Show Me #9: Navigating Success in Global Travel Retail

The future of brand experiences from seas to sky.

Content Overview

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Worldwide Travel Update: We’re So Back.

‘22 was the year of recovery, ‘23 the year of revenge, and whilst 2024’s takeaways are yet to fully reveal themselves, one thing is certain: travel is back.

Data shows 77% of global destinations have experienced complete recovery compared to pre-pandemic levels. However, not all the deckchairs have been arranged as they were before.

Data shows 77% of global destinations have experienced complete recovery compared to pre-pandemic levels.
— Skift

From the shift toward domestic travel, the acceleration of premium class, and even a cruising renaissance, the industry hasn’t just picked up where it left off but has been reshaped by often polar opposite macro-forces in culture and consumer living standards.

For brands looking to win with this evolved voyager, the potential across all points of their journey has never been so great, and the competition never so fierce.

This report details the three modes we see as pillars of the new Global Travel Retail (GTR) economy and the brands that are blazing the trail.

Please sit back and enjoy the ride.

Sky’s the Limit

‍How aviation 2.0 is winning with consumers

The airline industry is still on the road to recovery, with European flight figures at roughly 11% below pre-pandemic levels and global flight figures being siphoned by an increased interest in domestic travel. Yet, for travel retail, the outlook remains bright, with sales set to surpass $117 billion by 2030, representing a 10% annual growth rate from 2022.

The lean toward premiumisation remains a strong lever with which airports can elevate the overall experience, as several global travel hubs update their infrastructure with the attainment of luxury brand tenants in mind.

Likewise, these brands, working with a captive audience in need of entertainment, have the opportunity to create more elaborate and captivating shopping moments that can be signposted toward from the minute passengers book their flights.

This trend extends to in-flight brand and retail opportunities, with premium cabin booking recovering far ahead of economy seats across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

The increase in business class+ flights is so significant that major airlines have reported expanding premium seating in their fleets by 25 to 75%.

Despite the significant funds required, a younger generation is seizing the opportunity of increased curiosity for the world of luxury aviation by turning these upgraded experiences into content. TikTok’s #BusinessClassFlight hashtag has some 104 million posts, documenting everything from in-flight gifts to the buffet selection at the business lounge.

For brands, winning with these travellers is about creating otherworldly destinations before they’ve even left the ground.

Consumer Journey: Air Travel

Flight ticket purchase
Journey to the airport
Flight check-in
To the departure lounge
Security check
GTR (Global Travel Retail)
On trade
Departure lounge
Departure gate
On the plane
Landing
Getting off the plane
Inside airport
Destination arrival

Journey Stages:

Pre-travel
In Airport
In Store
In Transit
Arrival
Post

Toblerone Personalisation

It feels like no airport is complete without at least one stand of neatly stacked Toblerone bars. One of the stalwarts of duty-free, many a trip will end with an impulse-bought bar tucked into a carry-on and shared with delighted recipients at home.

Toblerone has stepped up this iconic gifting treat with a personalisation activation at a number of airports.

Consumers are invited to customise product sleeves by printing a message or name, plus options to choose ribbons to make the perfect gift.

It’s a simple concept, excellently executed, that makes the sometimes-inattentive gift buying at duty-free a whole lot more thoughtful.

Why it works:

Personal shopping — Brands offering personalisation isn’t new, but everyone loves the simple joy of seeing their name on something.
Own your space — While Toblerone has always been considered a gifting treat by consumers, now they’re actively joining the conversation.

“The fact that the name goes in the Toblerone font is the bit that makes it feel authored — it’s not etched like most personalisation techniques, this feels novel.”
— Paul Brennan

Design View – Toblerone

Working with the Toblerone assets
Using the distinct Toblerone logo font as the personalisation mechanism creates a stronger connection between consumer and brand.
Simplicity
It’s not breaking new ground, but it has instant simple appeal that provides novelty for any age group.
Gift with a twist
A duty-bound holiday gift becomes something a bit more special—familiarity and surprise work together in equal measure.

Hennessy Tasting Experience

Hennessy may be French by provenance, but they have serious cachet and well-developed roots in the Asian market. Beloved in China, it’s no surprise the Chinese New Year celebrations are a pillar of their annual calendar, collaborating with and commissioning work from Chinese artists to celebrate each annum.

