July 30 2019  |  Industry News

DFWC underlines need to refocus on customer satisfaction

By Hibah Noor


Source: DFWC KPI Monitor, produced by Swiss research agency m1nd-set

The latest Duty Free World Council (DFWC) KPI Monitor, produced by Swiss research agency m1nd-set, reveals steady growth in some of the key satisfaction drivers for duty free shoppers.

The Monitor, which is compiled from over 4,000 interviews with shoppers globally conducted in June for the second quarter of 2019, shows the global average has increased by one percentage point since Q1 2019.

Performance in North America declined by one point, while the index shows an increase of one point across all other regions, apart from the Asia Pacific region where there has been no change since the previous quarter.

Compared to the same period in 2018, however, there has been a consistent increase in the global average.

Asia Pacific is the only region with an above average score. All other regions post below average scores in the overall satisfaction index.

The Monitor, which also tracks airport passenger growth with data from m1nd-set in partnership with IATA, shows passenger traffic has risen across all world regions since Q2 2018, with a global increase of 5.6% to 882 million passengers.

The strongest growth comes from Europe, which experienced a 6.6% increase on the same period in 2018.

Level of customer engagement declines

The latest KPI Monitor, according to ETRC President Frank O’Connell, demonstrates the need for the industry to keep in focus the key satisfaction drivers and to ensure staff continue to engage with shoppers.

“The level of engagement between staff and visitors to the duty free shops has declined by 5% since the previous quarter according to the DFWC KPI Monitor, which is quite a concern,” O’Connell noted.

“The impact of this decline in engagement is directly visible in the overall satisfaction levels and perception of duty free shops. We see in this quarterly Monitor, for example, that there is only one contributing element to the overall perception of duty free, ‘duty free is a great place to try new brands’, that has seen an increase in the percentage of travelers who agree, while all other criteria have either seen a decline or stagnated.”

Electronics category performs well

O’Connell continued: “As we discussed in the last quarterly report, there is a direct correlation between staff engagement and customer satisfaction. It is essential for brands and retailers to ensure sales associates on the shop floor continue to interact and engage more with customers.”

Peter Mohn, Owner and CEO at m1nd-set added: “We see clearly from the Monitor that where staff interaction is greater, there is also greater influence on the decision to purchase. This is particularly evident in the Middle East/Africa region and in the beauty and fashion and accessories categories.

“Staff in the electronics category also perform well in influencing the purchase decision. There clearly needs to be more focus on engaging with older travelers as well as with those duty free visitors shopping for alcohol, confectionery, tobacco and souvenirs, where engagement levels are markedly lower.”

Further details on the Monitor are available from m1nd-set at info@m1nd-set.com.

REGION Americas
Copyright 2024 DutyFree Magazine. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy Sitemap