Nicola Tompkins, Head of Buying & Merchandising, P&O Ferries, has told TRBusiness that the company is currently unclear whether Brexit will affect unrestricted shopping for duty free and travel retail goods, particularly for its passengers on the Dover-Calais route.

 

Additional reporting from Charlotte Turner.

 

If new limits are instated in the event of a Hard Brexit (for example), this could potentially have a significant impact on sales.

 

“Passengers [particularly from Dover to Calais] are taking advantage of the fact that there are currently no restrictions or limitations on what they purchase,” said Tompkins.

 

“So that’s the downside [of a Hard Brexit]. But it depends on what those limits are going to be and nobody really knows. So we’re having quite a difficult time, the buyers and I, at the moment kind of planning for the unknown and working out what the different scenarios might be. So it’s difficult.”

 

Having said this, she does admit that if duty free is reinstated, this in itself could be a boon to retail revenue for the company. If the allowance was also to remain unlimited, retail sales could really takeoff.

 

Watch the video to find out how P&O is finding its point of difference within its retail offer; how its newly refurbished areas are being received and what is currently driving sales for the company.