Future Travel Experience (FTE) is taking its engagement with airport commercial leaders to the next level through the FTE World Airport Retailing Working Group. This initiative provides a platform – and is building a community – in which the brightest, most progressive minds in the commercial sector globally can network and share ideas, visions and learnings on how the industry can improve its commercial offerings, strategies and collaboration. As part of FTE’s commitment to the widest possible engagement, access to the Working Group is free to all relevant industry stakeholders and membership is growing rapidly, with over 400 executives as active members representing almost 100 airports, 100+ partners and 17 airlines.
The virtual meeting of the FTE World Airport Retailing Working Group on 14 March 2024 was themed “The Airport Commercial Strategy Revolution: Innovation, Experience, Engagement”. Leading the lively discussion as co-moderators were Sammy Patel, Vice President Commercial, Vantage Airport Group, and FTE World Airport Retailing Working Group Captain, and Martijn Steur, Managing Director, Kinetic Consultancy. Both Sammy and Martijn are members of the FTE Ancillary & Retailing Advisory Board.
Fascinating presentations, focusing on key and emerging themes in the industry, were shared by Fraser Brown, Retail Director, Heathrow Airport; Gerald Ong, Strategy and Commercial Development, Hamad International Airport; and Isabel Zarza, CEO Southern Europe, Avolta.
From a future commercial and retailing perspective, Sammy Patel highlighted the importance of continued digitalisation, space planning and adjacencies, the future of brand activations, and the inclusion of local partners and concepts in retail programmes.
Meanwhile, Martijn Steur emphasised the importance of striking a balance between enhancing the customer experience and implementing a viable business model and solution. “The airport industry in general, and for good reason, is risk avoiding,” he said. “The risk that applies to one aspect, such as airport security or aircraft safety, probably doesn’t apply to the other – for example, digital engagement, or new retail categories. Leaders in the airport industry should foster an innovation culture, encouraging entrepreneurship and piloting new ideas and reducing FOMU (Fear of Messing Up).”
Hamad International Airport’s focus on engagement and collaboration for a seamless airport commercial experience
Gerald Ong, Strategy and Commercial Development, Hamad International Airport, shared some fascinating insights into finding the right balance or mix in maintaining diverse, high standards of terminal facilities, as well as quality of services and offerings, for better passenger experience. He highlighted the need for continuous engagement and collaboration within the industry in promoting and providing a seamless passenger and airport experience. “The seamless airport experience starts beyond just the terminal, starting at home,” he explained. “This is initiated through digital transformation initiatives. Mapping out the travel journey, with digital innovation, will enable passengers to purchase services in advance, such as e-commerce and retail promotions, and pre-booking car parking. This will be a holistic view of integrating and providing an end-to-end service proposition to passengers right from moment of arriving at the airport terminal, shopping and right to boarding the aircraft.”
Looking ahead, Ong emphasised that Hamad International Airport’s focus is further driving passenger experience, working hand-in-hand with its airline partner Qatar Airways, as well as retail partner Qatar Duty Free. Higher adoption of digitalisation is also a priority, with an increasing number of digitally-savvy passengers – more than 30% of the airport’s passengers are Millennials.
Avolta’s strategy based on customised offering for travellers in physical ‘smart’ stores and digital channels
Global travel retail powerhouse Avolta (the brand identity of the combined Dufry and Autogrill) is aiming to revolutionise the travel retail experience with a strategy focused on five ‘Cs’, as Isabel Zarza, CEO Southern Europe, explained:
- Community: “Generate loyalty across duty free, F&B and convenience.”
- Convenient: “Offer faster and more convenient services to travellers.”
- Collection: “Evolve our offering, tapping into new concepts.”
- Content: “Deliver more exciting and engaging experiences.”
- Connectivity: “Mobile-first approach to cutting-edge experiences and technology.”
“One of the pillars of our new strategy is actually based on a customised offering for travellers, including elements of experience, new categories, and exclusive products,” said Zarza. “This experience will be delivered both in physical ‘smart’ stores, with a modular concept that allows us to customise the offering to different passengers, routes and nationalities, as well as through digital channels, with extensive digital engagement before and after travel, to drive consideration and loyalty. Pushing beyond the boundaries of retail, the travel experience revolution brings together travel retail and food & beverage, with the transformative business combination with Autogrill, which will allow us to engage consumers with a broader set of products and a wider range of experiences, providing a platform to make travellers happier during travel.”
With the customer at the core, Avolta has defined a commercial strategy that is data-driven and focused on customer-centricity, innovation, experience and entertainment, and with a strong sense of place.
Heathrow sees a great opportunity to engage and increase dwell through digital experiences
In a fascinating address, Fraser Brown, Retail Director, Heathrow, highlighted that there are four strategic pillars to the airport’s retail proposition, which are designed to deliver evolution rather than revolution: Digital Growth, Experiential, Space Optimisation, and Compelling Offer.
Heathrow continues to evolve its retail and F&B offer in pursuit of its vision to deliver “the best airport service in the world”. The pace of this change has increased significantly since Covid – in 2019 we had 23 new or refreshed units, while in 2023 there were 36.
“As I have previously said, we have to collaborate across the quaternity of retailers, airports, brands and Out of Home (OOH) media partners,” Brown commented. “One big area is digital. We are very focused on the dwell in the International Departure Lounges, but there is a great opportunity to engage and increase dwell through digital engagement. Airports are typically good at this through their own parking business – having learned about SEO and PPC through that. What we all need to do is translate that experience and knowledge to retail.”
400 active members globally representing 100 airports, 100+ partners and 17 airlines
As part of FTE’s commitment to the widest possible engagement, access to the FTE World Airport Retailing Working Group is free to all relevant industry stakeholders and membership is growing rapidly, with over 400 executives as active members representing almost 100 airports, 100+ partners (concessionaires, consultancies, brands and tech companies) and 17 airlines.
They have joined to be part of this new initiative that is providing a free platform – and building a new community – where commercial leaders globally can network and share ideas, visions and learnings on how the industry can improve its commercial offerings, strategies and collaboration in the airport realm.
Next in-person meeting in Dublin on 11 June 2024 alongside co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing events
Looking ahead, the FTE World Airport Retailing Working Group will meet in-person in Dublin on 11 June 2024 ahead of the co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing events, which are being delivered with Headline Partners Dublin Airport and International Airlines Group (IAG), with the meeting also broadcast virtually. Content plans include a focus on retailing innovation at Dublin Airport, plus discussion around progressive new business models. The meeting will take place at the Dublin HQ of Stripe, which is the inaugural Strategic Partner of the FTE World Airport Retailing Working Group.
Another in-person members’ meeting will then take place in Los Angeles on 30 October 2024 during the FTE Global event, which is co-located with APEX/IFSA Global EXPO. Content plans include retailing innovation at Los Angeles International Airport, while discussions will also explore utilisation of the Metaverse and other new technologies in travel retail.
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Find out more and join the FTE World Airport Retailing Working Group – free to all relevant industry stakeholders >>
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