Swiss research company m1nd-set has released its latest consumer insights research on post-Covid-19 shopping behaviour.

The research reveals positive signs for the industry regarding global travellers’ planned shopping trends, but warns of significant behavioural changes across all shopper segments.

Focusing on how travel retail shopping behaviour will vary across diverse segments post-Covid-19, the report is the latest in a series of studies outlining how travellers worldwide will change their shopping behaviours in post-pandemic travel retail environments.

The aforementioned segments include nationality and regional segments, along with age, gender, travel type (business or leisure) and income levels.

Different behaviour across several main themes is revealed in the report. Behaviour includes the tendency to resume travel, increased time browsing, learning and shopping online, changes in behaviour while travelling through an airport and changes in shopping behaviour. Changes in shopping behaviour include staff interaction and the tendency to test and try products.

DIGITAL REVENUE INCREASE

M1nd-set said: “The report quite categorically concludes that travel retail will not be the same as it was prior to the pandemic and that travel retail stakeholders will need to rethink their strategies and the entire approach to the channel in order to remain relevant to consumers.”

The research highlights the significant increase in digital revenue across all sectors and the long-term impact on travel retail revenues.

According to m1nd-set, the shift to digital and e-commerce will remain in the post-pandemic world. The company reported that a significant percentage of consumers claimed they would continue purchasing online even after the pandemic. The figure, however, varies considerably depending on the market.

M1nd-set added: “The report provides some encouraging findings for travel retail stakeholders, with less than one sixth of global travellers saying they will not visit shops when next flying internationally and less than a third claiming they plan to spend less time in the shops. This tendency is significantly lower than reported in a previous survey in April.”

In addition to revealing the desire of various segments, nationalities or regions to shop when travelling, another positive from the report is that the majority of travellers indicated they would continue to interact with duty free sales staff, taking greater care in the process.

“The seasonal shopping experience will inevitably not be as in the pre-pandemic era, but the majority of passengers will continue to touch, smell and test products, while again taking greater precautions.”