January 26, 2018
Harper Dennis Hobbs (HDH) has announced a key appointment to its rapidly expanding Travel Retail division.
Sharon Daley, formerly Senior Category Manager responsible for the luxury category at Heathrow has joined HDH as a Director in the Travel Retail team.
Sharon has enjoyed an extensive career in travel retail and has an unrivalled knowledge of the UK travel retail market, having held senior roles with the former British Airports Authority (BAA) and most recently with Heathrow where she worked with a wide variety of retail brands from around the world, and was responsible for the second largest retail category.
In her role as Senior Category Manager for the luxury category, Sharon realised the growth potential in the luxury market at Heathrow and worked with LVMH on the opening of Louis Vuitton’s first directly operated store in Terminal 5 and their subsequent Heathrow expansion, alongside the introduction of a range of other luxury firsts for the airport including Valentino and Saint Laurent.
As the Senior Category Development Manager at BAA and Heathrow, Sharon was responsible for new business development and retail merchandise and space strategies for all their UK airports and strategic projects. This included the original retail merchandise plan for Heathrow Terminal 5 and its refurbishment in 2015, the new Heathrow Terminal 2 as well as the newly reconfigured Heathrow Terminal 4.
Sharon was also instrumental in leading the development of a ‘Pop-Up’ retail strategy which saw Heathrow at the forefront of trialing and adopting this successful retail format and introduced a wide range of new brands and concepts to the airport as a result. Pop-Up retailing in travel has since proven so successful it is now widely adopted and used across all the major airports in the UK and Europe.
The range of brands Sharon has worked with are too many to mention, but her experience and understanding of the travel retail sector has ensured the successful introduction of the first UK airport stores for brands ranging from Ted Baker, Paul Smith, Cath Kidston and John Lewis, to Valentino, Saint Laurent, Rolex and Louis Vuitton.
Simon Black, who heads up the travel retail division, commented: “This is a really exciting appointment for HDH. Our travel retail division continues to grow and Sharon’s experienceworking with brands to build their airport businesses is going to be a huge asset to the team and the retail partners we are working with. She has a natural enthusiasm for retail and product, and thrives helping brands wishing to enter or develop their businesses in this exciting growth market.”
