Passengers are inclined to seek out an airport’s food & beverage selection as an alternative to browsing duty free shops, according to research from Swiss research and consulting firm m1nd-set.

A recent *consumer study outlining the key reasons why international travellers opt to stay away from shops in the terminals, alongside preferred activities and potential incentives for non-visitors to enter stores, reveals that 56% of travellers prefer to eat and drink rather than shop in duty free.

This activity is more common among travellers from Asia Pacific, millennials, women and leisure travellers, the research suggests.

Walking the airport and relaxing in seating areas are the second and third most popular alternate activities.

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Separately, around 33% of global travellers stated they did not need to purchase anything, while ‘spending time to relax’ and a ‘lack of interest’ were the next most common reasons for not stepping foot instore.

Interestingly, only 14% of travellers state price as an obstacle for store visits, while 12% of millennial travellers cite ‘allowance concerns’.

However, price and value ranked in a list of key criteria, with around 33% noting that more competitive prices compared to the domestic markets would incentivise them to pay a visit to a duty free outlet.

A greater variety of affordable products and more attractive promotions were among other value-based factors that would contribute towards store penetration.

Peter Mohn, m1nd-set owner and CEO said: “As other m1nd-set studies have revealed, authentic and exclusive products are extremely important in duty free. Again, this study demonstrates this fact, as unique and local authentic products are two other of the top criteria that would encourage travellers to visit the duty free shops.

“Given the low penetration rates in many airports today, there is certainly potential and need for more creative thinking around the overall commercial execution and concession model.”

*m1nd-set research based on face-to-face interviews with over 20,000 passengers at global airports over the past 12 months.