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They've worked well in malls and on upscale shopping streets. Now pop-up retail shops and restaurants are becoming more common in airports.
For London's Heathrow Airport, pop-ups offer the ability to provide "seasonality and variety to passengers and the opportunity to test new concepts and brands," said Hazel Catterall, Heathrow's head of fashion.
In addition to frozen yogurt in the summer, artisan chocolate at Easter, flip-flops and sandals during the summer and specialty gifts in the spring, "we introduce relevant popups to match the travel theme such as 'BBC Doctor Who' products during the program anniversary to coincide with the summer holidays," said Iona Harper, Heathrow's experience delivery manager.
Copenhagen Airport has hosted pop-up restaurants, where top Danish chefs took turns serving special tasting menus from an open kitchen. And every few months a different company creates a pop-up in the "Brand Box" in the airport's main tax-free shop. Right now outdoor clothing and gear company, Yeti, is in the CPH brand box with a special fitting room offering customers a place to try on down jackets at icy cold winter temperatures.
Purveyors of European luxury brands, anticipating the arrival of this important clientele, stand ready to embrace it, whether by offering guided tours, in Mandarin, of flagship showrooms; providing backstage access to couture runway shows; or engaging in a variety of other flourishes tailored for the Chinese tourist-shopper.
In catering to the Chinese shopper, some European makers of luxury goods seek to leverage their brands’ heritage and savoir-faire by conducting tours of their landmark European stores — or even setting up museums in them, as Vuitton has done with its “Espace Culturel” on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Others organize invitation-only demonstrations of the craftsmanship that goes into the products, which companies and analysts say holds a particular appeal for Chinese visitors.
A Chinese tourist who returns home with a memorable experience to share can be a powerful ambassador for a brand.
We are dealing with a demographic, not a geography, so we need to think in nongeographic terms. Some brands have 150 store locations in China alone, but their cash registers are in Europe and the United States.
Chinese consumers’ embrace of the Internet and social media platforms like Sina Weibo has also increased access to information about luxury goods abroad, allowing them to comparison shop before they even board a plane. Applications like Weixin let people share their foreign shopping experiences in real time, check prices and send photos as they weigh their purchases — or even take orders on behalf of friends back home. Armed with these digital tools, a growing number of Chinese travelers, particularly younger ones, are forgoing the classic group tours and venturing abroad independently. That trend, with the ban on commission-subsidized tours, is driving more tourists to explore beyond the big European flagship stores in the fanciest districts.
An interesting Infographic released by eRevMax: 'The Indian Traveller 2014' highlighting the new age Indian travelers.
15 million Indians are planning for international travel, with Singapore and Dubai as favorite destinations.
The increase in disposable income along with a stable economy, easy access to credit and exposure to media have influenced Middle Class India’s mindset and choices. Indians are now more aspirational and confident - exploring new destinations and spending more on vacations. The outbound travellers are high spenders with average spending per trip crossing $1700.
The current size of Indian affluent middle class, 300 million, equals the size of the US population!
Targeting BA’s 350,000-plus existing Sina Weibo followers and users on its newly launched WeChat account, the festive campaign is a social networking app featuring shared streaming content feeds and location-based social plug-ins to chat with other users, including brands.
Celebrating the new year, the airline will deliver 2014 custom-made red envelopes to the doorsteps of the first 2014 followers of its official WeChat account @英国航空(BritishAirwaysChina). Inside each red envelope was a new year greeting from BA regional CEO Tracy Dedman and promotional coupon worth 300 RMB (US$50). Three randomly selected followers also won roundtrip BA tickets for travel between China and London in their gold-colored red envelopes.
Baidu has launched a heat map of where Chinese travelers are heading to, coming from, and which routes are most popular during Chinese New Year, the country’s largest national holiday.
The largest annual mammalian migration on Earth: during the 40-day holiday period – which is called Spring Festival in Chinese - 3.6 billion passenger trips will be made across all modes of transportation!
International tourist arrivals grew by 5% in 2013, reaching a record 1,087 million arrivals, according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer.
Despite global economic challenges, international tourism results were well above expectations, with an additional 52 million international tourists travelling the world in 2013.
Demand for international tourism was strongest for destinations in Asia and the Pacific (+6%), Africa (+6%) and Europe (+5%). The leading sub-regions were South-East Asia (+10%), Central and Eastern Europe (+7%), Southern and Mediterranean Europe (+6%) and North Africa (+6%).
For 2014, UNWTO forecasts 4% to 4.5% growth. 2014 regional prospects are strongest for Asia and the Pacific (+5% to +6%) and Africa (+4% to +6%), followed by Europe and the Americas (both +3% to +4%). In the Middle East (0% to +5%) prospects are positive yet volatile.
