Conference

Mark Pilkington is a global expert on consumer markets. He combines thought-leadership gained at Oxford University and INSEAD Business School with a track record of success across the branded, e-commerce and retail sectors.

He was one of the first thinkers to predict the global retail crisis in his book ‘Retail Therapy. Why the retail industry is broken – and what can be done to fix it’ (2019 – Bloomsbury). Read more >>

• What are the big lessons learned on commercial partnerships from the pandemic and what do we see as the new opportunities?
• How can we learn more and engage better with the future consumer and what are the services and products they will need going forward that we should be building retailing strategies around?
• Airport retail and Onboard retail have always been in competition, but couldn’t it now be a collaboration, and how do we then create an integrated experience with the customer in mind and what role should each stakeholder play in it?
• A significant number of brands are pulling out of travel retail as they find new ways to engage with the consumer directly. How do we remedy that, and fundamentally, what is the real USP of travel retail now to the consumer and how do we become great at it to ensure the business thrives?
• Is travel retail a cheaper recruiting ground for brands that SEO and PPC on-line….and if so how do travel players promote and monetise that?
• How can we address the big problems in travel retail around lack of staff, cash flow, disruption in supply chain, and rising costs?
• We are now used to far more choice in our daily lives than ever before – how can the industry deliver more choice to passengers to enhance CX and revenues?
• How will commercial partnership models evolve going forward now between airlines, airports, retailers and brands?
• How will payment methods evolve for travel, and will cryptocurrencies become omnipresent for the sector sooner than we think?
• How can stakeholders do a better job driving revenues across the whole journey, versus just those around day of travel?
• How can we now advance essential data sharing efforts between stakeholders to create a bigger pie for all to share in?
• How are airlines thinking of evolving their business models & practices and how will this impact other stakeholders? For example, will some airlines, as rumoured, remove hot food service on short haul routes to reduce complexity and weight, and could this open up more scope for collaboration with airports and F&B providers?
• Airlines sell airport products like parking and lounges through APIs but getting beyond that has proved a step too far. How do we now find solutions to make the important breakthrough in this realm?
• Looking ahead, what will be more important for the industry in terms of spend at the airport – digital or physical retailing?

After a scene-setting presentation by the moderator the session will become a fast-moving panel discussion.

• How to better connect the ecosystem and orientate more around consumer needs when the perception of value at the airport is waning and conversion levels are down?
• How do we effectively engage all passengers instead of focusing predominantly on the loyalty members and app users, which is ultimately a small percentage of travellers – is Wi-Fi access an underutilised intersection point and how else could it be done?
• What should the role of each stakeholder in the commercial airport ecosystem be now? What value does each offer and how to better share that value going forward?
• Is digital retailing becoming more important for airports now, or is the sector still reliant on creating a physical sense of place, experiences and impulse buying to be commercially successful?
• Should airports now be thinking of themselves as retailers or should they leave the retailing and the digital efforts to the B2C experts in those spaces?
• Is the era of minimum annual guarantees now done between airports and concessionaires, and isn’t there the need for new approaches forged with more part fixed income and part shared risk?
• Is the big opportunity for travel retail now brand experience partnerships, and what will they look like?
• Are airports too focused on luxury retail, which is of far less interest to Gen Y, and can more mid-range retailers and brands be lured to the airport marketplace in physical or digital form?
• How can airports reduce CapEx costs for concessionaires and what new business model opportunities might that create?
• How should successful commercial strategies differ now between hub and regional airports?
• How does the sector resolve recruitment and retention challenges and could the future workforce at an airport be far more flexible moving between, for example, security and service roles?
• Airport departments have traditionally been too segregated – parking team, retail team, etc – shouldn’t they now become one team thinking about the entire customer journey holistically from a customer view, and offering opportunities at every point through one basket?
• Airports’ commercial success is limited by the lack of information about the passengers, dwell time and limitation of physical space, so how can airports do a better job of getting to passengers in advance to deliver more personalised offers to support their day of travel and journey ambitions?
• How can F&B be more connected to the retail experience, so that when passengers are dwelling in F&B spaces or lounges, we can service other consumer needs?
• How should airports adapt and optimise their transportation strategies to account for car charging, autonomous vehicles and reduced demand for car parking and rental?
• How much can technology really do to solve industry challenges – how important is the role of staff and service to unlock potential?

Format: After a series of scene-setting presentations, the session will become a fast-moving panel discussion.

• As passenger demographics evolve and more travel is focused around leisure, how should lounge propositions evolve?
• Are pod style or new lounge propositions likely to prove far more appealing to the growth areas of leisure, cost conscious or generation Y travellers?
• With all airlines and airports carefully considering costs, is there a big opportunity for airlines to pool lounges or outsource operations to third party providers?
• By utilising innovative new approaches, can lounges move from being cost centres to profit centres?
• Can lounges become more multi-purpose with new technologies, for instance transitioning from dedicated airline lounge in the morning to an invite-only sponsored showroom space in the afternoon, before turning back into a shared lounge in the evening?
• Credit card companies are setting up more and more lounge operations at the airport – what opportunities could this create for the industry?
• What more could be done to effectively sell additional services and products to passengers in lounges?
• How could new approaches to advertising, and product placement, within lounges be leveraged to drive better margins for lounge operators?

Following scene-setting presentations, our industry experts will discuss a range of new technologies and report on the viability of what each can do to help drive new spend and efficiencies at the airport to drive up margins. Where possible, the speakers will provide real feedback and lessons learned from early-stage projects involving each of the technologies.

Robotic service & delivery; Biometrics for identity & payment ; Digital twins ; Cryptocurrency & new payment applications; Holograms & experiential experiences; Virtual queuing; Machine learning & AI; Wearables, VR & AR; Big data & analytics; Internet of Things; Blockchain; Tech-enhanced equipment (trolleys, vending machines); and 5G.

See the Innovation Pitch Session schedule

After a scene-setting presentation the session will become a fast-moving panel discussion.

• Is the time now right to stop serving hot food on short-haul flights to reduce costs and complexity, and instead have airlines, airports, concessionaires and caterers provide more choice of food at the gate and upon arrival, and share the new profits created?
• Could dark kitchens be the future of F&B at airports?
• Many network carriers need to now deliver 5* catering at the front of the plane at a far lower cost. What new challenges and opportunities do new passenger expectations create for the sector?
• What opportunities does food pre-ordering create?
• Many airlines and airports have been teaming up with B2C food delivery disruptors and working with airport concessionaires and handlers to facilitate more pre-order options to passengers – what are the key lessons learned on getting this right?
• Is delivery of catering to the gate viable even if delivery robots are used, or is a central pick-up point in the terminal the most successful strategy?
• Will economy passengers pay for the products that might be offered at the front of the plane, and if so what are the most appealing products to market to them?
• How can technology like machine learning and AI help airlines plan far more effectively how they stock their aircraft with food and drinks?
• Is more F&B choice onboard a winning formula to drive spend and margins?
• Grab & Go food at the airport is a big opportunity for growth, but the quality of offering needs to improve and still be at a fair price, but how do we achieve that balance?
• How can F&B be more connected to the retail experience so that when passengers are dwelling in F&B spaces or lounges, we can service other consumer needs?