USA. The inaugural edition of The Retail Day at Seatrade Cruise Global attracted a strong audience of cruiselines, retail concessionaires and brand owners yesterday, with a high-calibre lineup of speakers contributing to the event’s success.
As reported, The Retail Day – a series of conference sessions dedicated to retail at sea – was co-organised by The Moodie Davitt Report. Seatrade Cruise Global, the premier annual gathering of the cruise industry worldwide, runs for four days at the Miami Beach Convention Center and concludes today.
The partnership between Seatrade Cruise Global and The Moodie Davitt Report reflects the importance of retailing to cruiseline revenues and its role in enhancing the guest experience.
Themes addressed at the event included the present and future of onboard retail, industry partnerships, the role of people, cruise port collaborations, how the sector can drive luxury brand growth to the next level, plus a discussion about sustainability in the retail design and offer. We will bring you more coverage of individual sessions shortly.
Among the highlights was a candid one-to-one discussion with Holland America Line President Gus Antorcha and moderator The Moodie Davitt Report President Dermot Davitt. Antorcha emphasised the importance of retail but said that industry relationships needed closer alignment to ensure the pace of innovation is accelerated in cruise retail.
An engaging cruise ‘Trinity’ panel featuring Carnival Cruise Line Vice President Guest Commerce & Onboard Revenue Luis Terife, Starboard Cruise Services President & CEO Lisa Bauer and LVMH Beauty Managing Director Travel Retail Americas André Marzloff addressed the health of the onboard retail business and how partnerships between the key stakeholders should evolve.
Harding+ Senior Vice President Patrick Molloy, Heinemann Americas Director, HR Natalia Rolle Phillips and Starboard Chief People Experience Officer John McGirl assessed the challenge of hiring and retaining people – and ensuring onboard retail teams remain motivated and incentivised – in conversation with Seatrade Retail Ambassador (and Reklaim Global SVP Revenue – Travel & Hospitality) Nadine Heubel.
A discussion on how shore-based and cruise retail compare and complement each other, alongside a focus on destination retailing, featured Global Ports Holding VP, Business Development Retail & Ancillary Andres Villalever, Avolta Cruise Services Country Head of Commercial Priscila Gonzalez, Royal Caribbean Group AVP International Destination Development Karina Santini and DENIZEN Destination Managing Director Estelle Baumann.
Among the stand-out sessions in the afternoon was an exploration of the opportunity for luxury jewellery & watches in cruise retail, with contributions from Effy Jewelry Executive Vice President Jennifer Patience, MSC Cruises SVP Onboard Revenue Stefano Menegotto, The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection Chief Product Officer Mark Lockwood and Starboard VP Merchandising Sherrie Day. (Click here for our related story on Effy’s announcement of its first Alaska Charter Cruise.)
The conference sessions concluded with a quickfire discussions of sustainability priorities in the cruise retail sector. This featured high-level contributions from Avolta head of Cruise Division Gian Botteri, Diageo Head of Cruise & Inflight Emily Lively and Bourne Group Project Development Manager Jason Hatfield.
Platinum Partners for the event were Effy Jewelry and Starboard with Harding+ as a Gold Partner. DENIZEN Destination sponsored the speakers’ gifts, while Duty Free Global hosted a warm, well-attended drinks reception post-event, with support from brand partners The House of Sōmrus cream liqueur, Kurvball whiskey, Cazcabel tequila and Isle of Wight Distillery’s Mermaid gin.
More images and session by session coverage to follow. ✈
