Website of the Week The Tax-Free Shop, Copenhagen Airport www.tax-free.dk | |
 | Content (0-4): 3 |
 | Pricing (0-2): 2 |
 | Navigation (0-4): 3 |
 | Style/Design (0-4): 2.5 |
 | Supplementary information (0-2): 2 |
 | Overall incentive to shop (0-4): 3 |
 | Total (0-20): 15.5 |
Scoring system explained – click here | |
Website of the Week: The Tax-Free Shop, Copenhagen Airport
Copenhagen Airport, founded in 1925 as one of the first civil airports in the world, is owned and operated by Copenhagen Airports A/S, which also owns and operates Roskilde Airport.
Located in Kastrup, a town on the island of Amager, Copenhagen Airport is Scandinavia’s main airport. It serves a total of 132 destinations worldwide, 19 of which are intercontinental, 84 European, 22 Nordic and seven domestic. A total of 20.9 million passengers passed through the airport in 2006.
The Tax-Free Shop is a dedicated shopping website specially created by Copenhagen Airport and supported by duty free concessionaire Gebr Heinemann, which took over from long-time incumbent The Nuance Group in March this year.
Style
This clean and sleek website uses a modern colour scheme of red and grey, and the large fonts ensure easy readability. The flower and plant motifs adorning the category banners, as well as the animation of flitting butterflies, add a delicate touch to the home page. Images provided are big and clear, as seen on the home page, where two products are showcased at any one time. Simplicity is key.
Content and usability
Navigation at this fuss-free website is a simple task, as the menu across the top of the page is rooted throughout the site. This menu features seven buttons: Special offers, News (which turned out to be new products), Perfume, Wine, Spirits, Tobacco and The Tax-Free Club.
The Tax-Free Club is hyped throughout the site by striking banners, urging users to “˜Join The Tax-Free Club and save extra 20% when you order online’. Members are entitled to product discounts, monthly lucky draws and e-newsletter updates; they can also edit existing orders as well as view previous ones. Best of all, membership is free – a real draw for discerning customers.
Other user-friendly functions include a search facility and a wish list, which acts as a virtual shopping list that users can print out or send to a friend. Simply click on the “˜Add to your wish list’ link under your desired product – easy and straightforward.
Above the search facility is a link to Customer Service, which displays a page with links to useful information on how to shop at the site, directions to the pick-up point and Customs regulations. Users are also guaranteed a substantial refund should they find the same product at a cheaper price on the Danish domestic market – a big incentive to shop.
There is also an online catalogue: a 28-page Christmas catalogue featuring Copenhagen Airport specials. It can also be downloaded as a PDF file.
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With little animation, the products take centre stage, supported by a modern colour scheme of red and grey |
On the left hand side of the home page is the member log-in function, as well as links to special offers and new products. This placement allows users to access high-interest items without having to click all over the site.
Taking centre stage on the home page are two products, one on special offer and one newly launched; refreshing the page will show up two items different from the ones before. The large images are accompanied by the product name, information (such as volume), and price. The amount of savings on special offer items is also displayed on the home page. The “˜Add to basket’ and “˜Add to wish list’ functions allow quick and easy selection.
Clicking on any of the category buttons on the top menu will take users to the category page. The left hand side displays the different product types within the category while the right hand side showcases two random items in that category.
Users may choose to sort product listings by brand as well as how many products to list per page: 8, 16, 32 or 100. The site also recommends other products related to the ones users are viewing – very helpful when searching for similar items.
A wide range of products can be found under Wines, from Champagne and sparkling wine to wines of ten different origins. At least 21 types of spirits are available on the site, including brandy, Cognac, liqueurs, malt whisky, vodka and rum.
The Tobacco pages, on the other hand, pale in comparison to the Wines and Spirits. While the range is decent and made up to top quality brands such as Havana and Davidoff, including cigarettes of four different origins (American, British, International and Scandinavian), there are no images to entice spending. What we see are merely the words “˜Image currently not available’ splashed across the pages.
As for Perfumes, the site boasts an impressive selection of both men’s and women’s fragrances. There are 89 brands of women’s fragrances alone and 70 brands for men. Brands are listed alphabetically; clicking any of them opens a page displaying all skus for that brand, accompanied by price and clear thumbnails which link to larger images.
Skincare products and cosmetics are also available on the site within the Perfumes section. The broad selection of brands (33 for skincare and 21 for make-up) could be overlooked if users do not happen to be browsing through the Perfumes section.
What we like:
– Ability to pre-order
– Large vivid product images and clear prices
– User-friendly navigation
– Customisable shopping list/wish list
– Free Tax-Free Club membership with attractive benefits
– Incentives to shop such as special offers and new product highlights
– Extensive product range
What needs adding/improving:
– A sense of place
– Separate categories for skincare and make-up
– Images in Tobacco section
– Dual pricing or currency converter
– More language options
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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Website of the Week: Leifur Eiríksson Airport Duty Free Store – 06/12/07
Website of the Week: British Airways Highlife Shop – 29/11/07
