Entrepreneur Launches Online Duty-Free Mall, Aims to Cater to Thousands of Retail Brands Worldwide
Reynald Grattagliano, a Florida-based entrepreneur, is excited to announce the worldwide launching of DutyFreeZone.com that will happen sometime this month. DutyFreeZone.com lets shop operators upload their product and ship orders duty-free via overnight courier overseas or ship orders duty paid for same country deliveries.
As Alibaba plans to buy a multimillion-dollar stake in leading duty-free operator Dufry, Grattagliano believes it's high time for duty free shops operators to have a counterweight of this new alliance. With DutyFreeZone.com, duty-free shops that are not part of the Dufry Group can put up their e-commerce store.
"DutyFreeZone.com could be the counterbalancing weight of the Alibaba-Dufry alliance as time is of the essence. The situation is critical as thousands of duty-free shops may close this year because there is no walk-in traffic at airports," Grattagliano shared.
He said that most travel retailers do not have the financial capacity to invest millions of dollars to create an e-commerce presence. Therefore, one of their options is to work with DutyFreeZone.com, an independent company.
Grattagliano believes that DutyFreeZone.com will be of huge help, especially for brands losing sales and profitability caused by the pandemic.
"Estee Lauder, for example, has lost 9 % of its revenues because of COVID-19. And this is the case for everyone in the luxury business.
Most duty-free players have established eCommerce operations. When asked why they should use DutyFreeZone.com, Grattagliano answered it has to do with catering to consumers' demand for various product choices.
"Dufry, Heinemann, Duty Free Americas, DFS, Lagardère, and many more duty-free operators, each has their own websites. But they will be left alone in their corner if they think that way. Why?
Because consumers want to have a choice of shopping mall," said Grattagliano.
He further explained that most consumers don't want to get stuck in one place with the same brand when they shop for duty-free products.
"Customers do not want to be kept a prisoner of one duty-free operator who owns one website. If a consumer feels like a prisoner of the site he is buying from, he will search for the competition. Logically, he will land on DutyFreeZone.com and see all the brands he wants, but this time from hundreds of duty-free shops competing against each other’s and offering different prices. It is the essence of what a marketplace is about."
Grattagliano added that at DutyFreeZone.com, there is no need for people to travel to enjoy duty-free prices from the comfort of their home." However, Grattagliano clarified that DutyFreeZone.com is not a marketplace like, for example, Amazon.com.
"DutyFreeZone.com is not a marketplace like the other ones as we do not have a distribution center. The sellers are the distribution center, and they can get it done anywhere in the world," he explained.
"The seller takes care of the shipment using its own courier company, in many cases, DutyFreeZone.com will help them find the best shipping rates with our strategic partners, such as DHL, who is also taking care of the customs documents that are required and that are very simple to fill out online."
Grattagliano also said that there are no duties for any item with a value of less than US$400 entering the US, CANADA, EUROPE, AUSTRALIA, and many more countries, even though they may be dutiable.
"The reason is that there is in place an administrative exemption for items with a small value, as it would cost more to custom to do a formal entry to collect duties than the cost itself of the import duties," he explained. "Therefore, custom let it go and does not charge anything."
Grattagliano also announced that DutyFreeZone.com would carry famous brands such as Estee Lauder, Chanel, Prada, Gucci, Lacoste, Toblerone but also will carry thousands of brands such as Nike, Adidas, Seiko, Ebel, TAG Heuer, Revlon, or even brands such as Chanel, Pucci and Tom Ford.
"Anybody can upload their products to our marketplace, not only duty-free shops but also shops and brand owners located anywhere are welcome to come on board, not only duty-free shops," Grattagliano shared.
Grattagliano pointed out that DutyFreeZone.com aims to go global. He said, “Our mission is to be the global platform for the duty-free luxury industry.”
"DutyFreeZone.com is going global and will feature over 100 product categories from fragrances to confectionery, beverages, fashion, bags, travels items, and more." He estimated that by 2021 there would be over 50 million products that will get listed on DutyFreeZone.com.
Grattagliano also revealed that Duty Free Zone Inc. is preparing to raise money through private equity investment and eventually file for an IPO by 2022.
Retail shop owners and duty-free shop operators who are interested in becoming DutyFreeZone.com vendors can join by visiting DutyFreeZone.com
About DutyFreeZone.com
Reynald Grattagliano founded DutyFreeZone.com in 1998 on the Caribbean island of Curaçao.
With DutyFreeZone.com, consumers will have in front of them a massive choice of thousands of brands available, usually in duty-free shops and from manufacturers from all over the world. Customers will be able to shop and purchase any combination of products in a single checkout.
Vendors will process the payments through DutyFreeZone.com payment gateway and distribute the money to the vendors after deducting a small commission.
About Reynald Grattagliano
Reynald Grattagliano is the founder of DutyFreeZone.com. After COVID-19 has impacted the entire travel retail industry, he came up with the idea to upgrade DutyFreeZone.com and transform it into an open multi sellers' marketplace with one main goal: Help thousands of duty-free shops to sell online all together under one roof to serve a crisis-hit industry which is struggling to deplete unsold inventory.
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