Website of the Week Duty Free Paradise www.airportshopping.ie/retail/store/dublin.asp | |
 | Content (0-4): 3 |
 | Pricing (0-2): 2 |
 | Navigation (0-4): 4 |
 | Style/Design (0-4): 3 |
 | Supplementary information (0-2): 1 |
 | Overall incentive to shop (0-4): 2 |
 | Total (0-20): 15 |
Scoring system explained – click here | |
Website of the week – Travel Value Airport Shopping
Travel Value Airport Shopping is the online portal for the Travel Value and Duty Free shops managed by the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) at the Dublin, Shannon and Cork Airports in Ireland.
DAA is an airport management company in charge of the management, operation and development of the three airports in Ireland, domestic and international airport retail management as well as airport investment.
The company’s vision is “˜to deliver a quality airport travel experience to the best international standards’. On exploration, the website assures us of DAA’s commitment to their vision. Let us take a look at what Dublin Airport* has to offer.
*As the websites for Dublin, Shannon and Cork Airports are similar, we will only look at Dublin Airport.
Style
The webpage has a simple style and a neat layout. There is no particular reference to an Irish Sense of Place but the colour theme of the site is consistent with the Travel Value brand logo; a nice contrast of red and blue against a white backdrop. (Through the Travel Value Association the theme is repeated in airport retail branding across many European airports.)
There are a lot of links and icons displayed on the front page of the site, but the effect does not overwhelm due to the clean design and clear presentation.
The top right of the page displays links to Airport Choice, Home, Latest News, Contact Us, DAA and Advanced Search with the Travel Value Airport Shopping logo and a promotional banner below it.
The remaining components of the front page consists of a horizontal navigation panel, a welcome message by DAA, a product search tool, a link to the airport shopping map and a neat grid of image-accompanied links to Featured Products for nine categories.
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The home page has a pleasant design with a red and blue colour theme, reflective of the Travel Value logo. |
What’s On Offer
The horizontal navigation panel consists of the following sections: Travel Value, Duty Free, All Products, SOAR and As Seen On TV.
The Travel Value and Duty Free sections explain to customers the difference between Travel Value and duty free shopping at Dublin Airport. Travel Value is applicable for all destinations, even within Ireland, whereas Duty Free is for travellers to destinations outside Europe.
DAA promotes Travel Value shopping to travellers, promising savings of up to -25% on downtown prices. A free home delivery promotion on Waterford crystal products is also featured.
The flash animated promotional banner above the navigation panel catches the visitor’s eye, emphasising airport shopping exclusivity, Travel Value TV Ads and special offers. The section “˜As Seen On TV’ displays the special offers featured in the advertising campaign. All these efforts underline the company’s emphasis on promotional strategies to attract and entice consumers.
A dropdown menu with 11 categories appears when the cursor is run over the All Products section – Crystal, Mens Fragrances, Womens Fragrances, Gift Ideas, Travel Retail Exclusives, SOAR, Skin Care & Make Up for Women, Skin Care for Men, Tanning & Sun, Spirits & Wine and Travel Essentials.
Besides the horizontal navigation panel on top, a panel on the left appears when customers visit any of the sections on the navigation panel. The left panel features a menu titled Promotions, Special Offers & New Products. It consists of nine sections: Confectionery, Crystal, Fragrances, Gift Ideas, Skin Care & Make Up, SOAR, Spirits & Wine, Travel Essentials and Travel Retail Exclusives. These nine categories are identical to the nine image-accompanied links to Featured Products on the front page and they link to the same product pages. Below that menu is the search tool.
It can be a little confusing to visitors at first, with two product category menus, one under All Products and one under Promotions, Special Offers & New Products (which is also named as Featured Products on the front page).
The difference between the two is that Promotions, Special Offers & New Products/Featured Products menu display items that are new or on promotion. The All Products menu displays a listing of all items available in store, inclusive of the items featured under Promotions, Special Offers & New Products/Featured Products.
Another difference is that items displayed under Promotions, Special Offers & New Products/Featured Products are accompanied by product images, item description, Travel Value price, downtown price, savings enjoyed and are displayed in a neat grid of nine items per page. All Products displays product listings in a table format with only the item description and price, 12 items to a page.
