Living in a phygital world
DAY 2
The Trinity was born out of the idea of challenging the norms of the travel retail industry and questioning received wisdom. The final session of this year’s Trinity Forum lived up to that challenge, where speakers from brand, retailer and ecommerce companies talked about finding the new 'phygital' world.
Mars Wrigley International Travel Retail Global Category Director Raghav Rekhi spoke about the hugely ambitious multi-airport advertising campaign run recently by the confectionery and food company for M&M’s.
The campaign, Rekhi said, came from establishing three pain points for consumers in an airport environment: shopping not being a priority, boredom and stress of travel. “People want to be entertained in travel retail. They want to use their dwell time better and want to feel like they have been treated differently than they would in the domestic market,” he added.
Raghav Rekhi: “People want to be entertained in travel retail. They want to use their dwell time better.”
To tackle anxiety and boredom, the communication brought fun to the traveller’s journey throughout the airport, Rekhi said. “A lot of retail partners have reached out to us, which shows it was well received. We are looking into interesting options to scale it up,” he said.
Rekhi concluded that digital is not a silver bullet for the travel retail industry, but still an “enabler for transformative growth”.
There are three pain points for consumers in an airport environment: shopping not being a priority, boredom and stress of travel
The hugely ambitious multi-airport advertising campaign for M&M’s had a dramatic impact
Lagardère Travel Retail Group EVP Marketing & Digital Stéphanie Metz-Thevenod then looked at how the travel retailer seeks to better engage consumers through three approaches: reach, ease and enchant.
“We are selecting the right digital enablers to help us reach this goal. These tools are amplification tools that help us reach that alternative goal of the perfect shopping experience,” she said.
Reach, Metz-Thevenod explained, came about because duty free retailers don’t have brand recognition as strong as brands and airports, but they do have the connection of being there. “We all have our own audience, but we think there is a lot of value in breaking that silo by using each other’s audience to push the message to our consumers,” she said.
Ease comes through phygital solutions, Metz-Thevenod continued. For this, Lagardère uses methods such as the Perfumist perfume adviser asp, click & collect, chatbots and mobile payment.
Finally, the retailer seeks to enchant by implementing innovative technologies for the in-store experience, Metz-Thevenod said. This is “the most powerful tool”, she added.
Stéphanie Metz-Thevenod: “We think there is a lot of value in breaking that silo by using each other’s audience to push the message to our consumers”
Lagardère Travel Retail looks at consumer reach to better the experience
Knowing consumer touch-points will also determine the type of interaction
L’Oréal Travel Retail Global Retail & Digital Director Sophie Neyertz-Ehrsam then talked about how the beauty brand is trying to “reinvent the beauty experience in order to increase conversion”.
There are three opportunities she identified: accelerating pre-order, enriching the experience and leveraging online to offline.
To accelerate pre-order, the beauty retailer is working with duty free retailers and ecommerce platforms. “Digital disruption is finally happening in travel retail and this is good because it presents new opportunities for us,” she said.
An enriched and personalised experience can be offered through in-store beauty treatment and product personalisation, she continued. The challenge with this is that it can require an internet connection and personalised data.
Similarly, leveraging online to offline seeks to utilise data. This can be a successful opportunity through using digital media and KOLs to engage consumers pre-trip, especially as 80% of decision purchases made before travel with Chinese consumers, she added. The loyalty programmes of retailers are “a very interesting” touchpoint, Neyertz-Ehrsam added. “Beauty is limitless and data is the new engine,” she concluded.
Sophie Neyertz-Ehrsam: “Digital disruption is finally happening in travel retail and this is good because it presents new opportunities”
Digital is now at the heart of the beauty world
L’Oréal is working with ecommerce platforms for pre-order services
New services open up a world of opportunity
KOLs increasingly drive awareness and conversion
Finally, delegates heard from Alibaba Fliggy Buy General Manager Roman Zhu, who talked about what Fliggy Buy can add to the travel retail journey.
Zhu argued that there are currently several pain points for Chinese consumers in travel retail – the language barrier, a lack of stock, long queues and bulky products – but that Alibaba could help solve these.
Alibaba has in-depth insights on consumer profiles, such as who they are and what they want to buy, Zhu said. He added that in Alibaba’s ecosystem, they aim to connect retailers to the right person.
“Brands invest a lot in travel retail marketing, but it is not easy to drive conversion. What we are going to do is offer a brand hub on Fliggy Buy. Content is aggregated to their followers,” Zhu added.
He concluded: “We hope for more cooperation with you. We have not come here to change the game, but we want to enable brands to accelerate the business and to satisfy the Chinese traveller and give them a better experience.”
Roman Zhu: “What we are going to do is offer a brand hub on Fliggy Buy”
Alibaba aims to connect retailers to the right person
Used correctly, digital marketing improves conversion
Partner's Message
The Moodie Davitt eZine
Issue 271 | 19 November 2019
The Moodie Davitt eZine is published 20 times per year by The Moodie Davitt Report (Moodie International Ltd).
© All material is copyright and cannot be reproduced without the permission of the Publisher.
To find out more visit www.moodiedavittreport.com and to subscribe, please e-mail sinead@moodiedavittreport.com