Page 14 - European Cruise Traveller Duty & Tax Free Retail

The differentiated nature of services within the European cruise region presents several key opportunities for Travel Retail operators and brands alike. As with cruise channel Travel Retail in all global regions, retailers and brand should look to build Duty & Tax Free shopping into the overall travel experience, both on-board the cruise liner and at on-land port stores, and with different services offering different experiences, channel stakeholders should look to engage travellers through an offering reflecting the style of cruise they are travelling on.
For example, on-board retailers should look to provide a greater range of French, Spanish and Italian wines on cruises in the Western Mediterranean, Greek Eye jewellery and Ouzo on services travelling to Greece, and a greater range of artistic based items on cruise in the Baltic area.
On-land port store retailers should look to follow a similar strategy but tailor the offering to be even more in keeping with the location through additional aspects such as store design to provide a differentiated service from both the on-board Duty & Tax Free channel as well as other on-land port stores within the region. These strategies should be supported by brands through areas such as location based packaging or location specific gift with purchases.
This is particularly the case when considering the overwhelming potential of the on-land channel within the European region with 29 million port visits across 250 European port cities during 2014 (Source: CLIA).
The European region continues to offer significant potential for Duty & Tax Free retail operators and brands. This is a region defined by high traveller numbers, differentiated service offerings and high scheduled port calls. European cruises should therefore be considered a key region of interest to any global cruise operator and any Duty & Tax Free operator going forward.
Duty & Tax Free retailers should look to provide a service tailored to the cruise experience
Industry Insider:
European Cruise Duty & Tax Free Retail 2015
The on-land channel possesses significant potential due to the high number of scheduled port calls defining the European cruise market
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