Stephen Hillam, Managing Director at Pi Insight on stage at the MEADFA Conference 2025.

Staff interactions, differentiation and exclusives, sustainable credentials, and effective pre-trip communication are four key factors with the power to drive conversion among luxury MEA shoppers, according to data from Pi Insight.

At the 2025 MEADFA Conference Stephen Hillam, Managing Director at Pi Insight, explained how the luxury MEA shopper presents one of the biggest opportunities for stakeholders in the region, with a detailed analysis of how to meet their super-charged expectations.

In the session titled ‘Luxury, local, and lifestyle: The new face of MEA travel retail’, Hillam took delegates through the data on the topic, which was drawn from Pi Insight’s global travel database based of more than 15,000 interviews each year among key traveller and duty free shopper nationalities – expanded this year to include a greater proportion of Middle East and Africa nationalities specifically for the presentation.

He started by identifying who today’s luxury shopper in the MEA region is, which for the presentation purposes, was defined as the top 30% of spenders in stores.

“We can immediately see the opportunity they represent,” he said. “With total average spend already standing at $263 – over $100 up on the average spend of the other 70% of shoppers in our stores.”

As well as illustrating an opportunity in its own right, this, he said, pinpoints how influential this group is in terms of driving that overall high level of spend in the MEA duty-free sector. There are some key differences to note, however.

“When we look at our luxury shopper profile compared to the average shopper in this region, we can see how luxury shoppers are more likely to be men. We then see some relative consistency when it comes to that age and purpose and being frequent flyers – so maybe more aware of the range and the duty-free shopping environment,” he said.

“We also see how they are more likely to be travelling in groups. However, the differences we see here across this profile are not isolated just to who these shoppers are – they are also expanding to the types of categories in which they have an interest.”

Luxury shoppers in MEA are more likely to be active in higher value categories such as fashion, accessories, watches and jewellery, comapred to the average shopper.

For instance, they are more likely to be active in higher value categories such as fashion, accessories, watches and jewellery. They are also consistent across the beauty category though slightly less prominent in confectionery, according to the numbers.

“If we are to take advantage of the opportunity this group represents, we need to understand the wants, needs, expectations and those influential factors we can use to shape decision-making in isolation rather than just in the context of a wider shopper group,” said Hillam.

Looking at purchase reasons, key dynamics emerging including a strong self-purchasing opportunity, as well as a prominent gifting dynamic.

“Today’s luxury shopper in the Middle East and Africa region are driven to purchase items due to the perception of quality, and brand familiarity as well as visual merchandising and the value proposition – which again need to be prioritised,” he elaborated.

One of the biggest opportunities to capture luxury shoppers in the region, however, is capitalising on the shift towards a purposeful mentality.

“We have a luxury shopper entering the store knowing the types of products they are interested in seeing but also in expectation in the types of products that are available,” he said. “However, this level of expectation and purposeful mindset does not always translate into direct purchase intent.”

Almost half (49%) of luxury shoppers in MEA plan their purchase, on the flip side menaing there is a big chunk to are open to influence. 

Just 49% plan their purchase – an important dynamic – slightly higher than the average shopper though still showing half of luxury shoppers entering the store without that pre-trip purchase intent, presenting a significant opportunity to shape their behaviour in store, such as non-regular brand purchasing and brand switching.

What makes this opportunity even more significant, he said that three in five of these planners are entering the store with just range of brands, an idea of how much they want to spend or a type of category they intent to buy from.

“Ultimately we have a luxury shopper that is entering the store and spending high amounts but entering the store and not knowing what or indeed if they are going to make a purchase,” he said. “This illustrates a significant opportunity to share that behaviour within the four walls of our stores. Also, the significant opportunity to drive that increased level of pre-trip purchase intent.”

Empowering sales staff can be a top factor influencing the purchase process, with 65% of luxury shoppers interacting with staff when in the duty-free store seeking advice on specific items (44%), help locating a product (40%) and advice on promotions (34%).

Furthermore, 74% of those who interact with staff are positively influenced – with 50% having had assistance with choosing between items and 24% saying they would not have made a purchase without the assistance of staff.

The shift towards a purposeful shopping mentality is giving rise to a multitude of ways the retailers and brands can tailor their offering to MEA luxury shoppers.

More key statistics include 96% of luxury shoppers considering exclusives to be an important part of their experience, with 79% being more likely to buy an item if it is a duty-free exclusive versus a standard product.

Sustainability also drives consideration with 88% positively influenced and 42% saying they would definitely decide to buy an item based on green credentials.

Going back to the opportunity to influence pre-trip intent, the data shows that 70% of luxury shoppers research shopping opportunities before their trip, with 53% seeking information on duty-free opportunities.

“This presents a clear opportunity to communicate with our luxury shoppers pre-trip and communicate some of those key areas such as the benefits of duty-free shopping compared to some of the other retail benefits they may see on their trip,” he said. “It also gives an opportunity to communicate some of those higher value areas such as brand story, production methods or brand heritage as well as some of the basic but vital areas like price and availability.”

To summarise he concluded: “The luxury shopper here in the Middle East region is purposeful when they enter the store. Once there they do not know necessarily what they are going to purchase. As a result, we could focus on the areas that are important to this shopper such as sustainability such as duty-free exclusives and differentiation, and staff service – we can influence that decision-making process. What’s more, by communicating each of these area at various different stages of the travel trip, we can influence at all stages of the purchasing journey and ensure we are taking advantage of the opportunity they represent.”

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