Airport Shopping Takes Off
(December 1999)
If you are traveling in December, it's often hard to
find time to complete your holiday shopping. Now you can finish your
shopping while you're on the road. American airports are finally
realizing what the foreign airports have known all along – airport
shopping is a big hit. If you haven't noticed, new and recently
renovated U.S. airports are starting to resemble shopping malls
instead of the sterile looking airports of yesteryear.
Airport shopping can be an enjoyable experience,
especially during the holidays when many traditional stores are
crowded. Airports also offer a shopping feature that is hard to find
elsewhere - early morning hours. You can even have your gifts
wrapped and shipped at various terminals for free.
Airport shopping has been so successful recently that
gadget retailer, Brookstone
is crediting airport sales with reviving the company's slumping
profits. Airport shopping has also been a boon for airports and the
local economies surrounding them, according to the BAA, the world's largest commercial
operator of airports.* There are good reasons for this rush towards
retailing. Faced with increased demand for air travel, airports
around the globe need funds to meet the escalating cost of new
terminals, runways and general facilities.
BAA's research shows that passengers traveling through
terminals with vast shopping areas spend more. At Pittsburgh
International (this writer’s favorite airport), the airport's AirMall® is the most successful
airport shopping mall in the world. With over 100 shops, including
Clinique, The Gap, and Mont Blanc, the Sam Adams Brew Pub and a
fitness center, the average passenger spends $9 per trip compared to
the pre-AirMall® era of $1.70.
BAA states that at its other airports, customers spend
an average of $6.97 per trip. Frequent fliers are choosing to fly to
airports like Pittsburgh. Al Hayes, a Boston businessman, says, "If
I have to connect, I always to try to do it in Pittsburgh. The
airport allows me to catch up on some shopping for my family and
clients – something I may not accomplish until I have a day off. I'd
rather spend my day off not shopping. Having an airport with great
shopping allows me to kill two birds with one stone …so to speak."
Not all the people shopping in airports are airline
passengers. Many people are coming to the airports just to shop. For
instance, at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, the
three WH Smith gift shops in the Delta Air Lines and Comair
facilities sell as many as 2,000 beanie baby toys a day. Most of the
sales come from local shoppers, who often congest the shops to get
the stuffed animals. So much, in fact, that many travelers just
needing newspapers or shampoo end up waiting in long lines.
Even with the success of Pittsburgh International,
U.S. airports have yet to match the purchasing power of foreign
airports like Frankfurt, Amsterdam's Schiphol, and Singapore's
Changi. If U.S. airports stay on the same "flight plan" as their
overseas counterparts, we are likely to see discos, karaoke bars,
spas, and other shopping conveniences.
Is airport shopping a good deal? Yes and no. If you
shop at Pittsburgh
International and Washington
National the shops offer the same prices as found in area malls
- guaranteed. A toll-free number to call is available at both
airports if shoppers believe they are charged more for merchandise
at the airport than at the same store in a mall. In addition, most
shops at both airports will wrap and often ship your purchases for
free.
At London's airports, the Tax and Duty Free shops
offer all goods that are normally subject to VAT– tax-free. BAA
offers the "World
Shopping Promise”, where you can save up to 40% on street prices
on fragrances, and up to 20% on all wines, champagnes and spirits.
Furthermore, passengers traveling within the EU and in the UK can
now collect their shopping upon their return. BAA offers a "Shopping
Collection Service" which allows passengers to shop at as many
retailers after security control as they like and pick up their
purchases upon their return. This saves the hassle of carrying bags
of shopping to business meetings, or with you on holiday. Currently,
this service is free.
Singapore's Changi
Airport offers a "double guarantee". All liquor, tobacco,
perfumes, and cosmetics are no higher than those at other major
airports in the Asia Pacific Region; and all other goods are no
higher than those in established downtown Singapore shops. If you
should find their prices to be higher, simply produce an
advertisement/receipt showing the lower downtown price within a
month from the date of purchase at Changi Airport, and the store
will refund you double the price difference. In addition, Changi
Airport gives shoppers the option of pre-purchasing products over
the phone or on the Internet that offer additional discounts and
offers. Passengers simply pick purchases up at the store when they
leave the country.
Unfortunately, not all airports are so consumer
value-oriented. Recently, while on vacation in Orlando, I
encountered outright gouging at the airport’s ©Disney Store. A
stuffed Pluto was $25 at the airport store, while the very same one
was $19 at a ©Disney Store in a local Orlando mall. Furthermore, the
airport’s concession prices were outrageous. I found the same true
at Las Vegas’s McCarren International, store merchandise prices were
higher and concession fare was exceptionally high. It appears that
the top two vacation destinations in the U.S. have airport retailers
that price their merchandise much higher than local off airport
retailers.
The end of duty-free sales between European Union (EU)
countries has led to some unique buying opportunities and
competition between European airports for shoppers' money. Shops at
Amsterdam's Schipol Airport announced that they would pay VAT on all
items except alcohol and tobacco bought by travelers within the EU.
The move is expected to cost Schipol as much as $40 million a year.
Is this retail explosion something travelers really
want, or is it just another way to take advantage of a captive
audience and their money? Whatever the consensus may be, it’s clear
that airport shopping is here to stay, and will undoubtedly become
bigger and more widespread. The key for the consumer is to know
which airport shops offer goods with reasonable prices and to avoid
the ones that are more into gouging.
Related Links:
Amersterdam's Schipol Airport http://www.schiphol.nl/shopping.htm
BAA http://www.baa.co.uk/BAAHome.htm
Frankfurt's Airport Shops http://www.flughafen-frankfurt.de/en/airport_boulevard/shopping_mall/sm_shoping.html
Airmall, Pittsburgh International Airport http://www.airmall.com/
Boston Landing at Terminal C, Logan International
Airport, Terminal C http://www.massport.com/logan/logan.html
National Hall, Ronald Reagan Washington National
Airport, Terminals B and C http://www.metwashairports.com/national
Los Angeles International Airport, Various terminals
http://www.airwise.com/airports/us/LAX/LAX_01.html
*BAA operates seven airports in the
United Kingdom - Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh,
Aberdeen and Southampton. Outside the UK, they manage all or part of
eight airports - Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Harrisburg and Newark in
the USA, Melbourne and Launceston in Australia, Naples in Italy and
Mauritius.
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