SINGAPORE. Differentiation, dynamic campaigns and ensuring choice for a diverse passenger audience – these are among the elements that will help Singapore Changi Airport deliver commercial growth in an uncertain global market. That’s according to Changi Airport Group Managing Director, Airside Concessions Hung Jean.
Speaking to The Moodie Davitt Report, she acknowledges that the business has been affected by weakness in consumer spend in some key markets (led by China) due to current macro-geopolitical factors, but says the airport company and its partners have the levers and diverse source markets to drive spend growth.
“If we look at some of the other economic pressures around the world, and the tariffs imposed in the earlier part of the last financial year, spending has been impacted. It has been weaker in certain markets, especially the Chinese sector when compared to pre-COVID, and that has been felt throughout the industry. That said, we are still seeing healthy spends driven by curation and differentiation and growth in certain sectors.”
The latter element – point of difference to other channels, online especially – is a key focus for Changi Airport Group (CAG).
Creating points of difference
Hung says: “Today, just because a product is tax free alone does not guarantee it will be desired. Access to goods is easy through ecommerce.
“So when it comes to travelling and shopping we have to be more deliberate in how we curate our offer. What are the experiences we can present? What is unique about it? That is where our ‘Changi 1st’ and ‘Changi Exclusive’ launches come in, where we present something you cannot find elsewhere.
In the last financial year (to 31 March 2026) Changi Airport hosted 16 ‘Changi 1st’ activations, among them the striking Hennessy Year of the Horse, Glenfiddich x Aston Martin F1, The Glenlivet Cask Master’s Collection and Burberry Basecamp campaigns.
“If you offer something that is unique and relevant, people will respond to it, even in uncertain times,” says Hung. “So far, when we work with brands and give them space to tell their brand stories, or enable customers to touch and feel, it has served us very well.”
To enhance that sense of surprise and newness, the airport company regularly introduces pop-ups under short-term leases for emerging brands, many of them local. CAG has just called for proposals for 14 short-term pop-up spaces across the terminals to help drive further innovation.
The impetus to constantly refresh the environment also embraces high-profile airport campaigns that inspire the traveller to shop. In this summer period the Changi Shopping Carnival allows shoppers to spend and win tenant vouchers and Changi-exclusive merchandise.
For example, simply scanning their boarding pass allows the traveller to redeem a voucher to be spent in stores, in turn supporting conversion and driving behaviour.
CAG also connects travellers with occasions and events to inspire shopping activity.
A Singapore concert by South Korean girl group BLACKPINK prompted a recent collaboration, with Changi Rewards pre-sale access and spend-and-win mechanics that boosted spending.
“As an airport, if we can supplement some of the offerings with these campaigns, it really helps lift the travellers’ mood and creates the environment for them to shop,” says Hung.
Maintaining freshness also includes introducing new permanent stores. Of 120 leases that began over the past year, 24 were new-to-Changi brands and concepts.
World and regional firsts
These include a first-in-Asia Pacific FIX Chocolate retail store; a world-first World of Tiger Beer unit; a first-ever boutique in Asia Pacific for Lindt and a new-to-Changi concept with Changi-exclusive dishes from food service brand Marché.
For brand collaborations, we ask, what factors most contribute to success?
“Early planning is vital,” says Hung. “Touch, feel and sampling matters too. Brands that really invest in the curation of what they are bringing in for our pop-ups do very well, and often we see success especially when a product is rare or exclusive.”
She cites the recent immersive activation in Terminal 2 between Mondelez World Travel Retail in partnership with FNA Group International to showcase the new Toblerone Strawberry Matcha. The handcrafted chocolate was produced in a global limited run of 4,000 individually numbered bars, with just 66 bars of the highly exclusive flavour released each day at the airport during the campaign period in May and June.
“Once it is a limited edition, people seek it out,” says Hung.
Destination also performs well given the strong cachet that ‘brand Singapore’ projects.
Championing Singapore
“On the one hand we have the local brands which do very well in food for example. People associate food with Singapore, and we continue to try working with new partners.
“We are also proud when we see Singapore brands becoming fashionable via their presence with us. A good example is Beyond The Vines with its iconic lifestyle bag range, some of which have been Changi Exclusives.
“But even if the brand is not local, we ask if there is a local element that we can bring into the development, working beyond just the packaging, seeking a unique flavour that is suitable for Singapore and Changi’s passengers.
“With the younger generation localisation and uniqueness are big draws. For them it is not just the fact you own it, but the fact you can share the experience and that you have it, and that sharing element is very important in their social network.”
How luxury appeals to a younger generation is also increasingly reflected in the Changi offer.
“Range matters. We see growing interest in higher priced sports attire. It is no longer just technical gear, it is street wear. The more upmarket brands are becoming stronger, and that is also reflected in the mix we have introduced,” says Hung.
Extending the reach of marketing
In volume and demographics, the diversity of the Changi Airport audience continues to widen. Even with the impact of war in the Middle East in March, the final month of the last financial year, full-year passenger traffic grew +2.9% to an all-time high of 70.4 million.
The top five passenger nationalities are China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and India, each of which continue to make healthy contributions to concessions sales.
