In his presentation, Henningsen warned that travel retail is undergoing a profound, structural transformation.

Ahead of the Day 2 closing keynote, the focus of the TR Consumer Forum was fixed on the future shape of the travel retail industry in a session titled Inconvenient Predictions: Tomorrow’s Airport Shoppers Will Not Wait. 

Blueprint Partner, Thomas Henningsen, ever passionate about the industry, launched his session by providing an in-depth perspective on the shifting behaviour of the travel retail customer. He paired that opportunity with a warning that the industry is not keeping pace with change and needs to accelerate to stay relevant to customers, their needs, and their lifestyles.

In a heartfelt presentation, Henningsen said that travel retail is not merely facing a period of change; it is undergoing a profound, structural transformation. While the current business model has proved resilient for decades (and perhaps a hint that some in the industry have simply stayed on the simplest path), he warned that travel retail is now confronting a “perfect storm” of six simultaneous megatrends (AI, Gen Z, Experiential, Conscious Consumerism, Social Commerce, and Geopolitics) that threaten to render traditional strategies obsolete.

The central opening question posed to the audience was stark: “Are we ready for the next 25 years?” He answered his own question with the emphatic comment, “I can tell you the short answer is ‘No’. We are not ready.”

A new form of crisis

For years, he said, the industry has successfully navigated crises, such as pandemics, financial downturns, and currency fluctuations, by managing them sequentially. However, the current landscape is uniquely – and dangerously – different, and the consequence is that the industry is no longer dealing with isolated events but a “constant state of flux”.

Travel retail’s reliance on yesterday’s success model is, he believes, becoming its greatest liability: “In the past… we took (each crisis) one by one, and we managed; it got us back in the game. But right now, we’re seeing the perfect storm.”

This storm is driven by shifting consumer ethics, geopolitical instability, and, most significantly, the surge of AI. Henningsen highlighted data showing 80% of global consumers now use AI to search for products and experiences, and over 50% use it to check pricing. He sees this shift as fundamentally altering the path to purchase, moving power away from traditional retail environments and towards hyper-personalised, AI-driven digital assistants.

He warned that the rise of AI-powered shopping presents an existential challenge to the travel retail status quo. With 70% of current airport sales driven by impulse, the industry must ask if this model will survive the era of total price transparency.

If AI assistants can hyper-personalise shopping and offer instant price comparisons, the traditional airport retail model, often reliant on captive audiences, will struggle to compete. “Unless airports and retailers and brands really come in number one on pricing, we’ve got to ask ourselves, where’s that sale going to go?” said Henningsen.

Weaponising AI 

Henningsen suggested that, to remain relevant, the industry must stop viewing AI as a peripheral tool and adopt it to enhance the customer journey, ensuring that the value proposition is credible enough to compete with the convenience of the digital marketplace.

The Blueprint partner believes that the future of the industry lies with Gen Z and Gen Alpha. By 2030, Gen Z will represent $12 trillion in global spending power, making them the most significant generation in history. However, they are currently disappointed with the airport shopping experience, viewing it as increasingly irrelevant to their lifestyle.

To capture this pivotal demographic, travel retail must understand that Gen Z and Gen Alpha do not view travel as a separate, distinct activity. They expect the same digital fluidity and connectivity they experience in their daily lives: “Gen Z and Alpha want to travel as they live. So simple advice: check the Wi-Fi connectivity in your airports, please.” He expanded from this core element to call for the industry to align its infrastructure and service models with the lifestyle expectations of these generations of digital natives.

Looking at airports, Henningsen believes the physical infrastructure of airports is also set for a radical evolution. The concept of the ‘aerotropolis’ – airports functioning as self-contained cities – is moving from theory to reality. Intriguingly, he insisted that, as concerns regarding safety and wellbeing grow, airports are uniquely positioned to become safe havens where people can socialise, date, and even live.

Henningsen neatly tied his airport development theme to a shift in consumer psychology. Travellers are moving beyond the traditional “sense of place” toward a “sense of belonging”. They are searching, he believes, for environments where they feel welcome and safe. This creates a massive commercial opportunity for airports to diversify their offerings, from real estate to live entertainment, catering to the human need for community.

The human touch

Henningsen believes the time for complacency is over and that travel retail must embrace a wider range of business models.

Despite the overwhelming influence of AI and digital transformation, he assured the audience that the human element remains the industry’s most powerful asset, emphasising that technology and humanity are not mutually exclusive but are complementary.

This can be exploited in travel retail because, as the industry becomes increasingly digitised, the value of genuine, heartfelt hospitality increases: “The more AI-friendly we get, the greater the need will be for human-to-human touch and connection.” This is the one area, he said, where dot.com competitors cannot compete. By transforming sales staff into ambassadors of hospitality for example, the industry can create unique, memorable experiences that transcend transactional shopping.

Henningsen closed his entertaining session with a thought-provoking closing message to the industry: the time for complacency is over. Travel retail must embrace a wider range of business models, deeper collaboration and prioritise experience-driven offerings. If we don’t, he warned, we risk losing relevance entirely.

The path forward requires a delicate balance in leveraging AI to drive efficiency and the key ingredient, personalisation, while doubling down on the human-to-human connections. This way, the industry can redefine the travel retail experience as a powerful and memorable guest experience and establish a brighter path over the next 25 years.