As the 2022 Travel Retail Awards takes place in less than two weeks, TRBusiness and m1nd-set provide this special preview for the upcoming event, including a detailed explanation of the judging process by Peter Mohn, Owner and CEO of m1nd-set.

We also share what’s new for the 2022 edition and why this a particularly special year for the Travel Retail Awards and its organisers. 

There are an impressive 164 finalists across 19 categories in this year’s consumer-voted Global Travel Retail Awards that are taking place on Monday 3 October from 7pm until late at Hotel Barrière Le Majestic Cannes, during the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference.

You can view the full list of finalists here.

A huge amount of work takes place behind the scenes to bring the annual awards to fruition. Each and every entry has been judged by a panel of 2,000 consumers who have travelled internationally in the past six months.

The consumers are sourced from m1nd-set’s qualified database of several thousand international travelling consumers, through interviews conducted on-location at airports around the globe.

The quantitative scores from the consumer panel account for 80% of the score for each nomination, while the remaining 20% of the score is assessed from the qualitative judging process, which involves a panel of international travelling bloggers and vloggers who are leading influencers in travel and consumer goods.

They have the added benefit of being able to touch, feel, taste, smell and handle all the products as part of the judging process.

We asked Peter Mohn, Owner and CEO of m1nd-set to explain more about the process, including how the votes are cast, how the data is analysed and why consumer feedback is relayed to all the entrants.

The Global Travel Retail Awards is the duty free and travel retail industry’s only consumer-voted, multi-category awards programme – how did the idea first come about?

Peter Mohn: The TRBusiness team approached m1nd-set around five years ago and we discussed how the industry needs awards based on what the end-consumer likes. We at m1nd-set of course strongly believe the whole industry should focus much more on consumer needs, so we were happy to team up with TRBusiness to make this new approach happen.

How does being consumer-voted make the awards stand out?

It’s absolutely non-biased and objective and based on a representative sample of travellers and shoppers.

Can you tell us a bit more about how the judging is carried out?

The companies listing their products provide us with several pictures and a detailed description of each product, so our 2,000 panellists can evaluate online each individual product based on all relevant information. It is a time and cost-efficient approach and it covers travellers from all over the world, so the questionnaire is translated into the 10 main languages. The research is carried out around two- to three-months before the awards, so usually in July and August every year.

How was the split between the consumer panel and the international travelling bloggers and vloggers decided upon and how do you think this enhances the awards?

I think it is a perfect mix of qualitative insights from people who can actually feel and touch the products, and then also having a large representation of travellers through our panel.

The number of finalists in each category is not capped at a set amount – can you explain the reasons for this?

A brand or an airport becomes a finalist if it surpasses a certain average score given by the representative sample of travellers. It is a score which is defined by m1nd-set based on the hundreds of thousands of interviews we have conducted with travellers in the past 15 years across all categories and all regions of the world.

A new Highly Recommended accolade has been introduced this year for entries that meet the upper scoring benchmark – can you give us some insight into this?

This is a result of the data analysis in the past years, where we realised some brands or airports receive extraordinary high scores due to their excellent performance, but they might still not be a winner because one other brand or airport might be performing better. So as a consequence, we thought it would be fair to add this category.

There will also be an overall awards winner to be revealed on the night within both the product and airport categories – how are these winners identified?

It is very simple: the winners are the products and the airports with the highest scores received from the travellers.

All those who enter receive a detailed consumer feedback report from m1nd-set, which highlights the key strengths and weaknesses from the consumer’s perspective – can you explain the value of this as you see it?

For many brands this is a key reason to participate, and it has become very useful for them. I remember a brand who came second one year and they told us they took action on their two biggest weaknesses and the year after they won. How perfect is that?

A milestone year for TRBusiness

The Global Travel Retail Awards, now in its fifth year, is set to be especially memorable as the event also marks the 25th anniversary of TRBusiness.

“When we launched the Travel Retail Awards five years ago, our driving goal was to offer well-deserved recognition to the suppliers, airports, airlines, cruise companies and other travel retail and duty free stakeholders that have earned the seal of approval from the industry’s ultimate customers: travelling consumers,” said Nigel Hardy and Janice Hook, Owners and Joint Managing Directors of TRBusiness.

“Making the awards entirely consumer-voted provides valuable insight into the minds of travelling consumers. The detailed feedback that is given to all of the entrants means that the awards are of value to all those who take part – not just the winners.

“This year is extra special as all ticket holders will also be able to join us in celebrating the 25th anniversary of TRBusiness. We are looking forward to raising a toast with you at the after party, as the live band plays until late.

“Thank you to all those who have supported us through a quarter of a century of delivering first-class news and analysis of the duty free and travel retail industry  – you can read more about our milestone moments in our October issue, which will be available as a e-zine as well as in print from the magazine stands as you enter the Palais during the TFWA World Exhibition and Conference in Cannes.”

Tickets are available for £300 per person (including 20% VAT) or £2,700 (inc. 20% VAT) for tables of 10. Tickets include the drinks reception, three-course premium dinner, the Travel Retail Awards ceremony, the TRBusiness 25th anniversary after party with live band and the attendee gift bag.

To find out more, visit the dedicated website travelretailawards.com.