One suggestion would be to place Promotions, Special Offers & New Products/Featured Products under the All Products menu as a category instead, to achieve a single integrated menu instead of two.
We like the consistent quality of product images for Promotions, Special Offers & New Products/Featured Products but going the extra mile to provide images for all products available would do wonders for the site. A zoom function can also be added for up-close view of product images.
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Usefully available at all times is the left panel menu and search tool: (left) Items listed in table format for categories under All Products; (right) Items in a neat grid with images for Promotions, Special Offers & New Products/Featured Products | |
The site boasts of a wide range and good selection of products.
Spanning over 11 categories, customers are offered the usual fare of fragrances, cosmetics, liquor and on top of that more niche categories such as Crystals, Tanning & Sun, Travel Essentials and Travel Retail Exclusives. Within each category, customers can look forward to a good product selection from “˜old favourites to popular newcomers… to suit all tastes.’
Products are well categorised too – fragrances are sorted into men’s and women’s, skincare and makeup are sorted into Skincare for Men, Skincare for Women and Tanning & Sun.
Over 200 products are listed under Fragrances for both men and women. 134 products are featured under Skin Care & Make Up for Women, 39 for Men and 23 for Tanning & Sun.
Travel Essentials carries a good range of travel accessories and personal electronics. Gift Ideas and Travel Exclusives fulfil travellers’ demands for exclusivity and gifting.
Also on offer is the SOAR category, a collection of sunglasses, pens, accessories, bags and watches from designer and luxury labels. On the whole, DAA’s product offering is extensive and well-rounded.
Pre-order facilities are, however, not offered on the site. The site therefore serves as a catalogue or product preview for travellers to browse and plan their shopping before travel.
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Interactive floor plan: Numbered units correspond with a shop listing on the right; Mousing over each unit displays store name and logo in a box on the right |
Moving Around
Browsing the site is quite a breeze as the navigation system is quite a robust one. Links to the home page, contact details and navigation panel are always present throughout the site. The left panel menu of Featured Products and the useful search tool are displayed on every page as well.
Clicking through the site is easy and where convenient, a “˜go back’ link to the previous page is provided.
The site’s design makes it convenient to move to a desired page at any time. The neat and consistent layout reduces clutter and improves clarity.
Noteworthy Features
The site has a good search tool which is quite rigorous; it allows visitors to filter the seach by aiport (Dublin, Shannon or Cork) and by product categories. Items are searched based on keywords.
We want to highlight the interactive airport shopping map provided – a user-friendly, comprehensive and useful guide for travellers. The units on the floor plan are marked with numbers corresponding to a numbered listing of the stores on the right. Mousing over each unit will display the store name and logo in a box on the right as well, appealing to visuals-oriented visitors. Clicking on any of the units will bring visitors to the shop details page with shop description, contact details and business hours.
Besides visiting the Latest News section, visitors can also choose to subscribe to the free Travel Value Newsletter and receive regular updates about special offers, new products and services available at Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports.
General Overview
Dublin Airport Authority’s Travel Value Airport Shopping is a pleasant site which is strong in terms of its product offering and user-friendly layout. We also like the good delivery of contents in terms of the variety and categorisation as well as the constant assurance to customers on exclusive, quality products with good savings. The company speaks to the traveller’s shopping needs. Nonetheless, the addition of a currency converter, plus duty free allowance and restrictions-related information, FAQs and pre-order services could take an already impressive site to a new level.
What we like:
• Pleasant design and neat layout
• Consistency in presentation
• Good product range and selection
• Easy navigation
• Speaks to travellers’ shopping needs
What needs adding/improving:
• Ability to pre-order
• Images for all products
• Duty free restrictions information and FAQs
• Currency converter
Website of the week scoring system explained:
Content: How wide is the range of items on offer? Are there good quality photos and product descriptions?
Pricing: Are product prices listed? For all products?
Navigation: How easy is the site to use?
Style/Design: How does the site look?
Supplementary information: On allowances, currencies, after-sales service, useful tips and so on.
Overall incentive to shop: This includes tone, promotions, offers, competitions and, importantly, pre-order.
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