Swiss research company m1nd-set has explored the potential of gifting as a footfall driver in airports and other travel retail outlets in its latest monthly insights report.

The company’s final report of the year highlights how gifting is an important purchase driver, not only in the pre-festive season but throughout the year. The report reveals qualitative and quantitative data on global travellers’ gift shopping behaviour, demonstrating how this purchase driver can lead to cross-category sales across all cultures, creeds and seasons.

In addition to Christmas seasonal shopping behaviour, the report touches on other religious and cultural festivals which are typical gift-giving moments, as a means for sales associates to engage with shop visitors and increase conversion.

The report reveals that gifting is the number one purchase driver globally and how this varies from region to region. Gifting has increased across all seasons over the past 12 months, according to m1nd-set with the past quarter (September to November) accounting for the highest share of gift purchasing as a percentage of all purchases.

The three months from December 2018 to February 2019 reported the highest increase in gift purchases, with a 6% rise in gift shopping to 42%, up from 36% during the same period 12 months earlier.

MAIN BROWSING PURPOSE

Looking at gifting as a footfall driver, the report demonstrates that ‘looking for a gift’ is globally the third most common reason to visit airport shops. Gift shopping is the main reason for browsing duty free shops, particularly for travellers from the Middle East and Africa.

It is also the second most commonly quoted reason for visiting shops among travellers from Asia Pacific, a region which shows consistently above average shares of gift purchases among all airport shopping spend.

Around half of airport shopping in the region was dedicated to gift purchases across all previous four quarters. Electronics, souvenirs and confectionery are the top three categories for gift shopping in airports, the report revealed.

Gifting is more common among male than female shoppers, the research indicated. Depending on the time of year, between 47% and 50% of purchases by men are for gifting, compared to between 35% and 42% of shopping among women. There are few differences across age groups however. Millennials tend to spend more than other age groups — middle-aged and senior shoppers — (49% versus 45%) during the last quarter from September to November. But throughout the rest of the year, there is little variation across the age ranges.

Peter Mohn, Owner, m1nd-set said: “It is worth noting that ‘gifting for good’ is a growing trend. Between 55% and 73% of consumers (depending on variables such as age group and nationality) are willing to pay a premium for goods where the sales proceeds will benefit a social or environmental cause.

“Younger women in particular have a greater tendency to support brands with a philanthropic cause. Gifting lends itself in particular to social shopping as consumers are more open to brands with a story; the social cause linked to the product enhances the shopping experience and enables the giver to make more of an impact with the gift purchase and pass on the story to the recipient.”

Understanding purchase drivers is essential to securing the sale and increasing average spend among shoppers, according to Mohn. “Sales associates need to learn more about the reasons travellers enter the store and why they purchase to enable them to make the sale and increase the average transaction value through upselling and cross-category sales. Time of year is clearly a key factor, but there are many reasons for gift shopping throughout the year.”

He concluded: “It’s important to share these insights with frontline staff in their training so they understand how cultural and religious festivals across all creeds and cultures can generate increased sales opportunities, not just Christmas or Chinese New Year. Business travellers heading to Japan either mid-year or end-of-year for example represent an opportunity to tap into the Japanese gift giving culture at these periods.”