Hennessy developed a tasting experience at Singapore’s Changi Airport like no other. Delicately presented molecular pearls of cognac brought the bubble imagery from canvas to consumers and made an undeniably unique and shareable experience that had even the most travel-weary lining up to try.

Why it works:

A reason to stop — Get liquid on lips by giving consumers an unusual tasting medium with an element of theatre they can’t help but share.
Small but perfectly formed — When developing trial experiences for super-premium brands, it’s essential to balance mass appeal with retaining the brand’s high-end essence.

Design View – Hennessy

Convenience with style
This format still gives the luxury Hennessy experience whilst working for time-poor travellers.
Experience from inception
The physical environment alludes to the tasting capsule, taking the experience through the line.
Leaning into the curiosity of the traveller
This plays into that ‘happy hour’ moment after the stress of passport control and on the way to somewhere interesting. The consumer’s mind is hungry for new experiences.

YSL Immersive Experience

As travellers are thinking about their door-to-door journey, so too are brands. Stepping up from a simple duty-free stand, to launch their new Y Eau de Toilette, YSL constructed a seamless offline-online pop-up activation in Dubai International Airport.

Built around brand ambassador Lenny Kravitz and his Bahamian roots, the pop-up invited guests to ‘dive in’ to the Caribbean seas.

Airport travellers were geo-targeted and invited to the podium where they could engage with an immersive interactive floor, an olfactory wall, and a bespoke mobile mini-game Rock Ycon in which they could win rewards by tapping along to the notes of the campaign song. Thematic and fun.

Why it works:

Think 4D — An engaging activation space will always draw a crowd, but by adding online tie-in elements it can stretch even further.
Show the way — An airport is a big place, particularly one like Dubai, so it’s easy for travellers to miss your brand. Geo-targeting ads and notifications can break through the noise.

Design View – YSL Immersive Experience

“This campaign extends the journey beyond the moment by giving you the fiddle factor. It kills time in a place you’re looking to kill time.”
— Stu Wood

Historic icon, modern execution
The fusion of a legacy icon with a contemporary experience creates something with broad demographic appeal.
Playing with memory-structures
The game keeps the brand at front-of-mind for the consumer for a significantly longer amount of time.
Watch out for over-simplification
With such an iconic ‘Y’ form available from YSL, the Y in this campaign feels a little under-designed.

Training for Greatness

The rise and rise of rail

Aviation’s loss has undeniably been railway’s gain. In the UK alone, 1.4 billion+ journeys were made across April 2022 to April 2023.

Bolstered greatly by the return to offices, these travellers are responsible for a billion-pound economy of fares and have sustained demand for continued investment in train stations themselves.

Once the sight of unbranded cafés, these hubs have exploded with big-brand franchising, concept stores and acclaimed dining hotspots. Some sources even report the rise of delays as a major contributor to better tenants in retail and leisure units.

Aside from business, rail as the dominant transport for leisure has increased significantly due jointly to a sustained interest in domestic travel post-COVID and an increased desire for eco-conscious holidaying.

At one end of the value spectrum, rail remains a budget-friendly alternative to flights. At the other, demand for luxury locomotives has skyrocketed, with booking platforms touting a huge increase in interest for premium rail travel and sleeper trains.

From the relaunched Orient Express to specialist platform Railbooker’s 80-day global voyage spanning four continents and 13 countries, journey-as-destination has never been so in-demand.

Whether in a rush and looking for pre-work convenience or at ease and looking for leisurely experience, brands have a ton of new avenues with which to hop on board the rise of rail.

Consumer Journey: Train Travel

Rail ticket purchase
Journey to the airport
GTR (Global Travel Retail)
On trade
Private lounge
Ticket gate
At platform
On board train
Cafe cart
Dining cart/bar
Sleeper Cabin*
Station arrival
Leaving station
Destination arrival

Stages:

Pre-travel
In Station
In Transit
Arrival

Threes Brewing – Moynihan Train Hall

Craft brewing has long been a haven for the creatively-inclined beer enjoyer, with formerly indie breweries shifting from underdogs to major players in the market. As brands break out far beyond the taproom, Brooklyn brewery Threes Brewing takes it a keg further.

Founded in 2014, their fifth location in Moynihan Train Hall, next to Penn Station in NYC, is a can-tastic collection of their full catalogue and recommended beers from their trusted friends-in-craft.

