NORDIC REGION. A new consumer insights report for Q2 2023 from the Nordic Travel Retail Group (NTRG) highlights sustainability as an increasingly important factor for the region’s duty free shoppers.
The report, produced for the trade association’s members by Swiss research agency m1nd-set, analyses shoppers’ intentions and reasons to purchase in the inflight, ferry and airport environments. It also covers their attitude towards, and overall satisfaction with, the duty free product assortment offered in these channels.
NTRG Chairperson and Travel Retail Norway Deputy CEO Haakon Dagestad said: “The research explains some quite different expectations by the various shopper segments and across the three duty free channels when we study the results of the research.
“We see that middle-aged travellers and business travellers in particular are expecting to see sustainable products in airport duty free shops, quoting specifically the reduced packaging and sustainable production processes as the areas they are more discerning about.
“In the ferry duty free retail environment, shoppers are more concerned about eco-friendly ingredients and materials of the products they purchase, especially for fashion items and souvenirs.”
He added: “As well as business travellers, Millennials and GenZs are the segments that underlined the importance of sustainable goods in the ferry retail channel product assortment.
“Eco-friendly packaging and sustainable production processes are the main concerns in the inflight duty free channel on the other hand. There, we see that the male and Millennial shopper segments are the most demanding when it comes to sustainable product assortments.”
The m1nd-set research looked at whether the duty free assortment itself is suitable as a purchase driver. The research reveals that it is significantly more of a purchase driver in the airport duty free environment, where 50% of shoppers said it was. In ferry shops, 33% of shoppers said they were driven to purchase because of the product assortment and inflight, 27%.
The data reveals a notable difference between the passengers who shop with a specific purchase mission between the airport and ferry retail environments. 53% of shoppers said they were driven to shop with a specific purchase mission in airports, compared to 73% on ferries.
According to the NTRG study the key purchase missions in the airport environment are because shoppers were looking for a gift, had a specific purchase in mind, or were looking to treat themselves.
In the ferry environment, the purchase missions differ slightly. Shoppers either had a specific purchase in mind, were looking for the latest new products, or were looking for duty free exclusives.
M1nd-set CEO & Owner Peter Mohn said: “We see some commonalities – millennials tend to be looking for the latest new products across both retail channels and together with seniors are also likely to look for gifts.
“Visitors to the makeup category section tend to have a specific purchase in mind across both airport and ferry retail, while those who shop for souvenirs are looking to purchase products that are suitable as a self-treat.”
Behaviour varies when comparing the purpose of duty free and travel retail purchases across all three channels, the quarterly report reveals. In the airport environment, purchasing for self-consumption is significantly higher than across the other channels, at 43% compared to 33% in the ferry retail channel and only 23% inflight.
Gift purchasing on the other hand is more common among shoppers on board ferries (49%) than in airports (41%) or inflight (26%).
Purchases for sharing however are significantly more common in the inflight channel (52%) than in either of the other two channels: 15% on ferries and 13% in airports.
Dagestad said: “We see that the lack of assortment is more of a barrier to purchase in the ferry retail channel for example, and that non-buyers on ferries are more likely than non-buyers in airports to mention specific barriers to purchase.
“This level of data equips NTRG members with valuable insights and enables us all to address specific shopper segments with a better understanding of needs and expectations.” 
