Dufry Group CEO Julián Díaz has highlighted the resilience of the duty free and travel retail industry as it continues to navigate the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

In his comments for this publication’s Global Industry Survey 2021, part of the inaugural TRBusiness January e-zine, Díaz highlights the increased trend for digitalisation and the need to engage with customers through a multi-channel approach.

How would you assess 2020?

Twenty twenty has been the most difficult year for the travel retail industry and Dufry alike. However, the Dufry team succeeded in quickly adapting the company to the new business environment and securing its resilience with a solid financial position. Thus, I can say that the company is ready for the recovery and to seize any upcoming opportunities.

How will consumer preferences and spending habits differ in 2021?

We need to distinguish two elements. Through the research we have conducted with customers, we have seen the long-term trends focusing on exclusive products, novelties, and experiences are not changing.

However, in the short term, as recovery of flight travel accelerates faster in domestic markets with duty-paid assortments, convenience products tend to have a larger share of the shopping basket. As soon as international travel resumes, we believe we will see a stabilisation of the product categories in the ranges we had before the crisis.

How do you feel the impacts of Covid-19 will shape the travel retail industry in 2021 and beyond?

Travel retail is a resilient industry, which builds on some very specific characteristics such as the still highly important fact of having a captive audience and customers physically in the shops.

Nevertheless, the trend of increased digitalisation and the need to strongly engage with customers through a multi-channel approach will increase. This means that travel retail operators will also have to go through a phase of digital transformation.

Is Covid-19 the trigger to enact a real change in the airport concession model?

The experiences we have encountered have clearly shown the limitations of the current contract structure and that ‘viable solutions’ need to be found to better reflect the new realities of the business environment.

This is not just about Covid and less travellers, which have to be reflected with variable contract concepts.

We also need to take into account the increasing digitalisation and the changing business environment, which brings new forms of partnerships and market players.

Should physical events start again in 2021, will you attend and why? If not, why not?

I strongly believe that physical events are important because our business remains very much a ‘people business’. Personal relationships are important and cannot be fully substituted by virtual events, therefore physical events will come back. When this will be possible does not depend on the organisers, but more on respective travel restrictions, as well as health and safety regulations.

[This is an extended version of an interview that appeared in the TRBusiness Global Industry Survey 2021. Click above link to read the original article].