This article was originally published in November’s issue of Global Drinks Intel magazine. For more details, including how to subscribe, click here.
Probably more than in any other consumer-facing business at the moment, retailers and brand owners operating in Global Travel Retail need to be thinking about how to unlock growth. The question of how to get passengers into an airport store and make a purchase has always been top of mind; with fewer passengers post the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s more top of mind than ever.
Personalisation is a tool that can help answer this question and has the potential to drive sales in GTR now. It’s also important for the long-term future of the channel.
The best way to think about personalisation is to imagine you’re buying a gift for a close friend or family member; you know lots about them — what they like, their name, age, where they live, etc., and the gift you buy is based on this information.
From a retail perspective, personalisation is very much the same in that products, services and the purchase experience are based on what retailers and brand owners know about shoppers. It’s very much a shopper-centric approach based on consumer insights and data. Retail personalisation is not just about the physical in-store moment; it includes all touchpoints in a shopper’s journey and therefore needs to be approached on an omnichannel basis.
Personalisation is especially important for brands in airports because of the many different nationalities travelling through them. This brings complexity and makes personalisation more challenging than in the domestic market. Different languages need to be considered, as well as cultures.
Layer on top of this the different reasons both for travel and for purchase motivation, and it becomes even more important to think about personalisation. Then, there are currency considerations: for many shoppers, the bottle of liquor they’re thinking of buying will be priced in a different currency to the one they use at home.
In GTR, personalisation can be split into two areas, both of which are inter-connected: retail personalisation and brand personalisation.
Retail personalisation
When considering the product range in an airport, retailers and brand owners need to base their decisions on the nationalities travelling through. It’s also important to consider tailoring the product range based on nationalities and flight destinations. This is also true of merchandising — I remember seeing one retailer move their whisky displays closer to the front of the store when flights to India were departing.
In-store signage should also be personalised to shoppers. One example is to have promotion communications and store navigation signage in multiple languages based on travellers’ nationalities. Digital signage allows the language to be changed at different times of the day, depending on flights. Retail staff who can speak different languages and understand their cultures is also an important element of personalisation.
Price comparisons, meanwhile, should be communicated versus travellers’ domestic markets, rather than only to pricing in the airport’s home market.
There’s also an opportunity for retailers to enrol travellers in loyalty programmes to learn more about them and to communicate special offers. This has been conducted by a number of operators in GTR and is an excellent way to build information on passenger purchase habits and encourage purchases. Each year on my birthday, for example, I receive a voucher from one retailer as a thank you for being part of their loyalty programme and they regularly email me information on promotions or new product offerings. This is a great way to make the traveller feel emotionally connected to airport shopping and the retailer.
Brand personalisation
From a brand perspective, personalisation is associated with luxury, exclusivity and thoughtfulness, and is emotionally engaging. Personalisation can come in the form of engraved bottles, personalised labels or specially printed gift cartons or bags. Putting a message or a person’s name on a bottle of liquor works as either a special gift, or a memento of a trip as a treat to yourself. It’s not only bottles that can be personalised; gift-with-purchase items such as glasses, bags and clothing items can be as well.
Bringing the in-store experience together with a digital experience also offers personalisation opportunities. A major chocolate brand gave shoppers the opportunity to add a personalised video message to their product using a QR code to make it a special gift. This is something that could be done with a bottle as well.
Promotions that allow the shopper to take part by having their photograph taken or creating a message to send to someone else build engagement, while also enabling the brand to build a database of travellers who took part in the experience. This creates a post-purchase connection with the traveller; all the more important given that shoppers are increasingly brand advocates and content creators on Social Media networks.
Personalisation in GTR needs to be shopper-centric; a ‘one size fits all’ approach won’t work. Retailers and brand owners need to gather information on shoppers and share this with one another. Personalisation should be considered at every touchpoint for a potential shopper.
Doing this will provide an important key to unlocking growth now and in the future.
This article was originally published in November’s issue of Global Drinks Intel magazine. For more details, including how to subscribe, click here.
