Data. It’s a four-letter word that provokes a love or hate reaction from many travel retail stakeholders. There’s rarely an in between. You either understand it and can’t get enough of it, which makes it uncharacteristically sexy, or you don’t want to hear the word. And let’s not mention ‘surveillance’.
To E23 Retail CEO Alessandro Lo Piano, data and surveillance are the centre of his professional universe, a world which he is determined and very willing to share with anyone interested in the future of travel retail.
TRUnblocked.com’s Freelance Editor Colleen Morgan takes a close look at what E23 and its enthusiastic founder hope to achieve in travel retail and beyond, and why the industry newcomer is resonating so well with industry stakeholders.
E23 Retail, a specialist in data-driven marketing solutions within travel retail, is targeting 900% growth this year.
No, that’s not a typo. Rather, it’s the ambitious prediction from Alessandro Lo Piano, a dedicated and highly motivated Italian entrepreneur, and E23 Retail’s CEO.
In late 2023, he set out to disrupt the travel and travel retail sectors. Now, less than two years later, he’s making his voice heard amongst airport operators, travel retailers, brand owners and hospitality tech leaders.
Before looking into what motivates the fast-moving, swimming-loving Alessandro, let’s consider what his company aims to do.
In simple terms, E23 Retail leverages advanced travel data and technologies to enhance marketing performance for brands and operators in travel, the hospitality industry and in travel retail. Its Demand Side Platform (DSP) – a type of software that allows an advertiser to buy advertising with the help of automation – is tailored to major consumer brands and provides targeted marketing solutions. What started as a DSP system is evolving into the most advanced cloud-based platform for airport traveller profiling.
By providing real-time shopper insights and predictive audience detection, E23 supports retail operators in maximizing conversion within duty-free spaces. This allows operators to not only track engagement for each brand and product, but also to adapt store layouts and curate product offerings based on precise audience data.
In travel retail, E23’s aim is straightforward: to enhance the shopping experience and increase sales conversion.
As far as partnerships go, E23 Retail has already joined forces with at least one leading online travel platform and major players in the drinks industry.
A recent collaboration with Outsight integrates Outsight’s Spatial AI Software Platform with E23’s retail solutions. That enables real-time, anonymous tracking of passenger movements within duty-free stores, lounges, and commercial areas.
With Quividi, an in-store retail media audience insights leader, E23 looks to provide analytics and insights to improve marketing strategies within travel retail while integrating DRP’s SKU-specific pricing data with E23’s AI frameworks. That enhances audience measurement, sales forecasting, and campaign execution, leading to more precise in-store merchandising and pricing strategies.
Colleen Morgan (CM): So, in layman’s terms Alessandro, what is E23 looking to achieve through these and other upcoming partnerships?
Alessandro Lo Piano (ALP): We are creating the most advanced cloud-based platform for individual traveller profiling and targeting. It can be accessible to any stakeholder of the travel and travel retail industries, from an individual brand to the largest media operators. We are making data work.
CM: With a reported 20% revenue increase in 2024, you are predicting a staggering 900% increase for E23 Retail this year. How is that possible and what does that level of growth mean for the travel retail industry?
ALP: As leader of a small but talented team, I believe we can pass that 900% figure. Our proprietary profiling technology is solving problems for leading companies in at least seven sectors of the travel industry. It’s working, and the revenue growth is more than significant.
This bootstrapped growth underscores the industry’s recognition of the value in data-driven marketing and operational strategies. And our ambitions.
CM: You’re dealing with AI, data, platforms and surveillance, terms that many in the industry are still not that comfortable with. What sets E23 apart from other companies and how is your system better than something far more basic, like cameras linked to a smart algorithm?
ALP: We can offer the industry data-based solutions to problems facing airport operators and retailers.
Imagine this. We can detect that in one hour, for example, the food area of let’s say Madrid T4, close to gate A12, is going to see an audience of 100 UK travellers, 28-41, 30% women, business travellers, with impulsive buyers profiles. Three aircrafts that were expected to depart are cancelled. We can alert brands with high compatibility for a real-time promo which would completely transform the sales conversion ratio in travel retail. Sounds crazy, eh? But it can be done, very quickly and with great effect.
It’s better than something more basic simply because we can predict with accuracy who is going to be where in the airport, when they will be there and their behaviour.
CM: What impact has E23 Retail had in travel retail to date?
ALP: The effectiveness of our approach is best illustrated through real-world applications. Unfortunately, we cannot reveal names for confidentiality reasons.
Collaborating with a leading international beauty brand at a duty-free arrivals store we implemented a targeted advertising strategy based on comprehensive origin airport audience profiling. This resulted in a successful partnership with a top tier airline, covering over 5,100 flights and reaching 660,000 profiled passengers on arrival. It significantly exceeded the initial target of 410,000 and achieved a 1,068% sales conversion rate in-store, demonstrating the power of precise targeting in the travel retail environment.
Our merchandising optimisation capabilities have delivered equally impressive results. Through strategic deployment of LiDAR sensors for customer behaviour analysis, we helped a renowned French luxury jewellery and watchmaker to identify the visual merchandising display that maximizes attractiveness, engagement and sales. That achieved a 27% increase in customer engagement, 20% improvement in attention metrics, and a 300% boost in overall engagement rates. These improvements translated directly into measurable increased sales.
