Airport Retailing - a strategy that worked

After the arrival of malls, ‘airport retailing’ is the next big thing to have hit the Indian retail stores. However in spite of world class stores being set up at airport terminals, owners still witness a lack of business and footfalls.

We worked with DIAL to identify the problem and find a soultion. Travellers were spending close to an hour at the terminal on an average just waiting for their flights to be announced and yet shopping though close at hand was not taking off. A study revealed that the primary cause for this, was that the travelers perceived the airport stores to be more expensive than their city counterparts. and the ever cautious Indian shopper refused mentally to spend extra.

The challenge hence was to mitigate the myth. We worked on a strategy to figure out a way by which footfalls and sales could be increased at the stores within the domestic departure terminal of DIAL.

To create footfalls and generate sales a campaign called Best For Less was initiated which included everything from booklets, price tags, standees and banners bearing the title of the campaign – Best for Less.

Shops at the terminal like Fab India, Guardian, Cookieman, Satya Paul, Odyssey, Swarovski, William Pen, Hidesign along with the F&B brands such as FresCo, Southern Spirit and Curry Republic and those in the food court participated in the campaign.

The campaign that is centered around a booklet of offers ensured that people got to know about the 'steal deals' available at the terminal without having to walk into individual stores. To facilitate the distribution of the booklets, stands were kept at strategic locations in the terminal along with standees which highlighted the best offers at specific shops. Banners, stickers etc. added to the communication.

Happy to report that the campaign has been a success and is now running its third phase.