1. Passengers want more choice, not necessarily more service
The first step in improving airport retail operations is having a strong understanding of what your passengers want from the retail offering at your airport.
Passengers expect more from airport retail and are no longer satisfied with standard offerings. Satisfaction data from ASQ Retail shows that the choices of shops/restaurants as well as the choice of products, are the areas where airports taking part in the programme receive their lowest satisfaction scores.
In addition, choice of shops and products are the areas that have the highest impact on overall satisfaction with the airport retail. So, finding the right mix of brands and products to offer is one of the main challenges facing airport retail managers.
It is made even more difficult by the fact that most airports are not shopping malls and only have a limited number of areas to put stores.
Service, on the other hand is not an issue, since friendliness of staff is the area in which passengers are most satisfied.
The best airports try to improve the perception of choice through the use of a central commercial area where passengers can instantly see all shops and brands available.
And they are increasingly diversifying the mix of brands they provide so as to not only offer high end luxury brands but also high street brands that have a higher appeal to their average passenger, increasing the perception of choice.
2. Most passengers don’t view the airport as a place to shop
When asked, only 35% of passengers say they came to the airport with the intention to purchase F&B, 14% non-duty free retail and 25% duty free retail.
Increasing this proportion should be one of the key goals for airports since the potential benefits of doing so are quite important.
Indeed, over 90% of passengers who came to the airport
with the intention to buy F&B end up purchasing, 70% buy non-duty free retail and 60% buy duty free. On the other hand, only 30% of the passengers with no intention of buying F&B change their mind and consume, and this figure drops to 10% for retail (both duty paid and duty free).
So it is much more complicated to convince a passenger to buy than it is to sell to those who have already decided to buy and are easy targets for an airport to sell to.
These figures suggest that airports wishing to increase their retail/F&B sales should focus on two main areas. Firstly, on increasing communication with passengers before they start their journey to ensure they are informed of the airport’s retail offering.
Examples of this type of upstream communication include the use of shopping guides on airport websites as well as newsletters and social media to inform passengers of new retail developments and provide them with very specific and targeted offers.
Finally, by improving the choice of brands offered as discussed in point one, airports will be able to improve their conversion rates. This will not only help airports become more effective at convincing passengers who had no intention of buying to purchase something, but also will help them sell to the 40% of passengers who intended to buy duty free but ended up leaving empty handed!