M1nd-set CEO Peter Mohn told delegates at the ASUTIL conference in Chile yesterday LatAm travellers overall appear to be more price sensitive that those from the US, and that men from the region are more price sensitive than women.

 

He also revealed that Millennials view duty free in a more positive light than other generations of travellers (in the LatAm and Caribbean) and that they do not want to do away with bricks & mortar stores in favour of a purely online shopping experience. In fact they believe that the two retail channels are complementary.

 

From the study conducted in May when 3,000 LatAm travellers were surveyed, m1nd-set discovered that the average age of travellers was 41 years. Thirty five percent were Millennials and 48% were men.

 

Peter Mohn was interviewed exclusively by Doug Newhouse for the June issue of TRBusiness magazine. To read his exclusive insights subscribe to TRBusiness magazine here.

 

According to the study, in LatAm and the Caribbean females spend more on perfume and cosmetics with this being their favourite category. Men said their favourite categories were alcohol and electronics.

 

REASONS FOR IMPULSE SHOPPING

M1nd-set looked keenly at the reasons for impulse shopping and the top voted reason was that travellers were attracted by a display/promotion visible from outside the store; 31% of those surveyed said this was the main reason for impulse shopping.

Click to enlarge all slides.

 

Another interesting statistic revealed by m1nd-set yesterday was that 27% said the most important aspects of visiting the core categories was that the prices were appealing.

 

However, among the reasons for buying in travel retail, 34% said that they made a purchase was because they wanted a souvenir from the trip. Twenty nine percent said they bought in travel retail because the prices were lower than in local stores.

 

Moving on to why travellers don’t buy, 35% said that prices were too high; 28% said that products were too similar to local shops.

 

PRICE COMPARING

Mohn also revealed that two out of three travellers from LatAm and the Caribbean compare prices.; 43% compare with downtown department stores and 40% compare prices with online retailers.

 

According to M1nd-set frequent fliers are more likely to price compare with other airports.

 

One of the most interesting statistics revealed by Mohn related to the ideal store; 58% of Latin American travellers under 40 years old said that their ideal type of store is an online shop combined with a physical store.

 

It was also interesting to hear that less than half of those surveyed were aware of pre-ordering and that 78% of female Latin American travellers under 40 would be interest in receiving offers/coupons on smartphones while at airports.

 

LATAM MILLENNIALS

Moving on to discussion about Millennials, Mohn said that this very important group of travellers are more likely to visit all duty free categories – except perfumes and souvenirs – than other travellers.

 

In fact, Millennials have a more positive outlook on duty free than GenX and baby boomers, with more than three out of four LatAm Millennials saying that shopping is a social activity and physical stores are a key part of it.