Almost half (48%) of respondents to a recent TRBusiness LinkedIn poll believe that price savings and excellent value will be the biggest factor helping to inspire happy shoppers in travel retail in 2023.

It drew the largest share of votes in the poll* conducted as part of this year’s Global Industry Survey, which calls upon duty free and travel retail (DF&TR) stakeholders to share their views in our annual state-of-the industry report.

The result underlines how showcasing savings, offers and a well-crafted proposition that represents excellent value, compared to the domestic market, is not only a linchpin of the industry but something that is in sharp focus in the current climate when consumers may be feeling the pinch.

Inflationary pressures and consumer appetite to spend in the channel are topics that respondents to the main Global Industry Survey have written in-depth about, with leading commentary to be revealed in the January 2023 TRBusiness e-zine and online at TRBusiness.com.

“We have been overwhelmed by the quality of the responses we have received for the Global Industry Survey,” commented TRBusiness Managing Editor Luke Barras-Hill.

“As well as asking stakeholders to share their thoughts on the trading environment for the year ahead from a macro perspective, and to outline expectations for their own businesses, the questions in the survey confront some of the biggest challenges the industry is facing today.

“Key talking points include how inflation and the risk of global recession is hurting businesses and consumers’ appetite to spend, as well as how stagnant conversion rates are being addressed.”

The big issues tackled

“Leading figures who have taken part in this year’s Global Industry Survey include Dubai Duty Free’s Colm McLoughlin, Aena’s María José Cuenda, Dufry’s Xavier Rossinyol, Lagardère Travel Retail’s Dag Rasmussen and Heathrow’s Fraser Brown – plus many more,” continued Barras-Hill.

“Their comments make for fascinating reading and we look forward to sharing them with you in due course.”

READ MORE: Make your voice heard in the 2023 TRBusiness Global Industry Survey

The three related social media exclusive (LinkedIn polls) conducted by TRBusiness provide additional conversation-starting snapshots of how respondents view the path ahead.

As is evident from the infographic above on the topic of keeping travel retail shoppers happy in 2023, facilitating a seamless/frictionless shopping experience and helping consumers to experience a sense of place are also expected to play a role, both attracting a 22% share of the vote.

Just 8% of voters think that offering a broad product range is the most significant factor in keeping shoppers happy, compared to the other options presented.

Championing trained shop floor sales staff

Another of the LinkedIn polls called upon voters to reveal what they think will be the most effective tool for driving consumer engagement with brands and products in the channel over the next 12 months, with over two fifths (41%) saying they believe trained shop floor sales staff will make the biggest difference.

It earned the most votes, followed by experiences at the point of sale (31%), digital tools and touchpoints (24%), and newness/channel exclusives (4%), as illustrated in the infographic above.

All eyes on China outbound travel

Finally, our third poll showed that over half (54.9%) of voters believe the resumption of outbound travel from China will help to facilitate the biggest boost to their business in the channel in 2023.

This is followed by lobbying work on duty free allowances (17.6%). Engaging with Gen Z travellers and utilising online duty free purchasing platforms are next up, each attracting 13.7% of the vote.

*Three polls, conducted by TRBusiness on LinkedIn, ran for two weeks and attracted a total of 169 votes (combined). Respondents were invited to vote for one of four options per question posed by TRBusiness (as outlined above).

The Global Industry Survey 2023 results will be published later this month.