L-R: Melvin Broekaart, Chief Executive Officer of Narraid; and Jason Cao, Founder and Managing Director of Amberich International.

Narraid has partnered with Amberich International to introduce podcast-style staff training in Simplified Chinese to the Greater China travel retail market, marking a significant step in how frontline teams are trained across the region.

The exclusive sales agency agreement, signed in Singapore this week, coincides with the launch of Narraid’s Mandarin-language service, which will go live across mainland China, Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR from 15 May 2026.

The collaboration opens up the world’s largest travel retail market to Narraid’s audio-based microlearning model, which delivers short, story-driven training episodes directly to staff smartphones. Developed using each brand’s own materials, the format is designed to reflect how frontline employees naturally consume information, offering an alternative to traditional classroom training and static materials.

China remains the most influential market in global travel retail, not only for its scale but for its role in shaping long-term brand loyalty. Industry data continues to highlight the importance of well-trained staff in this environment, with knowledge gaps still impacting the customer journey and purchase decisions.

Narraid’s platform addresses this by transforming brand content into three- to ten-minute audio episodes, allowing staff to learn on the move. The system combines AI-assisted production with gamified learning features, including milestones and rewards, helping to drive engagement and completion rates significantly higher than traditional training formats.

Jason Cao, Founder and Managing Director of Amberich International (HK) Ltd, said: “In China, duty free is where a global brand either earns its reputation or loses it. For years, the weakest link has been the last three feet: the staff member standing next to the customer, often without the training to tell the brand’s story in their own words. Narraid changes that. For the first time, Western luxury brands can train Chinese floorstaff – in wholesale as well as monobrand – at scale, in native language, and with the quality control they expect. That is a genuine shift for our industry.”

Under the agreement, Amberich will lead commercial development with duty-free operators and brand partners across Greater China, including onboarding Chinese brands to the platform. Narraid will continue to manage platform development, content production and overall client operations.

At full scale, more than 150 global brands across categories such as beauty, wines and spirits, confectionery and fashion are expected to be available on the platform.

Melvin Broekaart, Chief Executive Officer of Narraid, added: “China has always been the obvious market for what Narraid does, and also the hardest to enter well. You cannot win Chinese travel retail from Amsterdam. Jason and Amberich bring the relationships, the cultural fluency and the commercial judgement this channel requires. With Mandarin content now live, and a partner on the ground who can open the right doors, the biggest staff training opportunity in travel retail is finally within reach.”

The partnership reflects a broader shift in travel retail towards more flexible, scalable and experience-led training solutions, as brands look to better equip frontline teams in increasingly competitive and fast-moving retail environments.

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