The Duty Free World Council has reiterated the need for customer engagement, as its latest KPI Monitor has revealed that the global average of duty free shoppers’ satisfaction has increased by just 1% in Q2 2019, since Q1 2019.

Produced by m1nd-set, the report found steady growth in some of the key satisfaction drivers for shoppers, but showed that performance in North America declined by one point and there has been no change since the previous quarter in Asia Pacific.

All other regions demonstrated an increase of one point, while compared to the same period in 2018 there has been a consistent increase in the global average.

The satisfaction index, compiled from over 4,000 interviews with shoppers globally, is computed by aggregating the satisfaction scores on all aspects of the visits to the duty free shops and weighting these based on their impact on the overall satisfaction level.

European Travel Retail Confederation President Frank O’Connell, said: “The level of engagement between staff and visitors to the duty free shops has declined by 5% since the previous quarter according to the DFWC KPI Monitor, which is quite a concern.

“The impact of this decline in engagement is directly visible in the overall satisfaction levels and perception of duty free shops. We see in this quarterly Monitor, for example, that there is only one contributing element to the overall perception of duty free, ‘duty free is a great place to try new brands’, that has seen an increase in the percentage of travellers who agree, while all other criteria have either seen a decline or stagnated.”

O’Connell noted that it is “essential” for brands and retailers to ensure sales staff “continue to interact and engage with more customers”.

Changing perceptions

According to the report, less than half duty free visitors (43%) interact with the sales staff, despite 46% of buyers having been influenced by staff for purchases.

Perfumes (58%), Make-up (57%), Skincare (56%), Fashion & Accessories (55%) and Jewellery & Watches are the categories for which staff interaction was higher.

With regards to regions, Latin America comes first in staff interaction (54%), followed by Middle East / Africa, at 53%.

Tobacco (40%), Souvenirs & Gifts Items (36%) and Confectionery (31%) were found to be the categories for which customer engagement was lower.

Duty free shopping remains part of the travel experience for 47% of the respondents, while 44% think duty free outlets are a “great place to try new brands”. Another 43% of travellers agreed that the variety of products makes duty free a “great place for shopping” and 40% are more motivated to buy ‘duty free exclusives’.

However, a mere 24% of respondents thought prices are “usually cheaper” at duty free and 31% agreed that the outlets offered “exclusive and unique products”.

Peter Mohn, Owner and CEO at m1nd-set, added: “We see clearly from the Monitor that where staff interaction is greater, there is also greater influence on the decision to purchase. This is particularly evident in the Middle East/Africa region and in the Beauty and Fashion & Accessories categories.

“Staff in the Electronics category also performs well in influencing the purchase decision. There clearly needs to be more focus on engaging with older travellers as well as with those duty free visitors shopping for alcohol, confectionery, tobacco and souvenirs where engagement levels are markedly lower.”

By Elena Dimama in Global, Latest News, Research, Retail News July 31, 2019 0