Swiss research agency m1nd-set has broken the 100,000 interview barrier with its insights Business 1ntelligence Service (B1S) database. The Vevey-based company has been undertaking interviews with international travellers since the service was first launched in late 2016.

An average of just under 3,000 interviews per month are conducted and then analysed by m1nd-set’s data analysts. The interviews are carried out face-to-face with international passengers in airport departure areas by m1nd-set’s team of interviewers at international airports worldwide. They are also conducted through online surveys with passengers recruited at airports who have recently travelled internationally.

Travellers from the United States, Japan, the UK, China, Brazil and Germany are among the top ranking nationalities surveyed and featured in B1S.

‘UNRIVALLED’ B1S DATABASE

The B1S sample includes interviews with over 40,000 shoppers of beauty products, including fragrances, skincare and make-up. It also includes interviews with nearly 16,000 confectionery shoppers and more than 15,00o wines and spirits buyers.

According to the m1nd-set B1S sample (left) 41% of travellers visit duty free shops in airports and around 65% of that number actually purchase. Those that do purchase tend to spend an average of $176.

The beauty category accounts for the highest share of the shoppers’ wallet, while jewellery and watches and fashion and accessories are the categories with the highest average spend.

B1S data demonstrates a high propensity among international travellers interviewed to plan their duty free shopping. According to the data, 80% of shoppers plan their purchase and more than 60% purchase an item for the first time in a duty free shop.

m1nd-set B1S Director Pablo Saez-Gil explained: “The B1S database, which is unrivalled in terms of size and depth of data in travel retail, provides consumer insights on shopper behaviour across all world regions. B1S enables m1nd-set’s clients to view detailed segmentation analysis by nationality, origin and destination airport, airline, categories purchased and sociodemographic profile, as well as across a number of behavioural aspects.

“These include paths to purchase, planned versus impulse purchasing, influence of staff, interaction with communication touch-points, average spend and satisfaction with the airport and shopping experience.”

He added: “Another unique feature of B1S is the air traffic and forecasting module which, thanks to m1nd-set’s exclusive partnership with IATA, gives an unparalleled perspective on current and projected air traffic data by origin and destination airport.”

Relevance is key for m1nd-set’s clients, emphasised Saez-Gil: “The sophistication of the tool, with its multi-dimensional analysis capacity, means we have been able to add new modules over the past three years since its inception and provide extremely detailed and accurate shopper profiles and even predictive analytics through various data-mapping techniques, thanks to the critical mass with over 100,000 interviews.”