While maintaining strict confidentiality regarding specific client relationships, our platform has demonstrated significant success across luxury premium spirits brands, with active deployments across a database of +45 million shoppers profiled outside the airport environment. We have transferred successful models into international airport retail hubs resulting in a significant increase in qualified impressions at shelf-level, and consequently of high-quality interactions. For example, a study case involving more than 1.2 million passengers saw an average dwell time improvement from 5.1 seconds to 15.6 seconds, and shelf engagement to 43.7% of dwelling shoppers.
CM: How important is data sharing and what’s the cost of ignoring it?
ALP: At the end of the day E23 is all about increasing sales conversion. The addition of anonymized granular (one-minute updates) POS sales data – be that from brands or travel retailers – is our next objective in terms of processing in our algorithm. This can benefit both stakeholders in calculating an accurate price sensitivity associated with traveller profiles. We can predict, with almost certain accuracy, what profiles buy what and when, and what profiles are attracted but ultimately don’t purchase.
We profile both the buyer and, above all, the non-buyer.
As highlighted by Xavier Rossinyol, Avolta CEO at the ETRC Business Forum, this ‘non-sales’ segment represents a massive untapped opportunity that the industry has traditionally struggled to understand and address.
Unfortunately, brands, operators, media owners and analytics continue to work in silos. This disconnection exists partly because the technology to bridge this data gap hasn’t been widely available until now.
The cost of ignoring the power of data and analytics is enormous.
CM: E23 claims to ensure real-time processing without requiring expensive computing platforms. How does it all work?
ALP: E23 achieves real-time performance efficiently by leveraging industry-leading optimization practices and the use of a proprietary algorithm. The system was developed through extensive research, rigorous testing, and iterative refinement by our dedicated IT and data team.
To ensure high performance while controlling costs, we carefully selected a top-notch technology stack, enabling the system to manage multiple simultaneous requests effectively and reducing the need for infrastructure expansions.
For long-term scalability and maintainability, E23 employs advanced cloud technologies that automatically scale resources based on demand. That’s how we ensure that as the needs of our stakeholders grow our system seamlessly adapts without manual intervention, allowing us to maintain performance, reliability, and cost-efficiency.
CM: How does the Spatial AI software differ from traditional ‘surveillance’ systems? How do you effectively integrate it into different hardware platforms?
ALP: Our Geo-Spatial AI software platform bounds profiling data in time and space within the airport environment, with a granularity at single passenger level. It significantly differs from traditional surveillance systems because it uses advanced LiDAR technology rather than standard video-based methods. This means it captures spatial information and movements anonymously in real-time without identifying individuals, thus protecting personal privacy by design.
We ensure effective integration by providing flexible APIs and modular components compatible with diverse hardware platforms, allowing seamless installation and rapid deployment tailored to customer-specific requirements. All that makes our solution cost efficient, scalable, flexible, with an unprecedented traveller profile matching.
CM: What measures are in place to protect the platform from potential cybersecurity threats?
ALP: We implement robust cybersecurity practices, including end-to-end data encryption, continuous monitoring, regular vulnerability assessments, and penetration testing.
Our secure architecture follows industry standards and best practices to proactively mitigate risks and respond swiftly to any emerging threats. Additionally, our IT team is training continuously and updated on cybersecurity developments to safeguard the platform at all levels.
CM: What about the capturing of personal data – how do you ensure compliance with the rapidly changing global privacy regulations?
ALP: The integration of LiDAR-based Spatial AI data does not introduce Personally Identifiable Information (PII), making it privacy-friendly by design. Nevertheless, we are careful and remain compliant with global privacy regulations.
We collaborate closely with legal experts to quickly adapt to regulatory changes, providing peace of mind for clients across all jurisdictions.
CM: How important is a hands-on, down-to-earth approach to E23 Retail’s path in travel retail?
ALP: A hands-on, practical approach is fundamental to the company’s success in travel retail.
We work directly with our partners, understanding their operational realities, and consistently aligning our technology with their specific briefings and use cases.
Personally, I practice a super-disciplined lifestyle. I meditate daily, follow a healthy diet and swim long distances every day. I prefer to keep a low profile and a lucid mindset to deal with daily decisions, their execution and the stress associated with any business operation.
In my mind, this approach ensures practical solutions that deliver tangible benefits and guarantee a high score of continuous innovation and a value proposition that’s always one step ahead at global level.
CM: If there are three things you wanted to communicate with the TR industry, what would they be?
ALP: Data-sharing collaboration is a top priority. Travel retail should look to the hotel tech industry where API and data exchange form the backbones of successful digital growth.
Next would be a new applied standard in analytics and audience measurements to bring the physical world to the same level of audience measurement and tracking of the online world. This is actually possible as we are already doing it.
And the third one? Vision of transformation. Rather than relying on buzz words, hard-to-scale and costly retailtainment solutions, all stakeholders need to adopt a concrete and robust approach that generates value for every brand.
Our ‘Sixth continent’ is a legacy industry that needs to be disrupted for the good of current leaders and the coming generation of brands and retailers.
E23 is working to fix this and aims to play a pivotal role in setting the foundations of the future.
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