Stansted Airport says it saw a significant boost in retail spend during a two-day Black Friday shopping event at the end of November, as well as a 70% boost to the airport’s Shop & Collect service. However, as travel retailers struggle to compete with internet retailers and the High Street on price, some believe such heavy discounting and promotions may be damaging to the customers’ perception of value.

 

Retailers in the US, who sought to boost sales in the run up to Christmas following Thanksgiving, initiated a promotional shopping day (24 hours) back in the 50s.

 

The successful outcome of such a promotional period meant that many retailers effectively moved ‘in the black’; hence the name that followed.

 

The shopping extravaganza has now well and truly made its way to the UK and Black Friday promotional posters were highly visible this year on High Streets around the country.

“We ran Black Friday over two days (24-25 November) following a successful trial last year,” Stansted Airport’s Head of Retail – managing WDF – Kathryn Kindness told TRBusiness.

 

BLACK FRIDAY ACROSS MAG AIRPORTS

“We teamed up with World Duty Free (WDF) and other retailers including Dixons, The Body Shop, Dune, Ted Baker, Rituals, Accessorize, Oasis and Hema.”

 

Black Friday promotions also ran at Manchester, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports (all owned by the Manchester Airports Group (MAG)).

Interestingly, Gatwick also participated in Black Friday promotions this year, however Heathrow and the two biggest airports in Scotland – Glasgow and Edinburgh – did not.

Due to the popular growth of routes to China, Manchester Airport (MAN) also imported another foreign shopping holiday in November; Singles Day or ‘Double 11’ from China.

 

This is now the world’s biggest shopping holiday and saw Chinese shoppers spend around $18bn this year in just 24 hours.

 

Manchester Airport launched direct flights to Beijing in June this year, and so far more than 40,000 passengers have used the service.

 

MANCHESTER TARGETS CHINESE PASSENGERS

“Manchester Airport [was] only one of a handful of Western brands to take part in the activity, with the majority just doing so online; by bringing it to the UK to its Chinese passengers is quite unique,” says MAN.

 

“In 2015, in under 10 minutes of Singles Day launching, Alibaba had more than £1bn of orders, and within and hour and a half it hit the £4bn mark. By the end of Singles’ Day the total sales were £9.4bn, up from £7.4bn in 2014.”

 

Although the evidence of a sales boom during these periods is clear to see, there has been much debate – particularly in the last year – about the effects of big discounting activity and promotions at airports and whether they can actually cause long lasting damage to the equity of brands in travel retail as a ‘race to the bottom’ ensues.

 

The travellers’ perception of price was discussed in length at the Trinity Forum in September (Mumbai) and the Meadfa conference in November (Dubai).

 

ARE THERE TOO MANY PROMOTIONS?

At the Meadfa conference in Dubai, ARI CEO, Jack MacGowan pointed out that on average, only 1 in 4 customers benchmark on price yet the industry is still focused on discounting as a key response to the decline in passenger spend.

 

“Are we doing too many price promotions? Could we have clearer and more compelling price messages?” he asked the audience (rhetorically).

 

 

During the Trinity Conference in Mumbai earlier this year Julián Díaz emphasised that ‘price is not everything’.

 

“There are enough elements in travel retail to make it a good value proposition…it’s not all about price…Value is a very relevant thing; exclusivity to duty free is a relevant thing…assortment is a relevant thing…it is not only price.”

 

However, Stansted would argue that Black Friday is not just about offering discounts to customers; it’s about engaging with travellers, drawing them into the shops and (hopefully) converting shoppers into buyers.

 

 

“The aim was to create a buzz for passengers as they travelled through the airport,” adds Stansted’s Kindness. “WDF staff dressed up in sashes and encouraged customers to try a mini makeover or hand massage, sample chocolates and promote its shop and collect service.

 

“It was a great way to engage with customers and we were able promote the great prices on offer especially with the current exchange rate for non UK nationals.”

 

Beauty products performed best of all, particularly from Clarins, Estée Lauder, Jo Malone along with GHD hair stylers.

 

SEVENTY PERCENT BOOST TO SHOP AND COLLECT

“WDF ran a 10% off everything for the two days and saw a significant increase in spend,” she said. “Our Shop and collect service enjoyed a 70% boost on the previous week.”

 

Ted Baker’s sales also increased ‘massively’ with its 25%/30% discount campaign.

 

Importantly, STN also points out that it’s not all about price-offs and over the Christmas period the airport is introducing a free personal shopper service (from mid-December) throughout the terminal.

 

WDF will also be offering a gift-wrapping service and the concierge team will be on hand to recommend gifts and book in passengers in for beauty services.

 

“To add some festive fun there will be a Christmas themed selfie booth in the departure lounge,” says Kindness.