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INSIDER

He adds that the ‘What’s Your – where every touchpoint is a learning
Whisky’ is already being used with opportunity, and AI is catering for
Diageo’s retail partners in the Americas, customers’ idiosyncratic needs and wants at
including at Attenza Duty Free in Panama, scale,” she explains.
with Aer Rianta International at Montreal “In an age when brand loyalty is
airport; Avolta at Toronto airport, and with dwindling, brands and retailers are creating
border store operator UETA. new opportunities for engagement,
Similar technology was used by destinations for hyper-personalized,
Bacardi Global Travel Retail (GTR) last bespoke and omniscient relationships
October at Miami airport in partnership with their customers. This means offering
with Duty Free Americas in an ambitious Fiona Harkin, foresight director at The Future Discovery Commerce using dynamic, real-
Bacardi Rum Tales activation. This Laboratory time personalized shopping feeds that are
promotion sought to tempt travelers to incredibly accurate at deciphering what a
trade up to more premium Bacardi-owned international at Tito’s Handmade Vodka, person is looking for.”
rums such as artisanal Venezuelan rum which recently installed an in-store digital She argues that NFTs and virtual
Santa Teresa 1796, Caribbean blended screen at Honolulu airport which proved stores shouldn’t be one-off gimmicks for
rum Pyrat and Facundo, an ultra-premium successful. “In this increasingly high-tech travel retailers but opportunities to forge
Puerto Rican rum sourced from the private world, it’s important not to lose focus on long-lasting relationships with customers.
reserves of the Bacardi family. the importance of high touch, that personal As for spirit brands, she urges them to
The activation featured a digital Rum interaction with real people.” invest in data partners so that digital
Selector platform which travelers could marketing can become personalized and
access by scanning a QR code in-store What will the future bring? to put more emphasis on strengthening
with their smartphones. They could then Looking to the future, it’s clear the customer loyalty. “Ensure every customer
take an interactive quiz asking them advent of AI is only going to increase is a collector and every promotion is an
questions about their interests, lifestyle the speed of digitization within travel opportunity for AI to leverage learnings on
and flavor preferences to guide them to a retail, affecting every area of the business, core customer values.”
recommended rum choice. Highlighting including promotional activations. Against Harkin’s detailed future vision
the omnichannel nature of the campaign, this backdrop, Fiona Harkin, foresight is, of course, a world away from the
travelers were also encouraged to try director of leading international trends simple price-off discounts and sampling
the Rum Selector via a targeted digital consultancy The Future Laboratory argues opportunities of the analogue era but travel
marketing campaign that engaged with travel retail need not be a laggard but could retailers of all ages need to understand
them before they traveled. emerge as an excellent testing ground for that times have changed. If properly
what she labels “EQ-Commerce”. implemented and utlilized, digital
Don’t forget the human touch “This is seeing innovative retailers technologies can have a transformative
In the rush to embrace digitally experiment with technology to create effect, increasing sales, retaining customers
driven promotions, there are downsides intelligent, empathic commerce journeys and building brand equity.
and dangers, of course. Costs can be high
and operators and their brand partners Edrington Global Travel Retail partnered with
have to be transparent about their data International Shoppes to open an immersive
collection practices and protect customer pop-up at JFK Terminal 1 featuring the newly
privacy, for instance. Technology should be launched global travel retail exclusive The
intuitive and user-friendly, regardless of the Macallan Colour Collection.
customer’s tech-savviness. It should also be The nearly 800 sq ft. JFK Terminal 1
robust in the high-footfall environment of Macallan Pop Up Space which opened in
airport retail. September 2023 is fully personalized to create
“The big downside to technology is a memorable encounter of The Macallan brand
when it stops working or isn’t working and Colour Collection. It remained open through
properly,” argues Young. “I have been the end of March 2024.
in many stores when screens are blank QR codes are featured throughout the store and
and this clearly does not look good. Also, bring to life an augmented-reality experience to
digital tools must work hand in hand with educate customers on the unique messages of the
people. In my experience, it is not enough collection and the various whisky notes.
to have a sophisticated touch screen in a The Pop Up features an interactive customer
engagement tool “ Discover Your Expression”
store and expect shoppers to use it. Instore which assists customers to find the appropriate
staff are needed to help guide shoppers and age-statement suited to their individual
encourage them to use the technology.” preference.
Similarly, passionate and
knowledgeable human sales staff remain “We are committed to offering the best products and exceptional customer service to our traveling
vital. “Digital certainly has its place, but clientele and digital plays a pivotal role in assisting on that. We consistently partner with our vendors
so do traditional methods of marketing,” to explore new and exciting ways to engage customers on a journey of exploration and discovery,”
insists John McDonnell, managing director says Scott Halpern, International Shoppes co-CEO.

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