Designed for thirsty travellers, the store guides customers through their full beer range with fridges split up by type of brew and a back wall chock full of pegboards describing each beer.

For those just passing through, Threes offers a pre-order system. Or for those with a little more time before their train, keen staff members will help customers choose the beer that’s perfect for them. This is the train tinny temple.

Why it works:

Make it easy — Bustling through a busy station, consumers want it to be as simple as possible to find and buy what they want.
Know thy customer — A shopping experience tailored to the location, Threes has honed a streamlined experience.

Design View – Threes Brewing

“Everything about this is efficient, from labelling bottles on the wall to how cans are displayed, it’s not made to have someone standing there looking at it for ages, you have a direct line from can to till.”
— Sam TF

Utilitarian
The utilitarian design approach takes all guilt out of the purchase — it almost makes it feel like an essential.
Unexpected
There’s a certain delight and surprise factor seeing a craft brewery in a busy commercial train station; the contrast is a point of intrigue.
Upgrade
This upgrades the consumer’s journey from a generic lager to something that feels elevated — it adds to the enjoyment of the trip.

The Nespresso Bar

As of 2023, coffee reigns supreme in the caffeine charts of the UK, dethroning tea for the top spot.

It’s not hard to see how Nespresso (and other pod-based coffee systems) played a key part in this transformation, giving consumers the ability to make good coffee at home with the simple push of a button.

Not satisfied with their place on our kitchen counters and ousting the instants of yore, they’re now expanding to our high streets looking to compete with the likes of Pret and Starbucks.

Opening their first Nespresso coffee bar in Liverpool Street Station, the pod coffee brand offers blends across their pod range, now in a to-go cup and with a croissant on the side.

Why it works:

One small step for a mocha — With a large existing consumer base who love their product and a number of brick-and-mortar stores, it’s not a giant leap to extend into coffee bars.
Hey big spenders — One Nespresso pod costs around 50p. One latte from the Nespresso bar is £4.15. With a coffee machine capacity of 400 coffees an hour, it’s a good deal for Nespresso.

Design View – Nespresso

“Nespresso have mirrored their retail design with their brand philosophy – it’s all about the quality of the product.”
— Sam Douglas

A bold move
Whether successful or not, Nespresso putting themselves up against ‘Big Coffee’ is an impactful, challenger behaviour.
Instant as an essence
They’ve taken their instant product truth and extrapolated it to a new context where speedy service is a necessity.
Using the cues of modern coffee
The retail environment looks like any modern coffee shop, placing the ‘at home’ experience in a new frame of reference for the consumer.

Plane Sailing – Cruise New and Improved

The recipient of ample negative attention in the onset of the pandemic, cruise holidays have not only restored their image but grown their customer base significantly, with 36 million passengers set to take to the high seas in 2024.

Whilst a number of holidaymakers are looking for a ‘no-organization-needed’ approach to explore and tour multiple destinations with all the creature comforts included, significant demand is being shown by Gen Z, with 69% of 18–24-year-olds “somewhat interested” in going on a cruise — a number higher than any other demographic.

In the race to accommodate this younger generation, liners at the forefront are updating their offering to include Peloton classes, pickleball courts, brunch bars, and even drag performers. But far from being left in the dock, the staples of the cruise experience have been developed in tandem.

From on-board shopping malls built to replicate New York’s 5th Avenue, to private island excursions to exclusively-owned territories belonging to the cruise liners themselves.

Holidaying on-board allows travellers the novelty of new experience tempered with the predictability and comfort of their floating home.

For brands, there’s a clear opportunity to help develop experiential retail that caters to the changing tastes of these new cruisers as well as exceeding expectations of frequent sailors.

Consumer Journey: Cruise Travel

Pre-travel
01. Book cruise
02. Arrive at port

At port
03. Board ship
04. Room check-in
05. Depart port
06. Departure drinks

On board / In Residence (repeat interaction while aboard)
07. On-board GTR
08. On-board entertainment
09. On-board bars/restaurants
10. Excursions
11. Cruise-owned beach bar

De-boarding
12. Final port arrival
13. Disembark & leave

Cunard x Pickering’s Gin

For Pickering’s Gin, the connection to Cunard Cruises is deep as the ocean. Distillery co-founder Marcus Pickering is the great-nephew of Captain George Gibbons CBE RD RNR, who sailed as captain of the Cunard White Star liners from 1909.

