In an exclusive study conducted by TRBusiness and Swiss business intelligence and data firm m1nd-set, nearly 60% of international travellers said they would like to see more from affordable luxury brands in duty free and travel retail shops. 

 

In an sample of over 2,000 international travellers – including nationals and residents from across the world – 59% believe that there should be more affordable luxury items sold at airports.

 

Interestingly, 29% said that they actually believed retailers had struck the right balance and there was already a sufficient affordable luxury items on offer.

 

TRBusiness and m1nd-set also asked travellers to define the affordable luxury segment by price for each core DF&TR category. For the beauty category, TRBusiness can conclude from the study results that travellers consider an item to be ‘affordable luxury’ if it is priced between $50-$100.

 

WHAT IS AFFORDABLE LUXURY?

However, the majority of respondents consider watches and jewellery items priced over $100 to sit in the ‘affordable luxury’ segment; travellers were also prepared to spend more on items in this category than any other.

Second after watches & jewellery, travellers also said that they would be prepared to spend significantly more on fashion & accessories products than the other categories and were happy to define items in this category as affordable luxury if they were priced at over $100.

 

In the first TRBusiness Affordable Luxury report, Lise Ryevad, Copenhagen Airport’s Director of Airport Sales says that in the past airports have certainly focused too heavily on super premium brands.

 

“Historically, I think the majority of airports have focused too much on the globally accepted luxury brands that are only relevant for the few.

 

“The financial crisis sparked a new focus for retailers everywhere. Today, we see a much more balanced selection of brands, but there is still room for improvement for travel retail as a business.”

 

A more in-depth report on Affordable Luxury and exclusive commentary from industry executives appears in the February issue of TRBusiness magazine.

 

The full results of the exclusive survey can be found below.