Trbusiness. The travel retail Trbusiness. The magazine for global retail and duty free professionals.Changi Airport refreshes its retail concepts and loyalty programme
By Benedict Evans |
Changi’s man-less concepts also include Toni, a fully automated robotic barista deployed at T2.
Among the retail-tainment offerings at Singapore Changi Airportsuch are a robotic bartender and interactive wine sommelier, is one of 150 new leases awarded, including more than 40 new-to-Changi brands in the past financial year (March 2023 to April 2024).
Both Lotte Duty Free’s flagship stores in T2 and T3 boast a host of retail-tainment which the operator classifies as ‘man-less’, i.e. primarily without a human presence.
At the T2 outlet and visitors are immediately greeted by Toni, a robotic bartender.
Upstairs at the ‘Forest of Li Bai Lounge’, customers can sample from 18 different whiskeys from the automated dispenser, or take a photo with K-pop idols in the digital selfie mirrors.
To introduce passengers to the local flavours of Singapore, Changi’s ELLA menus also feature a Changi-exclusive Pandan Tea Latte.
ELLA is a fully automatic robotic barista deployed across T2 and T3.
Finally, the Hydrate unmanned store in T3, which harnesses the power of AI, allows passengers at boarding gates further away from the main F&B area to grab some quick bites and souvenirs while waiting to board their flight.
Customers enter the store by tapping their credit card, pick up the items they wish to purchase, and payment will be automatically charged to their card when they exit the store.
E-commerce facelift
Changi has also diversified its e-commerce business iShopChangi, and refreshed the airport’s longstanding loyalty programme, Changi Rewards.
Changi Airport’s e-commerce platform iShopChangi doubled the number of brands on the platform to over 2,000, including more than 100 off-airport merchants across categories such as beauty, electronics, wellness and more.
Through iShopChangi, non-travel retail merchants have also been able to curate a selection of over 1,000 products to be sold to travellers.
iShopChangi has launched ‘Tax AbsorbMania’, a campaign launched to acquire more customers and increase the awareness of the platform’s tax-absorbed offer, its gifting service, and the robotic bartender ELLA, among other moves to refresh the retail-tainment offering.
The ‘Tax Absorbmania’ campaign propelled iShopChangi into the top three of YouGov’s ‘October 2023 Biggest Brand Movers’ for the first time, contributing to more than 20% of iShopChangi’s new customers.
To further widen its customer base, sales channels were expanded to serve passengers travelling through Seletar Airport and airlines.
A special partnership with ZIPAIR made iShopChangi the airline’s in-flight tax and duty-free sales retailer, allowing passengers to shop online, in-air and collect their purchases within six hours upon arrival.
The iShopChangi Collection Centres at T2 Arrival and Departure as well as T3 Arrival have also been expanded and relocated, accompanied by an increase in the range of products.
Loyalty programmes
Changi Airport’s loyalty programme, Changi Rewards, has refreshed its programme with new membership perks.
Earned points for each programme year used to expire each year on 30 June. However, from 1 April 2024, points are now valid for 12 months from the point of earning them.
Members can redeem a myriad of rewards from the catalogue, including parking vouchers, e-vouchers for use in Changi Airport and Jewel, Krisflyer miles, and more.
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