Who shops at the airport, and why

Airport shopping has seen a tremendous growth over the last couple of decades with the ever increasing number of ‘transumers’, i.e. consumers who travel.

The world’s first duty-free shop was established at Shannon Airport in Ireland by Brendan O’Regan in 1947 and is in service till date. Since then, thousands of shops have opened up throughout the world’s airports. With the global duty-free industry all set to become a $73.6-billion industry by 2019, it asks for serious attention.

It is interesting to note that 31 per cent of airport revenues comes from non-aeronautical services, but surprisingly limited attention has been given to the airport shopping behaviour of transumers. This lack of research motivated the marketing group of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM C) to conduct research on airport shopping behaviour.

The research aimed to address questions such as why passengers buy or don’t buy at the airport, what level of service passengers are looking for, and how retailers could improve their sales. The research was carried out at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata. It involved interviewing customers as well as retailers and shop owners at the airport, as well as conducting a questionnaire survey of travellers at the airport. A total of 171 respondents across different age groups completed the questionnaire.

What customers want The survey revealed that almost 80 per cent of the travellers did not plan their purchase in advance. However, travellers who came to the airport with an intention to make a purchase at the airport were significantly more likely to make a purchase (70 per cent of them) than those who had not planned their purchases (45 per cent).This highlights the need for airports to project themselves as retail destinations.

The reasons cited for not buying in spite of having planned to buy were “products were expensive” and “did not want to carry”. The primary motivation to shop at the airport included, “availability of exclusive products”, “duty-free imported products”, and “credible brands”. The study also revealed that customers look for variety and exclusive offers.

“There should be more stores for traditional handicraft and food items. The quality and variety of products in India are poor as compared to what is available at international airports,” said one female shopper. “Deserted stores are a turn-off. More offers can pull more of a crowd,” a male shopper explained. When asked to comment on customers’ reaction to price, a store manager said, “In spite of the fact that we provide good deals and prices, we are perceived to be priced high.” This indicates that stores at airports need to rebuild their price image.

Liking, the first step Further, the study found a high correlation between liking an airport and the decision to enter a store in that airport. Over 50 per cent respondents indicated that they would not enter any store if they had a negative opinion about the airport. Sixty-five per cent of people who had positive opinion made a purchase after entering the store, as against 28 per cent of those who did not like the airport.

This highlights the need for stores to work in collaboration with airport authorities to improve the overall perception of the place. So, what makes an airport likable? A whopping 70 per cent and 63 per cent of respondents indicated that airport ambience and comfortable seating arrangement were the factors that affected airport likeability.

Our research gives a snapshot view of airport shopping behaviour. It throws light on what motivates airport shopping by transumers and highlights the need for airports and the stores there to understand the evolving needs of the ever increasing number of transumers. This would enable them to come up with a value proposition that creates a win-win-win situation for the transumers, airport, and the stores at the airport.

Prof Ritu Mehta is part of the Marketing Group, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC). She acknowledges help from PGDM students Anaika Verma and Aakash Bhamre, towards the research.