airport retail

What do dairy cows and casinos have in common with supermarkets, airports, and resorts? More than most retailers realise. This article explores the behavioural systems that shape customer flow, reduce friction, influence time perception, and drive sustainable yield. From routine and reinforcement to stress and throughput, the mechanics behind milk production and gambling floors reveal powerful lessons for retail strategy, customer experience design, and revenue optimisation.

Airports, resorts, and luxury boutiques don’t just sell products. They sell time — scarce, abundant, distorted, or timeless. This essay explores how time shapes shopping behaviour.

That overpriced chocolate bar at Gate 14 wasn’t about hunger—it was about control. In this in-depth essay, we explore how Mood Repair Theory explains airport retail behaviour, especially in high-stress domestic terminals, and what airports can learn from global best practice to meet travellers’ emotional needs.

Airports aren’t just about planes and passports—they’re carefully engineered environments that shape your behavior at every step. From retail layouts to time pressure, here’s how airport design nudges you more than you realize.

In airports worldwide, a retail transformation is underway. This "phygital" revolution blends digital convenience with physical shopping, addressing the unique needs of travelers. As this change unfolds, it's important to examine how phygital strategies are reshaping airport retail and their impact on travelers and retailers. The Airport Retail Environment Airport retail operates under specific conditions: […]

Airports are always looking for new ways to make money, improve wayfinding and make the airport experience more enjoyable. This example from Taipei creates some interesting ideas. I don’t know whether the airport is generating revenue from Hello Kitty branding these departure gates or whether they’d doing it purely as something fun. But consider for […]

Changi have a number of these to service duty free, post, food etc. They’re a terrific idea to tap into that lost PSR when people go to the departure gates early. Or in Changi’s case to deal with shopping for short transit stops. Image Credit

New store opened by Lagadere at Gold Coast Airport. Very large for a Smiggles store – wonder what it will end up turning over?. My guess – about $500k. Which wouldn’t be too bad for GC.

I love vending machines but I’m not too sure about this one at Vegas Airport. It dispenses language pack/CD’s by Rosetta Stone. I would have thought the usage was far too narrow to justify the space.

Jewelry shop at Boston Airport specialising in charms.

Not too sure about this idea. Apparently you can get a full body “wet” spray massage fully clothed. Haven’t worked out exactly how you manage that and frankly I’d be too wary to try it out.

Pop-up retail isn’t new by any means but its not seen that much in airports except as casual leasing in “spare” space.  What is interesting is how its being handled in a new store opening soon at Glasgow Airport.  They’ve leased a shop to Planeshop as a permanent tenant but the actual brand/retail concept featured […]

Exports of Swiss watches have continued to fall, with July recording a 25.9% decline over the previous year. Overall since January, Swiss watch exports have fallen 26.3% or US6.8 billion. Sales of Swiss watches have been in significant decline since the end of 2008 with exports now below 2006 levels. Those surviving best are watches […]

Much has been written & researched about the psychology of colour and its application to retail environments. The general rule of thumb being to choose colours which support both the shopper experience & the psychological headspace you want to draw out in the consumer, then use them judiciously – by which I mean don’t splash […]

You read it right, Schipol Airport has opened a “goldfish hotel”. Now I know I’m the first to complain about the lack of innovation in airport retail offerings so I suppose I should applaud the creativity in this concept, but I’m afraid I’m left scratching my head on the commerciality of it. Are goldfish really […]

As of June, travellers passing through Brussels, Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino airports can download three audiobooks for free. The service will be offered over Wifi at these airports for passengers on Oneworld airlines. People can download audiobooks to their laptops, smartphones and PDAs via the airline’s websites. There is a choice of 40 titles […]

People are eagerly awaiting the new Barcelona Airport T1 in another week or two and the retailers are busily getting ready. The commercial space at T1 is 28,612m2 of which 9,812m2 is to be occupied by a Business centre, VIP lounges and other customer services. This leaves 18,796m2 in retail & F&B, with almost 2/3rds […]

JetBlue’s strategy is not news to most people – a low cost airline distinguishing itself by actually giving a damn about its customers, listening to them & talking to them. Saving money where they can but not compromising on the things which are really important to their passengers – which they know because yes, they […]

The Airports Council International forecasts that 7 billion passengers will use the world’s airports by 2020. However at the current pace of construction and considering all airports in the pipeline, they will only be able to process 6 billion. China responded by announcing that it will construct 48 new airports in addition to Beijing (ready […]

Beijing’s new addition to its airport infrastructure, Terminal 3, has passed all its inspections and is now ready for operation.  However it isn’t expected to start trial operation until Feb 29. This additional terminal increases Beijing’s airport pax capacity from a theoretical 35 million (though last year its throughput was 48.6 million) to somewhere between […]