News

A recent study from TFWA has highlighted how the duty free and travel retail channel can provide a lucrative market opportunity to watch and jewellery brands.

A substantial 78% of shoppers buying for themselves purchased a brand they do not usually buy, while 40% purchased the brand for the first time and seven in ten buyers had no prior awareness of the brand. This indicates that the channel can offer outstanding exposure to new audiences, and that the travel retail sector is a sound springboard to new customers. It is also the perfect place to upsell, with one in five trading up from their domestic product ranges and brands.

Only one in two watch and jewellery buyers purchased for themselves, the lowest of all categories, while almost one in every two purchases are for a gift. With the gift buyer a key travel retail customer, this also presents significant opportunity for the category.

“The watches and jewellery category in global duty free and travel retail was valued at $5.7 billion in 2015,” says TFWA President Erik Juul-Mortensen. “However the sector needs to do more to turn the very substantial amount of watches and jewellery browsers into buyers as currently about one in seven airport shoppers visit the category but only 5% buy. By focusing on improving conversion, the category has plenty of scope to capitalise on the significant opportunity presented by the duty free and travel retail channel.”

The Watches and Jewellery report is part of the TFWA Category Reports series, produced by Counter Intelligence Retail. It is based on approximately 1,000 shopper interviews conducted at four key airports across the globe. A minimum of 50% of the sample were duty free buyers. The full report is available as an exclusive benefit to TFWA members at www.tfwa.com.

The full report is available as an exclusive benefit to TFWA members at www.tfwa.com.