Retail research and intelligence group, CiR, has established a strategic research partnership with the Airline Retail Conference (ARC) which runs regional conferences on inflight retail.

ARC was recently bought from publisher, Ink, by Karim Halwagi, a former CEO of the Association of Event Organisers (AEO). It is now an independent entity with a staff of five.

With the tie up with CiR, ARC aims to bring regular research insights to the airline retail sector. At the ARC Europe conference (2-3 June at the Olympia Conference Centre, London), CiR Managing Director, Garry Stasiulevicuis, will be sharing findings from its In-Flight Duty & Tax Free Retail study.

KEY FINDINGS

The report shows that almost 20% of travellers recall seeing inflight retail offers prior to travelling; 71% of people buy for themselves; that alcohol (51%) and beauty (49%) are the categories most widely browsed on board; while 61% of international travellers recalled seeing inflight DF&TR offers on their last flight. This is backed up by the fact that 46% of channel shoppers say they buy on board rather than in other DF&TR channels because it is more convenient.

The conference will address airline retail opportunities through a three-stream agenda:  The Inflight Ancillary Revenue Universe; Pre- And Post-Flight Retailing; and The Digital Traveller which will look at topics such as multi-device usage, wearable technology and how sharing data can boost retail sales.

Stasiulevicuis comments: ‘We’re excited about sharing our latest travel retail knowledge and expertise with airline retail’s key stakeholders. The prospect of research being a key component of ARC’s activity is an exciting dynamic.”

Karim Halwagi, Managing Director of the ARC portfolio comments: “We are delighted to have agreed this strategic partnership. It highlights the clear synergies between our organisations, while allowing us to remain at the cutting edge of this important and lucrative travel retail sector.”