OUR A-Z OF 2019 PREDICTIONS & MEGATRENDS
ALIBABA will become the first trillion dollar retailer and will focus on Europe
AMAZON will launch ‘Amazon Fly’.
AMAZON will acquire a large retailer in the UK. M & S?
AMAZON will enter global travel retail and offer landlords an alternative model. They will not stop at Amazon GO.
BIG TECH will experience tighter regulatory conditions in Europe.
BRANDS will become more political. Reference here Nike’s Colin Kaepernick ad and P & G’s ‘The Talk’ video.
BREXIT will create a major opportunity – Ireland/N.Ireland stores will become the next goldmine, along with the return of cross Channel Ferries. Whichever way Brexit goes, it will bring more retail tourists to the UK.
CANNABIS in GTR? Might 2019 be the first year for Cannabis-based medical product to be introduced?
CENTENNIALS are now 19. Airports and retailers will need to prepare for the day these unique consumers become earners and regular travellers. Best to start developing strategies now!
CHINA DUTY FREE GROUP may well acquire a major international player. DFS? CDFG will also deliver the highest organic growth in 2019.
CHINESE will continue to travel. 20 million more passports are to be issued in 2019 alone. Don’t believe the hype about any travel slowdown from PRC.
CONSUMERS will prioritise wellness beyond everything and airports and retailers will need to respond through their environments, communications, services and product offerings. There will be greater retailer focus on Vegan and Organic Food product.
CONVERSATIONAL commerce becomes mainstream, and duty free operators will need to develop strategies to respond effectively.
CURRENTLY unknown Chinese brands will become household names in the West.
DUFRY’s apparent supply chain issues will be resolved and it will no longer take up to a year for brands to be listed.
EXPECT more retailer consolidation to happen through M & A within the Top 15 players. There will also be additional brand consolidation in the Spirits and Beauty sectors through acquisition.
FACEBOOK’S Messenger will be de-merged as a separate company and will be developed as a stand-alone ‘Conversational Commerce’ platform.
FINANCIAL volatility in currency markets will continue, impacting shopper confidence and spend in global travel retail.
GREATER shopper awareness and focus in mature markets on brands and associated products with sustainable packaging. Less so on brands with plastic.
HEINEMANN will surprise the industry in the second half of the year.
HOT brands to watch in liquor will be Tito’s Vodka and Patron. More craft spirits will surface, too.
INTEREST and applications will surge in robotics in retail and hospitality, with voice control and facial/image tech.
JOY at last for shoppers. Someone will crack virtual duty free on e-commerce and create a new model for using the duty free allowance online and have it delivered to the home on arrival.
KOREAN duty free will continue to grow, as will Diagou (in spite of recent laws).
LOTS more brands will host their own experiences and will deal directly with airports in order to go D2C. A key development.
MORE and more shoppers and, in turn, retailers, will push brand owners for greater transparency on CSR credentials.
MORE and more airports will embark on a digital transformation path.
NO more Cannes? Will TFWA announce a long overdue move away from Cannes to a suitably-sized location where you don’t have to remortgage your house to get a hotel room?
OPERATIONAL security at airports will become more seamless with facial recognition and AI. Good news for travellers, airports and travel retailers.
PROCTER & GAMBLE will acquire more physical retailers
PURE player retailers will decline. Only those who have physical presence will drive forward, and many of those will see airports as a critical channel.
QUEUES are anathema for shoppers at airports and duty free retailers will be challenged by shopper expectations of frictionless payment.
RESTRUCTURE strategies, as retail moves from ‘me too’ shopper engagement to ‘meaningful’ engagement, centred on personalisation through digital and physical channels.
SEPHORA will move into more airports.
SPEND per head will continue to drop at airports, with an accelerated drop for Chinese travellers due to new internal allowances
announced at year end and the collaboration between Alibaba and CDFG.
TECH will be harnessed better and smarter by airports. You name it, they’re looking at it. There will be more ‘labs’ established.
UNILEVER will also be on the acquisition trail of physical retailers.
VOYAGING. The cruise line sector will continue to outpace airport % passenger growth.
WESTFIELD will enter the European airport market.
XMAS promotions in the UK will start in July this year to help bring the season of good will early to all after the Brexit fiasco.
YOU. Small actions. Big Change. A good mindset for 2019.
Z. The end of the alphabet and signals the end of this blog.