In 2017, to coincide with the £34 million refit of Cunard’s Queen Victoria, Pickering’s installed the world’s first draft-gin tap at sea, with a custom blend gin reflecting the geographic tastes from the liner’s route.

This partnership went on to see three custom editions of Pickering’s gin for each of Cunard’s ships, aptly named the three queens.

So successful were the spirits they became a permanent part of the Pickering’s collection available to buy directly from the brand, and in November 2023, were blessed with the latest addition of Queen Anne, to celebrate the Cunard’s newest Queen.

Why it works:

True collaboration – The limited-edition offerings combine the two brands in a thoughtful way creating a memento full of meaning for potential passengers and a taste of the Cunard experience for gin enthusiasts.
Build to last – The range format has a longevity that can be built with Cunard as they expand whilst encouraging a collector’s mindset for drinkers.

Design View: Pickering’s Gin

“This partnership, and in turn the design, evokes the Golden Age of travel, when travel was a luxury, it has a 30’s and 40’s quality to it.” – Paul Brennan

Borrowing design codes
The latest bottle design uses the codes of the classic cruise with the glass shape mimicking the hull of a ship.
The right gin for the right occasion
A collaboration that makes sense – it has lineage, authenticity, instant desirability. It allows the consumer to takeaway part of the cruise experience and connect back to it when gifting.
Watch out for over-simplification
The label of the new bottles perhaps doesn’t communicate craftsmanship and heritage as well as those previously.

Dior Spa Cruise

Whilst some brands look for ways they can fit into the world of cruise, Dior have taken it to the next level by creating their own luxury floating spa. As part of the Dior Spa brand and an extension of their two IRL locations, Excellence is adorned with Dior’s signature toile de jouy and has a 1,290 sq ft upper deck with which cruisers can view landmarks along the Seine.

Below deck are several opulent treatment rooms kitted out with Cheval Blanc goodies with guests able to book facials, massages, and more.

Why it works:

Bespoke brand experience – For Dior / Cheval Blanc’s ultra high-profile customers there’s few experiences out of their reach. Creating something entirely bespoke and ultra-exclusive keeps brand fans hooked and feeling like true VIPs.
Challenging perceptions – It reframes the cruise experience, and any pre-existing negative or unfavourable connotations, to what can be a truly luxury experience.

Design View: Dior Spa Cruise

“This creates the sought-for ‘pinned’ post influencers might have on their Instagram.” – Sam TF

A template for ultra-luxury cruise
This pop-up shows how the brand can exist on cruise in its truest form, there’s no compromise of the Dior brand experience.
A win win for brand and consumer
The brand is able to reach an elite group of brand fans and those brand fans get to be part of Dior Spa more intimately.
Details, details, details
There’s no corner, no surface, no element that hasn’t been considered from a brand design perspective.

In Conclusion: Post-holiday Clues

The journey keeps unfolding...

When it comes to the next generation of GTR the route ahead is expansive. This thriving, continually-evolving ecosystem rewards the brave and champions the innovative.

From building awareness to changing perceptions and the all-important increase of market share, the four corners of the travel retail globe have plenty more scope for exploration.

While there will always be a place on the shelf for a limited edition, the ship has well and truly sailed for brands who only think in these terms.

At A Glance: Air

01. Encourage trial, trial conveniently
Build brand through the theatre of tasting without relying on lengthy rituals or complicated serves.

02. Personalise the impersonal
Last-minute gifting is a universal pain-point. Ease the friction by introducing simple but meaningful personalisation.

03. Think 4D
Create an unmissable brand experience by integrating the digital from the very first step on the journey.

At A Glance: Rail

01. Work with your environment
Whether speeding up transactions or making a delay a delight, create a space that caters to the multitude of travellers.

02. Think laterally about your category
Identify the areas your brand can reach consumers outside your category, then create an experience to meet them.

03. Work smarter not harder
Create and work with travel formats in innovative ways and elevate them to still feel like an experience worth paying for.

At A Glance: Cruise

01 — Truly collaborate

Don’t just find spots to place and endorse your brand, work with liners to create bespoke and meaningful offers that live beyond memento.

02 — Create money-can’t-buy experiences

For the affluent traveller there’s few places in the world that are truly off-limits. If luxury is the aim-of-the-game create a space that few can access, making it an honour to discover.