According to the second quarterly DFWC KPI Monitor of 2017, duty free shoppers’ value perception has remained ‘constant’ from the last quarter (globally) with no change in Asia Pacific, a one-point rise in Europe and South America and a one point decline in the Middle East & Africa and in North America.

 

Value for money remains the number one satisfaction driver among duty free shoppers globally and for the second quarter running ‘novelties’ feature in the top 5 satisfaction drivers.

 

Produced in partnership with Swiss based research and consultancy agency m1nd-set, the Q2 monitor details the value perception of the duty free shopping experience by specific nationalities and customer segments.

 

The availability of ‘new brands’ and ‘exclusive and unique’ products both continue to show increases, as they have done consistently over the past four quarters, in terms of the percentage of passengers who agree that these criteria define the overall duty free shopping experience.

 

HARDER TO FIND A BARGAIN

Value for money, while remaining the most important satisfaction driver, requires scrutiny by stakeholders as the percentage of shoppers that find duty free prices cheaper has declined, for the third consecutive quarter, to 26%.

The Q2 monitor looks more in depth at certain nationality and age group segments to provide a better understanding of where and among whom the value perception is strongest and weakest.

 

The average score globally for the retail channel’s perceived value for money is 3.6 on a scale of 1 to 5. Shoppers from the UK and Brazil are among those who give the lowest rating at 3.2.

 

Other nationalities rating the channel below average for value for money include Australians, Dutch and Swiss shoppers with a score of 3.3 and shoppers from Argentina, the United States and Japan with a score of 3.4.

 

 

Chinese shoppers give the highest value for money rating to the duty free channel with a score of 4.2. Shoppers from Thailand, the Philippines and South Africa also have positive value perceptions with a 4.1 rating.

 

MILLENNIALS ‘MOST POSITIVE’ ABOUT VALUE PERCEPTION

Shoppers from Saudi Arabia, Russia and India also give above average ratings. As far as age segments are concerned the Millennials are the most positive about their value perception of duty free with a 3.8 score while the middle aged and senior citizen segments both give below average ratings.

 

The Q2 monitor also takes a look at the purchasing decision moment illustrating that two thirds of shoppers make the decision to purchase in duty free shops before entering those shops, either before leaving for the airport, on their way to the airport or once they have arrived at the airport.

 

 

Only one third make the purchase decision once they are actually in the duty free shops. The high percentage of shoppers who decide to purchase duty free before entering the shops or even arriving at the airport underlines once again the importance of digital shopping platforms, both online and mobile, as well as other pre-travel communications.

 

The report is compiled from face to face interviews with over 4000 travellers at airports across all major world regions during Q2 2017 with the fieldwork and analysis undertaken in June. More detailed data on the regional disparities for each aspect studied in the Monitor is available from m1nd-set upon request ([email protected].)