Hung says CAG adopts similar marketing strategies to target the top source markets, and what is key today is to communicate the shopping and dining opportunity in advance.
“We have good relationships with all the main airlines whom we try to work with upstream, before the passenger arrives here. We have developed airline partnerships and we are looking at tourism partnerships in-market as well.
“In India, for example, we partnered with MakeMyTrip, one of the biggest online travel agents. We can target customers who we know have a planned trip coming to Singapore. That allows us to channel our marketing funds in a more productive way. We are doing similarly in Indonesia.”
For Chinese, although in volume terms traffic grew last year by double digits, subdued spending means looking at new ways to create appeal.
“Chinese travellers love the F&B experience here; for example, ’there is a famous soup made from pork ribs and spices in Singapore that is really popular, and they will seek this out and queue for it. Deli items are also very popular. Once a product is unique and local, it becomes extremely popular.
“It is important that we serve our main nationalities across the categories. Our Indonesian travellers, for example, are more focused on P&C and fashion. P&C remains strong among Chinese. As long as we offer a good mix, and curate to give that differentiation, the range will carry appeal for our travellers.”
Focus on the core categories
Homing in on the vital duty-free core categories, Hung says the storytelling element within liquor & tobacco has evolved, while the range is also being enhanced to cater for all audiences amid a boosting of the brand mix.
“We are working to ensure liquids are more accessible for customers who are not familiar with them, offering trial on new ranges for example,” says Hung.
“We have trialled robotics for sampling already, and will explore rare tastings. One step further, is to extend tasting beyond the lease line outside the store, even in the arrival halls, as we did with Suntory and Roku Gin, for example.”
The ambition to further elevate these categories follows the striking last year of a three-year contract extension with Lotte Duty Free that runs from June 2026 until June 2029. Since the retailer took over the contract in COVID-ravaged 2020, the partners have overhauled the T2 and T3 Lotte central flagship stores, now featuring futuristic elements such as robotic bartenders, towering LED screens and a wider range of spirits & wine, including more limited-edition releases.
The partnership has also deepened through collaboration on Changi Airport Group’s acclaimed annual World of Wines & Spirits (WOWS); the latest dazzling edition in October 2025 was themed ‘Wonders Reimagined’.
The event is now well established as a premier showcase of rare and exceptional wines and spirits. The 2025 edition saw 63 ultra-premium bottles unveiled from 29 renowned brands, including Johnnie Walker Vault Couture Expression, Martell L’Or de Jean Martell Zodiac Edition – Assemblage du Cheval, plus an eclectic array of whiskies, Cognacs, fine wines and Champagnes.
Hung says: “Our WOWS event is important in our positioning and reputation, showing that these fine and rare liquids are not available on the High Street but at Changi Airport. We appreciate the support of Lotte Duty Free and the brands in this.”
In P&C, with The Shilla Duty Free, innovation continues to drive the business in a highly competitive market, says Hung.
“Beauty is about experiences, creating pop-ups where you can walk through and feel the various fragrances in their own worlds. Shilla has also been investing in renovating their stores across Changi so that the experience is further elevated.
“With the beauty categories, there are also efforts towards making items more localised, whether it is a dedicated scent for the region or gift packaging. We work very closely with Shilla and all the brands to achieve this.”
Complementing the in-store sell in these and other categories is the online business via the iShopChangi platform. In the last financial year sales grew +20% compared to a year earlier, with liquor up +7%. The platform offers shoppers the convenience of planning and pre-ordering purchases up to 30 days to 12 hours ahead of arrival at the airport.
Mapping the future
Looking ahead, two major projects lead the commercial agenda. Planning for the vast new Terminal 5 has begun, with opening slated for the mid-2030s. The other is a big upgrade to T3, which follows extensive refurbishment in T2. This will become a testing ground for new concepts that will later be adopted in T5.
“In T3 retail, we will take the opportunity to trial some concepts planned for T5. One of these will be larger format stores for brands, led by luxury brands with deep heritage,” says Hung.
“The new trend is not just about transaction; people want to experience the brand, and you need space to tell that brand story. We will provide for that.
“The larger format is not just for more goods, it is also for an interaction that is more intimate, where you can encounter an exclusive range; how it is executed will really depend brand to brand.
“In luxury this will mean more double-height facades amid a street-scape element to the environment. That will later be adopted on a much larger scale in T5.”
In T3, technology to support logistics and other front-end automation will be tested to ensure T3 and then T5 maximise cost-effectiveness and productivity from an operational and sustainability standpoint. Innovations could include delivery by robot for orders placed via the ecommerce platform for example, or robots acting in the role of shopping concierge.
In closing, Hung summarises how CAG management is looking to add further lustre to the airport’s reputation among its consumer base and its business partners.
“For many people, when they arrive at Changi there is a sense of welcome and comfort,” she says. “There is also a sense of always something new that’s happening, and that comes with the curation of our pop-up events and of our launches, and it is important that we continue to do that.
“Where partners are concerned, it is important to us how we execute our partnerships and the way we invest in our infrastructure always takes a long-term approach.
“Every investment is not only for short-term sales but also about brand presence and telling a memorable story at Changi Airport. I hope that approach continues to hold us in good stead.” ✈
