Workshop A

Seamless shopping:
travel retail's frictionless future

Monday 7 May
14:30 - 16:00
Main Ballroom, Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Level 5

The rise of e- and m-commerce has forced traditional modes of retail to rethink the service they offer to shoppers. Younger consumers – especially in Asia – increasingly expect convenience, integrated payment systems and total flexibility, whatever and wherever they buy.

A number of travel retailers are investing in ways to make the airport shopping experience more convenient, adopting new pre-order and payment technology that provides the seamless shopping their customers enjoy elsewhere. But there is still more to do to ensure a frictionless future for travel retail. This workshop explored how new ways to communicate, to present the retail offer and to accept payment will transform the duty free & travel retail industry just as they are transforming the shopping experience elsewhere.

Among speakers at this session were Matthew Brennan, an expert on WeChat and co-founder of China Channel, a China-focused tech consultancy and research firm. He analysed China’s digital landscape and its influence on shopping behaviour, in China and beyond. Matthew was joined at the workshop by King Power Group (HK) Managing Director Sunil Tuli and Global Smiling Managing Director Xin Deng.

The session was moderated by Colette Doyle, Editor of Frontier magazine.