Trinity Forum 2017: Insights from a stellar second day in Bangkok

THAILAND. Following a fabulous Great Gatsby-themed Gala courtesy of King Power International and Airports of Thailand on Thursday evening, The Trinity Forum closed on Friday with a series of strong panel discussions and insight from leading travel retail executives.

The event took place at the magnificent Aksra Theatre in King Power’s Rangnam Complex. Discussions centred around adapting to new consumers but, importantly, not at the risk of neglecting the existing customer base. Creating new retail experiences and diversifying the offer will be integral to the future of travel retail but will require greater commitment from retailers, brands and airports. Digitalisation will be a key focus for the industry, but it will need to be balanced with humanisation, as Gategroup CEO Xavier Rossinyol noted in a memorable presentation.

“As concession fees go up, the ability to take new brands and activate them becomes difficult. One way of doing things is establishing a festival around new brands,” said CIDF Chief Executive Doug Bagley in a stirring call for greater diversity in the retail offer.

Focusing on the theme of ‘Changing consumers, Changing times, Changing needs’, China International Duty Free Chief Executive Doug Bagley, Greater Toronto Airports Authority Vice President, Customer and Terminal Services Scott Collier and Finavia/Helsinki Airport Vice President Elena Stenholm provided a series of compelling insights.

Speaking from CIDF’s expert perspective as an authority on Chinese travellers, Bagley raised some intriguing facts about travel retail’s changing consumer profile. In particular, he cited Generation Z and Millennials, who represent a telling 40% of travel retail turnover in Asia alone.

Bagley, the much-respected former Managing Director of Diageo Global Travel & Middle East, spoke of big changes in the alcohol sector driven by the changing consumer mix and a related demand for more local and craft products.

“It is critical that we spend more time understanding the portfolio that needs to be represented in airports to become more in tune and ‘in fleek’ [on trend] with this generation,” said Bagley, quoting modern parlance. He recommended that retailers and brands should strive for “essentialism”, make the offer personal, keep things frictionless, help consumers gain social currency and, overall, keep things fun in the airport environment.

Asked whether retailers are too risk-averse in bringing in new brands, Bagley clarified that the risk should be shared by the whole Trinity. “As concession fees go up, the ability to take new brands and activate them becomes difficult,” he noted. “One way of doing things is to establish a festival around new brands or craft rather than activating them separately.”

GTAA’s Scott Collier says it is important to provide customer excellence every single day to every single passenger

Stenholm highlighted Finavia’s cooperation with its fellow stakeholders and encouraged other airports to create pop-up space to lay the ground for new brands to enhance the customer experience [we’ll bring you a detailed report on this and all other discussions in the next edition of The Moodie Davitt e-Zine).

In a powerful presentation, GTAA’s Collier, however, warned the industry that it is paying too much attention to certain demographics. “We are all talking about Millennials and Chinese passengers, but we are not looking after the passengers we have today,” he noted. Collier stressed the importance of providing customer excellence every single day. Pointedly, he claimed the industry had been complaining about the tender model for years but he had barely been visited by anyone to discuss solutions.

“Digitalisation is not effective unless you balance it out with humanisation” – Gategroup CEO Xavier Rossinyol

Day two also featured an eye-opening presentation from Gategroup CEO Xavier Rossinyol, who addressed the need to serve the consumer at all stages of the journey.

Once the flood of online retailing has passed, a period of fertility, or opportunity, will follow, says Xavier Rossinyol

The airline catering-to-retail giant, which had a turnover of €4.5 billion last year and serves 500 million passengers a year, was recently acquired by Chinese conglomerate HNA. Gategroup is revolutionising the onboard food & beverage offer with new concepts such as its Absolutely One offer, a fresh coffee trolley and draft beer inflight, Rossinyol said.

Echoing sentiments from the previous day, Rossinyol pointed out how online retailing is “flooding” the industry. But he added an optimistic viewpoint that once a flood has passed, fertility follows − in other words, a period of opportunity.

“Digitalisation is not effective unless you balance it out with humanisation,” he said. The airline industry he said, has a particular advantage in that customers onboard are even more captive than in an airport environment.

“It’s time to exceed the expectations of customers with experiences they can’t find anywhere else; driven by digitalisation and connecting all the dots by humanisation – hi-tech versus hi-touch,” he proposed.

