A recent interview from the CEO of Bloomingdale’s, Olivier Bron, should give travel retailers around the world a reason to think – and ask ourselves once more: are we doing the best we can for shopper experience?
Olivier Bron has argued that department stores do not need reinventing to secure their future, but must create better brand partnerships and greater experiences to create the best possible offer for the consumer. His vision, as he told Business of Fashion, is to customise stores more to fit their local market, to deploy better shop-in-shops with brand experiences, to create more opportunities for small brands and to unveil fresh collaborations and events to ensure differentiation for shoppers.
Doesn’t a lot of this sound familiar? These are all things the travel retail sector has been talking about for a while. However, for me, too little has been done in our arena. If we fall behind the domestic market in this regard, we put the very future of our sector in danger. This intention from Bloomingdale’s should be a challenge for all of travel retail: How do we ensure our offer remains exciting as those around us evolve?
Travel retail stakeholders must ask ourselves one question: are we doing the best we can for shopper experience?
The travel retail market is an vibrant and unique part of the travel ecosystem, which has flourished for years by offering something truly special for its consumers. But if Bron can bring his vision to life, and we continue to talk rather than act, then the future could be very dangerous for us all.
Make no mistake, the travel retail market must remain different to the domestic market. We should never seek to copy and follow. But different must also never mean worse. One of the biggest differences between travel retail and the domestic market, especially when it comes to airport stores, is guaranteed footfall. But it is not our footfall. These people walking by our shops are travellers. It is up to us to turn them into shoppers. Penetration in travel retail has been falling for years, masked by higher spend created by increased traveller numbers and higher prices. We are, simply put, not engaging enough customers.
Domestic department stores such as Bloomingdale’s do not have the luxury of people walking through their building on the way to somewhere else, they are trying to encourage people to even enter the store. But if they do so by creating an experience or destination which is more fulfilling than that in travel retail, why would travellers shop with us? There are enough other distractions for them in the airport.
The travel retail market must remain different to the domestic market; we should never seek to copy and follow. But different must also never mean worse.
Many of the ideas Oliver Bron is discussing have been present in travel retail discussion for a while. Some are even in effect. In Asia Pacific, high-profile beauty and spirits events are already part of the calendar, and we are seeing more local customisation in some airports. But too much of the market remains stagnant, with lip-service efforts rather than true innovation. For example, it is not enough to tailor a store to the local market simply by adapting the décor and product offer; the service must be tailored to local shoppers too. It certainly will be on the domestic market.
However, the biggest opportunity for travel retail must be in brand collaborations. We have access to the greatest collection of global and local brands available to any retail sector on the planet. We can put together collections and collaborations which could never happen anywhere else. This is a truly unique opportunity for travel retail, but it is one we must seize before we are left in the dust.
These comments from Oliver Bron should be a warning shot and a challenge to the travel retail sector. As the domestic market looks to boost its offer and engage more consumers, it is a reminder that we as an industry – no matter where in the world we are – can never, ever afford to rest. Innovation and evolution are the lifeblood of our industry. To Olivier Bron, I say: challenge accepted.