 2019, there was an increase of 24% in interest in advertisements made containing "hand luggage" in the title or in the description of the search of the portal. For the retail specialist of consulting Goakira, José Carlos Fugice, more than a matter of legislation, the new reality for the size of suitcases for travel has become a new habit of consumption in Brazilian society. "The Luggage transport Service at Brazilian airports is often inefficient with a long delay in the delivery of these bags and, in some cases, lost backpacks," said the expert. According to him, even if the value of these smaller products is inferior to the other categories of suitcase, "specialized business in this type of item tends to ensure margin for the commercialized volume". "The competitiveness among companies in this sector tends to increase as well from now on, since many players import products from China and place their own brand on these items," Fugice said. In this sense, another aspect highlighted by Alessandra relates to the percentage of participation of own brand products within the total volume sold by the company. "The company's own brands represent 70% of all business sales today," said the executive, noting that the group has 220 stores operating in the country. Holiday period considered as one of the most important times to boost the sale of brand travel articles, Alessandra stressed that the demand for small and medium-sized suitcases will gain more strength this month. The prospect of the business is that the journeys in this period drive the group's trade as a whole by 20% over the same period of the previous year. In addition, another strategy used to increase profitability has been the investment in "parallel" items to the flagship of the brand, the suitcases. "For the complementation of the travel line, we also invest luggage, padlocks, neck pads, organizer kit and passport door," says Alessandra.