Research released by Duty Free World Council (DFWC) has revealed significant shifts in international consumers’ source of information about duty-free shopping compared to the previous year.
In its full-year 2023 KPI monitor, compiled by travel retail research agency m1nd-set, DFWC also highlighted the role of sales staff in the travel retail shopping experience.
DFWC President Sarah Branquinho explained: “The quarterly DFWC KPI Monitor is an excellent tool to gauge how shopper behaviour is evolving from one season to the next. The full-year analysis enables us to take a step back, assess longer-term trends and identify opportunities for the industry to adapt to shopper behaviour and consider different approaches to consumer marketing strategies.”
The KPI Monitor shows a noticeable drop in staff interaction levels last year, with less than 50% of global shoppers engaging with sales staff inside duty and tax-free stores, compared to the 65% of customer numbers recorded in 2022.
The influence of sales staff engagement also fell year-on-year, with 71% of shoppers declaring that their interaction with the staff was a key reason for their purchase, compared to 78% the previous year.
Branquinho said: “Only one-third of shoppers say they were exposed to touch points in 2023 compared to just less than half of shoppers the previous year, which suggests the industry should reassess how we are communicating with travellers and seek to improve on generating awareness about the duty and tax-free retail offer.”
Another notable finding from the 2023 DFWC Monitor was that more consumers relied on internet search to find information about duty and tax-free offers. Last year, 16% of shoppers used internet search, up from 11% in 2022.
According to the study, there was a year-on-year decline in the percentage of shoppers who said they were exposed to all other communication touchpoints. The percentage of consumers whose purchase decisions were influenced by billboard advertising dropped from 24% to 15% in 2023; brands’ websites 19% to 12%; duty-free retailers’ websites from 21% to 11%; and online advertising from 18% to 10%.
m1nd-set CEO and Owner Peter Mohn added: “The decline in engagement with touch points can be explained by the fact that the pandemic effect has now ended and that people tend to go back to their pre-COVID behaviour. This means they are doing less online research about the travel retail shopping offer.
“It may also be interpreted by the fact that the shoppers are less excited about travelling compared to immediately after the pandemic. There seems to be a trend towards normalisation again.”
The DFWC KPI monitor also found a significant drop in the overall purchase planning trend last year, with less than three-quarters of shoppers saying they planned their duty-free shopping purchases, generally with 26% of shoppers buying on impulse.
Compared to 2022, 79% of shoppers planned their purchases either specifically or with no particular brand or product in mind, with just over one in five buying on impulse.
The changes in global air traffic were also among the highlights in the full-year KPI monitor, as well as the rankings for top airports and nationalities for international departures.
Asia Pacific registered the highest year-on-year increase in international departures. Border reopenings and lifting of international travel restrictions across the region only took place in late 2023, compared to other global regions where traffic recovery was seen as early as 2022.
In 2023, Asia Pacific air traffic surged by +244% from 2022 figures, compared to the global average of 137%.
A slight change in the top ten airport rankings was seen between 2022 and 2023. Remaining in the top four spots are Dubai, London Heathrow, Paris Charles De Gaulle and Amsterdam Schiphol airports. From tenth spot, Singapore rose to fifth position; Incheon Airport ascended to the top ten in seventh place; while Hamad International fell out of the top ten rankings.
Frankfurt, Istanbul, Madrid and New York JFK airports made up the other top ten rankings, with a slight change in order year-to-year. The top ten nationalities for international departures remained unchanged except for tenth placed Canada in 2022 yielding its position to South Korea in 2023. ✈
