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L uggage company Heys International is throwing focus on its smart suitcases and showing how versatile the category has become to evolve to suit consumers’ travel needs. Speaking about the business’ latest innovations, Heys International President and CEO Emran Sheikh demonstrated one case that had a “front opening systemwhere you can add your laptop or your devices. So when you go through security, it’s just easier to grab.” Other lines included cases that had “a plastic frame on the inside, which is very durable and doesn’t squish or bend, so it can withstand impact”. Sheikh explained: “Some pieces have more functionality, but others are more about fashion.” She highlighted how “this line has more function” and wheeled over the company’s “smart luggage” which offers up “technical features”. She revealed: “This one has a built-in scale, which if you download our app, you can lift up the case with the handle, and it’ll tell you on your phone how much it weighs”. One other benefit of the smart luggage is its “proximity alarm”. As Sheikh revealed: “If the luggage is at a certain distance from you, it’ll notify you on your phone about that and then you can also lock and unlock your luggage with your phone’s bluetooth connection.” But what is Heys International looking for from its presence in travel retail? Sheikh admitted: “I guess it’s more for brand awareness because this is just our second year in Singapore.” Basement 2 / 2-G22 Suitcases that understand the needs of travellers Elizabeth Arden is selling hope E lizabeth Arden is uniting travel retail by reminding the sector can work symbiotically to build opportunities and uses inspiration from its founder’s determination. Describing the brand’s position, Elizabeth Arden Regional Marketing Director Joey Hoo explained: “We serve hope, not only cosmetics.” Hoo pointed out that “the travel retail industry environment is not bouncing back as well as so many brands and companies were expecting, and it also seems that consumers are actually not buying as much when they travel as they did. Now, instead, I think we see travellers spending more money on experiences instead of shopping and within travel retail.” It is at times like this that Hoo reminded that they need to look to the brand’s founder Elizabeth Arden and consider “her accomplishment, especially in those days, being a woman who was an entrepreneur, it was not easy in her time. She also faced many challenges”. She pointed out: “As a strong woman, Miss Arden had a lot of quotes, but her most popular one that the company always used was: ‘To be beautiful is the birth right of every woman’. So, from this year going forth, there is this sentiment like ‘tough times are ahead’ and even though the market is not bouncing back so well, we’re all working so hard to keep going and to grow at the same time and not giving up because we don’t just sell cosmetics, we sell hope.” Hoo explained that the business is currently focusing on its Hyaluronic Plus Peptide capsule. The capsules themselves are not new since we already have a hyaluronic acid capsule, which is mainly for moisturisation and plumping up the skin, but we have upgraded our formula to offer Hyaluronic Plus Peptides.” Hoo revealed: “We are also upgrading by adding higher efficacy peptides into our hyaluronic acid. And at the same time, we upgrade our hyaluronic acid molecules to be actually 500 times smaller. This means they are small enough to penetrate the skin so that it actually gives better results.” Level 1 / 1-L25 Wednesday 14 May 2025 24 T F W A D A I L Y