Website of the Week: Duty Free Paradise – 23/08/07

Website of the Week Duty Free Paradise www.dutyfreeparadise.ch
	Content (0-4): 3
	Pricing (0-2): 2
	Navigation (0-4): 3
	Style/Design (0-4): 3
	Supplementary information (0-2): 2
	Overall incentive to shop (0-4): 3
	Total (0-20): 16
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Website of the Week: Duty Free Paradise

The Nuance Group is the world’s largest operator of airport duty free shops. The company manages some 340 stores at around 60 airports in 17 countries. In Switzerland, its operations are located at Zurich and Geneva Airports, where it offers tax- and duty-free stores alongside many boutiques and specialist shops.

Duty Free Paradise is the name of Nuance’s online product showcase for its Swiss operations.

Style

Bright, breezy and punchy describes this website, whose brightly coloured home page welcomes users to a blaze of promotional publicity about airport shopping. The combination of red, yellow and grey colours is striking and busy, while the layout and format is clear and easy to read.

Content and usability

After selecting your desired airport (Geneva, Zurich) and language (English, French or German), the homepage doesn’t so much greet users as shout at them, but in an exciting and friendly way. The unmissable messages scream “Best Price Guarantee!” and “Save Now!” and appear in large red and yellow banners across the page.

The best price guarantee at the top is accompanied by the words “Helping you know that you’re buying for less. Unbeatable prices. If you buy one of our ‘Best-Price Guarantee!’ products and find it available for less on the Swiss domestic market, we’ll refund you double the difference between the two amounts.” That’s a great start and instils confidence in the user about the retailer’s value offering.

Underneath the best price guarantee banner is a second message emblazoned “Save now!” This banner flashes up a series of special offers: current promotions at time of writing include Glenfiddich Scotch whisky (one-litre bottle) retailing at CHF39.90 and Jil Sander Sun 75ml edt at CHF29.00. As well as Swiss Francs, prices are given in Euros and British Pounds, along with the percentage saving against the RRP.

Again, down the right hand side of the home page are two additional flashing banners: one declares that the retailer has the best-priced cosmetics in Switzerland and the other has another promotional offer, this time on two bottles of Danzka vodka.

The combination of red, yellow and grey colours is striking, while the layout and format is clear and easy to read

Click on any of the four themed pictures underneath the two main banners and you expect to be transported straight to the four main product sections for liquor, tobacco, perfumery and skincare. But you are not, which is surprising. You can, however, use the navigation links on the left hand side of the page to go directly to the product showcase in each category.

Depending on which airport you choose, the facilities offered by the site are different. Geneva offers simply a product showcase with thumbnail pictures (which can be enlarged) and price details. The company says it is developing an online shop which is currently under construction, but browsers can use the existing website to compare the travel retailer’s prices at Geneva with the same products sold elsewhere.

However, the website does offer a pre-order service for international flights departing from Zurich Airport, but you can only order online more than 72 hours before departure. Products can be picked up in the Tax+Duty Free Shop before you fly. To pre-order, you add items to your duty free bag, view the products you have selected and follow the simple instructions.

The product selection is huge in all four product categories. For example, 618 female fragrances and 431 male fragrances are offered at Zurich Airport, along with over 100 whiskies of all types. To ease your selection, you can list the items by brand and description. Products are listed automatically alphabetically.

Supplementary information is concise and well written and includes frequently asked questions, information on allowances, current EU regulations and full contact details.

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