INDIA. Speakers and panellists today provided a powerful first day of top-flight discussion at The Trinity Forum 2016, which is being held in Mumbai this week.
The Moodie Davitt Report Founder and Chairman Martin Moodie launched the morning session with a welcome – and a warning. The dramatic rise of e-commerce is more than a storm, he cautioned, and it potentially represents “climate change” for the industry.
“The Trinity Forum was founded in 2003, just 12 years ago,” he said. ” This may surprise you but did you know that in 2003, Facebook had not even been founded? Nor Instagram. Nor Twitter. Nor YouTube. Nor PinInterest. No Tumblr. No TMall. No TBao Marketplace.
“E-commerce was in its infancy, considered by most consumers to be high-risk, fanciful, insecure; shunned by most brands as shadowy and uncontrolled; dismissed by most travel retailers as something to worry about another day.
“That day wasn’t long in coming.”
That digital theme resurfaced on many occasions throughout the day. A strong emphasis was also placed on the need for travel retail to develop a partnership approach that fully utilises its key defensive assets – especially the multisensory experience, something that no online operator can match.
ACI World Director General Angela Gittens highlighted the scale of the industry’s opportunities in her summary of the long-term growth trajectory of global traffic.
The pioneering GVK Executive Chairman Dr GVK Reddy welcomed delegates and shared his vision – and justifiable pride – in the extraordinary passenger experience created at Mumbai International Airport.
The ability of travel retail to evolve was dynamically demonstrated through a video of best practice in airport commercial revenues, produced by Marshall Arts, which included Dubai International’s Concourse D, Lagardère Travel Retail at Auckland Airport and Gebr. Heinemann at Sydney.
GV Sanjay Reddy, GVK Vice Chairman and Mumbai International Airport Managing Director, shared a warm expression of GVK’s vision at Mumbai Airport – ‘Indian in heart and spirit’. His presentation on ‘The power of (infinite) possibility for airports’ offered one of the most engaging Trinity perspectives seen from the airport sector and subsequently inspired a number of discussion paths throughout the day.
Reddy was then joined by Dufry Chief Executive Officer Julián Díaz and Diageo Global Travel Managing Director Dayalan Nayager in an engrossing heavyweight panel session that gradually drew a deeper and increasingly frank sharing of perspectives. A shared emphasis on the customer experience brought them closer but the repercussions of intransigent MAGs remained at the heart of the discussion and, for Díaz, represent a major hurdle.
The outcome was, perhaps inevitably, a stand-off between the airport’s obligation to take the highest offer and the retailer’s need for financial discipline – but the verbal exchanges highlighted the power of debate and the possibility of closer industry cooperation.
Oettinger Davidoff Chief Executive Officer and President Hans–Kristian Hoejsgaard shared the brand perspective in ‘Re-inventing the bricks & mortar of the airport retail model to move from brand to experience’, citing Davidoff’s success in appealing to a new audience – Millennials.
IBM’s Global Leader, Travel & Transportation Centre of Competence – Travel & Transportation Ravi Shankar shared a highly credible external perspective that focused on consistency across the passenger experience.
Looking at transforming the consumer journey, the ‘Airports Panel’ featured perspectives from Mumbai International Airport Chief Commercial Officer Sanjay Khanna, Singapore Changi Airport Senior Vice President Airside Concessions Teo Chew Hoon and London Heathrow Airport Head of Retail Strategy Kim Gray.
Gray provided a memorable line: “It’s not about more; it’s about different”. Khanna offered a vision of the passenger’s expectations and outlined a new e-commerce platform – and shared images from a memorable ‘’Delight-full Diwali’ campaign.
In the Trinity Panel that closed the afternoon session, Dubai Duty Free Chief Operating Officer Ramesh Cidambi, FLIO – Air Media Service Chief Executive Officer Stephan Uhrenbacher and Lagardère Travel Retail Chief Business Officer Frederic Chevalier assessed travel retail’s role in an omni-channel world.
Chevalier (a very able last-minute substitute speaker) emphasised that the digital world is the customers’ playground and “we must play by their rules”.
Cidambi provided a rousing finale as he delivered probably the day’s most impassioned and candid commentary, calling it “inexcusable” that online offers are often pale imitations of the full airport inventory. He pulled no punches in using 29 years of experience to dissect the industry and even challenged his own operations as among those struggling to present a complete online offer.
It was a strong conference opening for The Trinity Forum 2016, with a day of informative and respectful debate from airports, retailers and brands – and undoubtedly a spark for deeper conversations across the industry.
