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Vibrant and inviting, Bahrain Duty Free’s website is alive with colour. Red and white have a dominant presence but chunky, coloured thumbnails and large bold images of cars feature too |
Website of the week: Bahrain Duty Free
Bahrain Duty Free operates and manages all duty free shopping and related facilities within the Departures and Arrivals areas at Bahrain International Airport. Since opening its doors in 1991, the retailer has been the recipient of many prestigious accolades for its high standards and service, such as winning Airport/Land-based Retailer of the Year and Best Marketing Campaign of the Year by a Retailer at the 21st Frontier Awards in Cannes.
Style
Vibrant and inviting, Bahrain Duty Free’s website is alive with colour. Red and white have a dominant presence but chunky, coloured thumbnails and large bold images of cars feature too.
Although light on product images, there is an abundance of photographs of prizes (namely cars and watches) to be won through competitions. Photos of raffle draw winners generate demand for tickets.
Content and usability
The homepage serves up a smorgasbord of colourful options starting with multi-coloured menu options at the top of the page. Promotions and competitions fill up the remainder of the page with bold images of luxury cars to be won. The main banner screams “˜One for all and all for one – four cars, one winner’. Names of the latest winners are flashed at the bottom, next to a search engine and login service.
The menu includes About us, contact us, winners page, latest news, useful links, quick search, pre-order, free gifts and competitions and advertise with us. Clicking on one opens up several more options – exchange rates, duty free allowances, home, login and site map.
Heavy emphasis is placed on the retailer’s promotions and competitions – especially on raffle draws. There is a Gold Raffle draw to win a Mercedes SL350 (US$135 per ticket) and a Silver Raffle draw to win a Lexus GS430 plus US$20,000 (US$108 per ticket). Tickets can be ordered online (you must register and log in first), by fax or by mail. The draw is given a great deal of attention on the site, and step-by-step instructions are given on how to enter. Consumers can also submit an inquiry.
Winners page and latest news are pages dedicated to displaying the winning contestants of Bahrain Duty Free’s competitions and raffle draws.
Bahrain Duty Free also offers a gwp in conjunction with Gulf Air. For instance, shoppers receive a draw ticket for a Christian Dior women’s watch with every US$100 spent on duty free onboard Gulf Air.
Free gifts and competitions includes three options: join us and win, tell a friend and quiz. A free raffle ticket is given away to each person who joins Bahrain Duty Free’s mailing list, e-mails a friend or answers a series of multiple choice questions correctly.
Although competitions are emphasised, shopping is an integral part of the experience, thanks to the pre-order facility. The pre-order format is quite rudimentary, with a basic table layout. Product pictures are rare as most often the visual is replaced by the words “˜no product image’. It includes six product categories: tobacco, digital camera, wine and liquor, perfume, mobile phone and mp3 players. These items are divided into sub-categories and displayed in a table with the prices in Bahraini dinar and US dollars and an option to “˜Add to Cart’. An eye-catching shopping cart hovers in the right-hand side of the page reminding you of your contents, which you may click on, edit and/or proceed to check out. Shoppers are required to register and log in, in order to buy online and are reminded: “Please note that you’d require a minimum of 48 hours notice on any orders done.” The product menu stays rooted on the left-hand side so navigation is made very easy while you shop. Should you not find your desired product you may submit a product inquiry form and request it.
Tobacco encompasses cigarettes, Cuban cigars, Dominican Republic cigars, European cigars and tobacco. Cigarettes brands range from Benson and Hedges special filter (BD4.800, US$12.96) to Dunhill Lights (US$14.03).
Digital camera offers four top brand names: Canon, Casio, Olympus and Sony. Apart from Sony which offers eight models, the other brands present one model each: Canon IXUS 800IS (US$553.29), Casio EX-Z1000 (US$477.72) and Olympus MJU-700 (US$304.99). Sony’s range includes DSC-W30 Cyber Shot (US$291.49) and DSC-T30 Cyber Shot (US$531.70).
Wine and Liquor includes 19 lines from beer to Champagne to Cognac XO. This is one of the most extensive lists on the site. Leading brands include Bombay Sapphire Gin (US$15.11) and Chivas Royal Salute 70cl (US$98.51).
Perfume brands comprise Hugo, Chanel, Christian Dior, YSL and Shaik. Shaik, the top Arabic fragrance brand, offers Shaik Men’s CLSC Silver (US$140.35) and Kunja W Shaik CLSC Silver (US$202.42).
Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung and Microsoft i-Mate comprise the range of Mobile phones on offer. Prices are withheld. This also applies to MP3 Players, which include leading brands such as Creative, iPod, JNC, Olympus, Philips, Samsung and Sony.
Duty free allowances deserves praise for its comprehensive nature; 31 countries are listed with allowances for six product categories – cigarettes, cigars, tobacco, wines, spirits and perfumes.
What we like:
Incentives to shop – promotions and competitions
Pre-order facility
Easy navigation thanks to clear sign-posting
Extra services such as exchange rates and duty free allowances
What we think needs improving/adding:
Update the pre-order facility with product information
Include product pictures
Visit Bahrain Duty Free.
COMING SOON: The Moodie Report Travel Retail Worldwide Web Awards.
Sponsored by P&G Prestige Products
Which websites offer the best service to consumers? Which are most user-friendly? Which are the most stylish? And which, crucially, offer the greatest incentive to shop?
Every year we will judge, through a combination of industry polling, consumer opinion and specialist judges, who is doing most to wow travellers on the web. International and regional awards.
The main award – Travel Retail Website of the Year – will be unveiled at this year’s ‘Oscars’ of the industry: the Frontier Awards in Cannes. More details coming soon.
MORE WEBSITES OF THE WEEK
Website of the week: Muscat Duty Free – 31/08/06
Website of the week: Qatar Airways – 22/08/06
Website of the week: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol – 16/08/06
Website of the week: Copenhagen Airport Tax-Free Shop – 09/08/06