97 million Chinese traveled abroad in 2013, beating the 2012 mark by roughly 14 million, according to the China National Tourism Administration. The number is expected to surpass 100 million in 2014. Most Chinese tourists traveled to Asian and European countries, the report said, accounting for 75 percent of overseas tourists in those countries. Song Rui, director of the center, said the 2013 figures for overseas spending have yet to be released, but there will "definitely" be a new record by Chinese tourists. "Chinese tourists spend so much abroad that some foreigners are calling us the 'walking wallets', " Song said, who added that Chinese travelers who purchased luxury products during the 2012 London Olympics led Britons to coin the term "Peking Pound" for Chinese spending power. Tourism within China has also grown over the past year. The country hosted 3.2 billion tourists in 2013, according to the Tourist Research Center report, beating 2012's mark by 300 million.
Luxury brands are stepping up the battle for traveling shoppers with more outlets at airports and on cruise ships, tapping into one of the fastest growing sections of the market that looks set to keep booming thanks to soaring numbers of Asian tourists.
The advantages of iBeacons are many, here are just a few: Firstly, the technology has been conceived to enable precise micro-positioning inside buildings, retail stores and shopping walls where power-hungry GPS is either unavailable or too inaccurate. This is a feat of Bluetooth 4.0, which can locate target devices within just a few feet. Secondly, because tiny iBeacon transmitters use low-power Bluetooth 4.0 technology, they consume very little power and can typically last anywhere between a couple weeks to a few months between charges. This power efficiency is Godsent on mobile devices: an iBeacon actually wakes up your iPhone and iPad’s Bluetooth versus the previous-generation Bluetooth networking that would constantly maintain connection and therefore would add up quickly to the overall battery drain. And thirdly, iBeacons won’t spam people’s devices with notification alerts unless they have an app installed which can interpret and show merchants’ offers on the Lock screen, so it’s completely user customizable and optional. Simply put, it’s in-store location-based marketing done right.
iBeacon, Apple’s hyperlocal trigger tech in iOS 7, is an innovation that holds a lot of promise, and that will probably continue to make waves in the retail industry for a long time to come. One London-based company is using it in a slightly more novel way, employing them to help sell subscriptions to digital magazines. The tech is very handy in a number of scenarios, as in a coffee shop for instance, where the establishment could subscribe and enable access to full magazines to patrons who come in. It’s made even more convenient with the addition of iBeacons on iOS, as the whole digital handshake can happen automatically, providing the user with the best possible and most frictionless experience. Another possible use is in modernizing the doctor’s office, offering up publications in the waiting room that are more useful and more current than five-year old issues of Good Housekeeping. This is a novel, intelligent use of iBeacons, and a perfect example of how we’ve only just begun to see the benefits of this new Apple tech...
JMG-Research has launched its fourth Pax Gloss (Global Shopper Survey), which will focus on the behaviour of passengers from 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas.
The survey will investigate both outbound and inbound trips, at the airports and during the flights, covering the three key groups of international passengers: shop non-visitors, shop visitors and buyers. Added this year are some very interesting new questions, particularly on the reasons to switch brands when buying for yourself, new services, social media or advertising impact...
JMG-Research is launching its fourth ‘PAX GLOSS’ (Global Shopper Survey), which will focus on passenger behaviour from 15 countries, and investigate both outbound and inbound trips, at airports and during flights. "After the huge 'Chinese Pax Focus' released earlier this year, it was time to refresh our global database of international travellers’ actions and expectations when in a travel retail environment," says Jérôme Goldberg, JMG-Research Managing Director. There are 15 nationalities, from Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas included in the latest Pax Gloss survey from JMG-Research. The company says it will cover ‘every step of passengers’ moves’, from penetration for each different product category; to transformation rates; reasons to buy; planification; attitude vs duty free price and exclusive products.
Shopkick, the shopping app that lets you flag items you want and then alerts you in store to offers on those products and others you might like, becomes the first company to implement the technology in a retail setting. ShopBeacon, as the new iBeacon transmitter is called, begins trials today in Macy’s in Union Square, San Francisco and Herald Square, NYC, before Shopkick rolls it out to more of its retail partners across the U.S. Those retailers include American Eagle Outfitters, Best Buy, Crate and Barrel, JCPenney, Macy’s, Old Navy, The Sports Authority and Target, among a number of consumer brands that also promote product offers through the app. For retailers, adding in services like this helps them in their bigger aim of making the physical shopping experience more useful, and particularly to lure back those who have shifted to buying online for reasons of choice, convenience and price.
The technology will serve as a way to both improve the Apple shopping experience, and in-turn, boost product sales. The technology could be used for locating customers waiting for upcoming Genius Bar appointments, could be used for presenting advertisements or deals relative to nearby products, or even for purchasing products with enhanced security via the Apple Store application. Another feature in testing is the ability for a customer to be notified of a repair being ready to pickup if they are in or near the Apple Store. The Apple Store app is already capable of knowing if a customer is in an Apple Store, but the iBeacon geofence technology will greatly improve location accuracy. In addition to the upcoming uses for Apple Stores, sources say that Apple is actively developing a new indoor mapping feature, which will also include public transportation information, could assist users in navigating through stores and buildings.
