Activations in modern travel retail cannot be transactional. Not really. And if they are, then they fail at the very thing they claim to deliver.
We talk endlessly about “experience”. We celebrate activations that look visually impressive, that photograph well, that appear to do something different. But when you strip many of them back, the reality is less inspiring. They are still just shops, augmented with screens, props and brand assets, all pointing relentlessly towards the same end point: a sale.
Shoppers see this immediately.
They do not want to be funnelled. They want a space to inhabit. An experience to live, not one designed to shepherd them, step by step, towards a till.
Shoppers do not want to be funnelled. They want a space to inhabit, not one designed to shepherd them towards a till.
Look closely at many of the activation spaces being held up as best practice today. Almost all of them are linear. Enter here. Experience this. Exit there. Buy now. The intent is transparent, and that is precisely the problem. When the primary objective is conversion, the experience becomes thin. Functional. Forgettable.
True experience is not about choreography. It is about quality time.
It is about allowing shoppers to explore, to discover, to engage on their own terms. And most of us know how fragile that moment is. We have all been there: immersed in a store, enjoying the process of discovery, only for the spell to be broken by an overly eager sales approach. In that instant, the experience collapses. The shopper disengages.
Sales teams matter enormously. But context matters more. In activation spaces especially, the role of staff must be to elevate the moment — to support discovery, not accelerate purchase. Without that distinction, an activation is just a shop with better lighting.
It is about allowing shoppers to explore, to discover, to engage on their own terms.
This point was articulated clearly by Mondelez’s Joost Rosmuller at last week’s ETRC Business Forum: when activations become transactional, shoppers revert to price as their decision-making anchor.
That insight should make the industry pause.
We often argue that experience builds value beyond price. And that is true, but only when the experience is genuine. The moment it becomes sales-led, that value evaporates. The emotional connection weakens. Price fills the vacuum. And in today’s environment, that is a battle travel retail increasingly struggles to win.
If we want experience to do the heavy lifting we claim it does, we have to protect it. Not dress it up. Not rush it. Not undermine it with the very behaviours it is meant to replace.
Otherwise, we are not creating experiences at all; we are just hiding the till more creatively.