Innovation At The Border – Beyond The Obvious At ASUTIL 2025
4 minutes read
Introduction by: Peter Marshall
TRunblocked.com has never covered Latam in all of our time, which is a shame – and something we aim to correct this year. But, as you might expect from us, we look at Asutil and beyond – not just providing an executive summary of some key areas of interest from the excellent conference, but also seeing, first hand, what’s happening outside.
So our first feature not only includes the topline of what has been reported in regards to innovation from the border retail side of the business, but also highlights what was not – as we discover in a review featuring Brasil Free Shop Premium’s initiative in Rivera, Uruguay. Here’s the report from TRunblocked.com’s special correspondent, André de Almeida*.
Peru was host to this year’s ASUTIL, a gathering of Duty Free (DF) operators from Latin America. At Lima, attendees were able to hear from both suppliers and operators on the latest set of positive results for the region, with DF LatAm Q.1 2025 performing at +12.5% vs. the same period a year ago. Business at the frontier is very much at the forefront, driven by innovation and transformation in border retail.
The investment in the region is likely to continue with the global operator Avolta having entered the border retail channel of duty free for the first time through their store in Uruguaiana (Brazil), as well as helping with the development of the digital controls in place through the Brazilian customs system (Receita Federal) and sharing their new developments in Fray Bentos (Uruguay) and Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil).
Operator Duty Free Americas (DFA), based in Uruguay since 2008, has developed their ‘Panda Fest’ concept around their Panda Free Shop in Rio Branco, bringing live music and a variety of other activities to the local community.
Top Brands International, represented by their Neutral and Luryx retail fascias, have continued to grow, with year to date sales at +33% vs. last year. Their Dreams Park Show, is a thematic park format created to engage with visitors to prolong their stay with a presence in a number of Brazilian cities and 890k visitors in 2024.
Meanwhile, Siñeriz Free Shop, in particular through their larger shopping store in Rivera, continues to attract consumers from the local area, regionally and even further afield from Rosario in Argentina and beyond Porto Alegre in Brazil, all the way to Florianopolis. They are introducing new concepts in 2025: their wine experience inspired by the Eataly marketplace format combining food and drink, and a fragrance experience, working in partnership with edition priveé in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The real surprise however, was the innovation not on display during ASUTIL 2025 in Peru. As most of us know, border duty free shops, whether in LatAm, Europe or Asia have much in common – they tend to prioritise well known brands at low prices to attract shoppers enough to spend hours on the road to get there. These consumers tend to be motivated by price and target entry level drinks products such as Johnnie Walker and Jack Daniel’s.
Yet there is an exception in Latin America, bringing innovation to the border – and that is Brasil Free Shop Premium in Rivera. Inspired by Iberpark in Uruguay and their extensive offering on wines, the operator Brasil Free Shop decided to create a clear separation with their standard offering by opening a premium drinks shop, with personalised customer service by trained staff, wood panelling interiors, bespoke tastings and a curated range of spirits.
It is a bold and unique project with a lot of growth potential. Brazilian consumers dominate the purchases at the store and, although these consumers have limited consumption per capita when it comes to whisky, they are being introduced to a variety of brands and products being brought over to South America for the first time at very good value – such as Nc’nean Organic Scotch whisky from Scotland and The English Whisky Co. products from England.
There is work to be done to raise awareness of the sheer variety of drinks brands being carried by the Brasil Free Shop Premium store and perhaps a certain degree of incredulity that this is even possible at the border. This prejudice is there in the mind of some consumers, but the negative bias is slowly being dispelled. Since the opening of the store in 2024, drinks sales have gone up by over 50% in value terms in year one!.
As Rafael Antunes, Brasil Free Shop Commercial Director for Uruguay states “our portfolio has grown a lot with the opening of the new shop, with the addition of over 2,000 different product labels, including the introduction of products not commonly found here, such as independent bottlers of Scotch whisky from Scotland.
“This was not simply a business decision but also a personal one, as I have really gotten into whisky over the last 3-4 years. I am not an expert but I want to offer others the opportunity to learn, experience and discover new products beyond just the basics. I want people who come to the shop to try something new here and walk away with a unique experience – something they can’t get elsewhere in Brazil!
“I honestly believe our whisky shelf selection is unmatched in South America – especially for a border shop.
“People are surprised. Other shops do not take the same risks – but we do. We know we are still in the early stages in building this initiative and, at the end of the day, this is all about the client. That is our mindset. Fair prices and great satisfaction to create word of mouth. It is the client that markets us after they have been here”.
As someone who has visited border duty free stores all over the world, I can safely say that I fully agree with Rafael and that Brasil Free Shop Premium is bringing an innovative retail approach through a shop like no other in the region and beyond.
* About André de Almeida: A drinks industry consultant at Inside The Cask Ltd, with 20 years experience across the on trade, off trade, prestige and duty free channels. Writer/blogger at the Inside The Cask website,sharing his insights, knowledge and passion for the drinks industry. He has acted as a jury member for the Spirits Selection by CMB (Belgium 2021, Guadeloupe 2022, Italy 2023, China 2024, Mexico 2025) and the Scottish Whisky Awards.
