Introduction: Rituals’ commitment to enhancing airport retail through standalone stores is underscored by its focus on delivering an experience centred on wellbeing. In this column, Head of Travel Retail EMEA & Americas Lotte Rozemuller delves into how retail spaces are tailored to create a holistic shopping environment, easing passenger stress.
As a leading beauty and wellbeing brand, Rituals is strengthening its presence in travel retail markets worldwide, and this is perhaps most evident in our standalone store strategy. Currently, we have 21 standalone stores in airports and will open two more this year.
We are dedicating our time and resources to this industry to foster growth and extend our reach, introducing more customers to our holistic brand philosophy. ‘The Art of Soulful Living’ transcends our company ethos; it serves as a life compass, guiding shoppers on their journey toward personal wellbeing.
Customer feedback underscores the enjoyment and value shoppers gain from our signature store experience, giving strong purpose to our standalone store strategy.
As a lifestyle concept, Rituals offers customers more than just products; we offer a holistic experience and service. In travel retail, where one-third of passengers experience stress during their journey [source: m1nd-set], we provide a calming atmosphere to alleviate their concerns.
We effectively achieve this through standalone stores, where we bring to life our extensive product portfolio that celebrates the small yet meaningful moments in our everyday lives.
Curating an experience
Rituals’ brand philosophy is integrated into every aspect of our operations. This approach extends to our travel retail strategy, which has enabled us to establish a presence in over 110 countries.
While global expansion is a key objective, we remain steadfast in delivering an experience authentic to Rituals’ values through standalone stores.
While alternate models like gondolas are an important part of our business and provide us with a specific strategic approach to travel retail, standalone stores possess certain advantages that allow us to build a brand presence in the channel – curating a unique shopping journey for customers.
Standalone stores offer numerous benefits that align with our brand ethos. With greater control over the experience, we can select music and scents to create a relaxing environment, inviting travellers to unwind.
Rituals’ signature ‘Feel Good Experience’ enriches this ambiance, incorporating various store elements to facilitate leisurely shopping. For instance, our water island allows passengers to sample our bestselling products, experiencing luxurious textures and scents first-hand.
Expert staff
The in-store staff plays an important role at Rituals, with their exceptional service driving a great deal of our success. In travel retail, our expertly trained employees deliver the ‘Feel Good Experience’ in standalone stores, where they have access to larger collections and touchpoints to engage with consumers effectively.
This experience begins at the entrance, where Rituals staff welcome shoppers with a cup of tea, encouraging them to relax after security.
Whether shoppers are pressed for time or seeking the perfect product, our staff are adept at meeting their needs, providing personalised assistance throughout their journey.
Brand awareness
Standalone stores also serve as a platform for raising brand awareness. Through interactions with consumers around the world, especially as Rituals expands into Asian markets, travel retail plays a crucial role in our global brand building efforts.
Additionally, through various touchpoints, we invite travellers to explore our brand philosophy and captivating collections during their transit.
Affordable luxury
Industry trends suggest that consumers are increasingly price-sensitive and hesitant to purchase cosmetics due to high prices [source: BeautyMatter].
As Rituals positions itself as an affordable luxury brand, we offer quality products at accessible price points, catering to this market.
Our standalone stores allow us to highlight our luxe appeal through an enhanced shopping journey. Moreover, there is the added benefit of catering to specific duty-free shopping preferences.
Passengers purchasing gifts for friends and family back home may be unwilling to spend a lot of money. Our affordable and beautiful Rituals keepsake gift boxes meet this demand and are readily found in our standalone stores.
Powering partnerships
Within travel retail, Rituals has a unique offer for passengers and airport retailers. We bring added value to the duty-free environment through our affordable luxury positioning and experiential shopping journey.
What we have noticed in the past few years is that as we open more standalone stores, airports become more interested in collaborating. They see how Rituals enhances travel retail through our signature services and products. This strategy proves mutually beneficial for Rituals, our partners and consumers.
Fulfilling our sustainability mandate
Commercially, standalone stores present numerous opportunities for Rituals to build our brand, enhance the duty-free environment and provide a unique shopping journey.
They also enable us to have greater control over our operations to make logistical decisions that align with our sustainability values and objectives.
We run our stores on green electricity and have energy-saving appliances like LED lights. We also improve our store designs to maximise energy efficiency and increase the amount of recycled and environmentally certified materials.
Through this, we can uphold and maintain our status as a B Corp-certified business and continue leading the way in sustainable beauty and wellbeing. ✈