Le 15 novembre, l’Association des Professionnels du Luxe organise un petit déjeuner conférence sur le thème du Travel Retail. Une formule de distribution qui pèse de plus en plus dans les ventes du secteur. La conférence vise à répondre à des questions sur la structure même du Travel Retail, sur les principaux acteurs, les clients, les évolutions prévisibles, etc. Les intervenants programmés sont Cécile Gorgeon et Mark Whiting, directeurs du cabinet Added Value, et Jérôme Goldberg, fondateur de JMG-Research.
The beauty company L’Oreal is testing a kind of virtual vending machine inside a New York City subway station, which will offer advice and sell cosmetics to passers-by. Passers-by will see screens and a mirror that use cameras and sensors to recommend women’s cosmetics bearing the L’Oréal Paris brand name, which can then be purchased. The project, called the L’Oréal Paris Intelligent Color Experience, is being described by the participants as an entry in the realm of interactive shopping outside of traditional stores. It is another example of a trend known as experiential marketing, which seeks to give brands more tangible form beyond retail shelves.
DFS Group said it plans to open its first stores in Europe to cater to Chinese consumers who travel more frequently to the region. The company plans to add “a few” outlets in Europe in 2016 and is looking at prime destinations for Chinese tourists, such as France, Italy and Switzerland. DFS, which gets more than half of its global sales from Chinese shoppers, currently has no outlets in Europe
In another nod to the Internet of Things, Mondelēz is pairing sensors with analytics in “smart shelves” to better understand how people of different ages and genders snack. When the smart shelf, now in prototype, goes public in 2015, the hope is that they will deepen the company’s understanding of the customer. “When people walk by, it’s a missed opportunity,” Mr. Dajani said. “We must know how the consumer behaves in the store.
A wave of experiments at various companies could take consumer convenience (and impulsiveness) to new heights. The ultimate vision is a form of shopping nirvana, where consumers can buy what they covet on the spot — straight from an attention-grabbing magazine ad, for instance, or off a television screen, or even from a refrigerator.
As media outlets flourish, and attention spans shrink to hashtag-sized dimensions, many brand ambassadors find salvation in an unexpected source: the airport. The individuals that are passing through generally will have an above-average income, they're disproportionally more likely to be carrying a smart phone or tablet, and they're very much in a captive environment. They're basically the sort of people advertisers are striving to get a hold of.
- Interactive Displays - Taking Payments - Videos / Demos - Engagement - Sharing - Customization - Support/Assistance - Ordering right from your table - Interactive Competitions - iBeacons
Luxury shopping travellers like to show off their luxury purchases on social media. Leather goods and ready-to-wear are the most buzzed categories. They gain overseas shopping information from Taobao and social shopping websites. The Weibo accounts of professional overseas buyers play a big role in their information gathering and purchasing. Luxury shopping travellers favor innovative and trendsetting brands. Limited editions and unique designs are very effective methods to stimulate purchase. Eve Lo, Chief Knowledge Officer, GroupM China said, "Holidaymakers embrace the joy and opportunity offered by travel, and are open to new experiences, providing a great opportunity for brands to offer engagement. Brand marketers must understand the consumers’ passion points and provide a unique experience.”
Destinations such as Australia, UK and America need to understand how to service the premium traveller, if they want luxury travel business from any of China's one million millionaires. "We simply don't understand how to service the premium traveller," said Thomas, who believes elite Chinese travellers need to experience better human 'software' when they visit the West.
"The Chinese traveller wants to be handled by people who understand their culture, not just language," said China Luxury Travel Network's founder, Lin Xu.
Xu said that there were in reality about 2.7 million US dollar millionaires in China as many exist "under the radar". And it is a group that averages about three foreign trips a year, creating a booming luxury travel demand of up to nine million trips per year.
Millionaires, the rising middle class and brand-conscious aspirational travellers from the mainland account for about 25% of all international luxury brand consumption. Xu told the audience the total spend was about US$102 billion in 2012 with online spend alone worth around US$57 billion. "China is modernizing, not Westernizing". "Affluent Chinese travellers simply won't travel in big groups any more," said Xu. "The key to success will be if travel experiences really suit China's new consumer needs and trends".
In the latest controversy involving Chinese tourists - a group of mainland travellers have upset Singapore Airlines staff by refusing to hand over 30 sets of stainless steel tableware during a recent flight, Chinese media reported....
Watch what happens when Heineken asked travelers at JFK to take a leap of faith and change their flight destination with the "departure roulette" board.
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A very interesting way to catch back the bored shoppers... More sense of place please...