The Duty Free World Council’s Q4 2016 monitor, produced in partnership with Swiss research and consultancy agency m1nd-set, reveals that 53% of Chinese travellers use airport wifi when travelling; 25% higher than the global average.

 

The Chinese are the most likely to use their smartphones in airport shops, unlike European travellers who are the least likely, say the latest results from the shopping monitor.

 

The most common usage of smartphones in airport shops (according to travellers) is to seek information on products, not only from the web, but also from friends and family and on social media.

 

Price comparison with online and downtown stores is the other commonly cited reason for using smartphones when in duty free shops.

 

The Chinese are also identified in the report as the most active when it comes to seeking information about duty free shopping before travelling, says the DFWC and m1nd-set.

 

Fifty percent of Chinese travellers seek information before travelling compared to a global average of 27%. Latin America is ranked in second place, at 39%, for pre-travel information seekers.

 

ELECTRONICS ON TOP

The categories most affected by the online information searches are electronics, beauty and fashion, while purchasing behaviour for the tobacco, souvenirs and alcohol categories is less influenced by online searches.

 

The global satisfaction index shows an overall gain of 1% on the previous quarter with Asia Pacific seeing a 2% improvement on Q3 2016.

 

The Middle East & Africa region has a 1% drop in overall satisfaction. The aspects of the duty free shopping experience which have the most impact on the overall satisfaction level have evolved, with service level moving up the rankings from 5th to 3rd place.

 

Products suitable for gifting enter the top 5 criteria, due most likely to the festive period when gifting purchasing is more common.

 

According to the m1nd-set research, the leading customer perception remains consistent: “Duty free is part of the travel experience” is still the most commonly expressed perception on duty free shopping, cited by 43% of travellers.

 

GREAT FOR GIFTING?

The percentage of travellers who believe duty free is a great place to purchase gifts has seen continued growth over the past four quarters, increasing to 37% in Q4 2016.

 

Other aspects that have seen an upward trend include the suitability of the retail channel to find new brands, which has risen from 23% to 26% since the last quarter as well as the channel’s suitability for finding exclusive products, up 2% to 23%.

 

The report is compiled from interviews with over 4000 travellers across all major world regions during Q4 2016. More detailed data on the regional disparities for each aspect studied in the Monitor is available from m1nd-set upon request ([email protected].)