From shortlist to checkout, shopping intent is driven by travel apps then discoverability.

Findings from the China Trading Desk (CTD) Q4 2025 China Outbound Travel Survey show that 64.4% of surveyed travellers say they are likely or very likely to shop at the airport.

However, having identified a large, commercially decisive swing segment, the report also indicates that turning intent into revenue will hinge on conversion strategy, not awareness alone.

Around 26% of travellers remain undecided, creating a clear opportunity for airports, retailers and brands to capture incremental baskets by reducing friction at the moment of purchase.

“Airport travel retail is no longer a demand question, it’s an execution question,” noted China Trading Desk Founder & CEO Subramania Bhatt.

“The job is to convert a large intent pool by showing the right products to the right travellers, early enough in the journey, with a checkout experience that is fast, confident, and defensible.”

How social content drives conversion

The survey highlights how social content can direct travellers towards airport shopping, with 65% of respondents confirming that promotions on platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin make them more likely to shop.

Yet China Trading Desk cautions that influence alone doesn’t guarantee conversion, as 98% of travellers benchmark prices against online channels. Airports therefore need to offer price logic, exclusives and clear value – not just visibility.

CTD’s findings also reinforce the role of customer service within high-choice categories. Around 75% of travellers cite staff assistance as important when purchasing duty free products, underlining that conversion is often decided in the final moments, through consultation, reassurance and efficiency.

The survey highligts how around 26% of travellers remain undecided about shopping, creating a clear opportunity for airports, retailers and brands.

While near-term outbound travel intent remains stable – 22.9% plan to travel within three months (+0.44 percentage points quarter-on-quarter) – the airport retail opportunity is increasingly concentrated among travellers most predisposed to convert.

CTD’s segmentation shows that frequent travellers deliver a 72.3% likelihood of shopping at the airport, closely followed by high-net-worth individuals at 71.2%.

CTD’s recommended playbook for Q1 2026 features five key steps to close the “conversion gap”.

CTD’s recommended playbook for Q1 2026 focuses on closing the “conversion gap” by:

• Winning the shortlist before arrival by connecting creator-led discovery with product availability and shopping lists

• Converting the undecided with brand-finder tools, clear price communication, and reserve-to-pickup flows

• Leading with conversion categories (notably beauty and fragrance) and expanding baskets through gifting, travel sizes and airport-only bundles

• Treating service as revenue infrastructure, not just brand theatre, given the 75% importance placed on staff assistance.

With Chinese New Year representing the next major travel peak, according to CTD the conversion window is already opening. While travellers may still book late, product consideration begins much earlier.

Airports and brands should therefore seed airport shopping plans upstream, across creator and travel-app ecosystems, then close in-store with transparent pricing, brand findability, and fast, frictionless pickup for time-pressed shoppers.

“They’re already searching,” Bhatt added. “The winners will be the operators and brands that show up early enough to make the shortlist, then close the purchase when travellers are in the store.”

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