Representatives from Dallas/Fort Worth, Melbourne and Frankfurt airports on ‘future proofing’ the commercial offer

Representatives from airports in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific offered their views on how to future proof the commercial offer in the next session.

Frankfurt Senior Vice President Sales & Commercial Winfried Hartmann described a new type of traveller that has emerged in the wake of low-cost travel’s growth – the multi-functional passenger. “The multi-functional passenger is one that flies from Frankfurt to London for €29.99 and has dinner at The Ritz. They spend the same amount on different budgets and we are having to change our service and retail offer to adapt.”

Vice President Concessions Zenola Campbell outlined the startling commercial transformation at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Terminal D.  Completion is slated for early December. A fantastic video visualised the airport’s design vision.

Melbourne Airport, which is set to unveil a next-generation Dufry Duty Free store this month and a luxury precinct in December, has established a travel experience team to remove pinch points and enhance the customer journey, said Andrew Gardiner, Chief of Retail. The Moodie Davitt Report will be on site this month when the store opens.

A panel comprising Rémy Cointreau Global Travel Retail Senior Vice President Ian McLernon, Furla Global Travel Retail Director Gerry Munday and Hunter Palmer – Global Retail Solutions Co-Founder Keith Hunter discussed how to adapt the product offer to a new reality.

Gerry Munday urges the industry not to neglect older consumers and their higher purchasing power

Munday reiterated a common theme that ran through this year’s Trinity Forum – urging the industry not to sideline older travellers in favour of Millennials and Gen Z. She raised a key point: is the industry doing enough to attract these travellers who often possess a greater purchasing power and can it do more to incentivise them to leave the lounges and visit the shops?

McLernon pointed out that leveraging the F&B offer in the spirits category is an often overlooked way to engage travellers

Rémy Cointreau’s McLernon highlighted several ways to engage travellers with the alcohol category. “Sometimes we forget that the F&B offer is a vital and healthy business. We are seeing a lot of branded bars such as Heineken and more spirits companies should do this.” He also indicated the pure advertising worth of the inflight retail business and said the company was likely to re-enter the sector.

He stressed that brands need to change their mindsets in travel retail and see themselves more as retailers and less as wholesalers. A travel retail exclusive should be exactly that he noted, not a short-term channel launch that is then rolled out into domestic markets.

The final session of the day envisioned how duty free retail and dining will look in the future. King Power International Senior Executive Vice President Susan Whelan, The Design Solution Director Robbie Gill and Mondelez WTR Head of Category Planning Ivo Knuesel contributed their insights.

“Digital commerce is a friend and not an enemy of the industry” – Robbie Gill, The Design Solution

Whelan, who has been with Thai travel retailer King Power International for 18 years, hailed the retailer’s new Rangnam shopping complex (the location for The Trinity Forum) as a “revolutionary shift” in downtown duty free. “It is a radical expansion of the retail experience and a broader experience for the customer,” she said.

“We need to recruit new customers whilst retaining the existing base. We need to be the catalyst for change,” says Susan Whelan

Interestingly, Mondelez has stopped using the term ‘Millennials’. Instead the company describes its consumers as ‘next generation travellers’, who are defined by their habitual frequency of travel and desire for shareable experiences. “We need to adapt the model and use technology as an enabler. Bring the product to the consumer,” Knuesel noted.

Envisioning the future is The Design Solution’s forte, and Robbie Gill identified four key trends that will drive the travel retail and duty free business in future.

First, he described F&B as a “rising star”. Next, flexible spaces such as pop-ups will be a vital means of bringing in character and newness; while localisation inspires visitors to embrace the character of the country they’re in. He noted that digital commerce is “a friend and not an enemy,” of the industry, he concluded.

Celebrating a job well done: The Moodie Davitt Report, ACI Asia Pacific, ACI and hosts King Power International gather to celebrate the conclusion of a hugely successful Trinity Forum

Concluding the 2017 Trinity Forum, The Moodie Davitt Report Chairman Martin Moodie thanked all those involved with the successful running of the conference. A special floral tribute was given to King Power’s Kessarin Dettgit for her tireless work over the past few months in helping to organise the event.

King Power’s Kessarin Dettgit is honoured by Martin Moodie for her tireless efforts in helping the organisation of the event

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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