Travel Retail
Travel Retail
It’s time to turn growing footfall into lasting value with exceptional, experience-driven travel retail.
High Traffic, Low Spend: It’s Time to Flip the Script in Travel Retail
Travel retail is at a turning point. While global air traffic has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels—reaching 9.5 billion travelers in 2024—average spend per traveler is falling. In fact, the industry recorded a $9 billion value gap in 2023 alone, driven by a 15% drop in spend per passenger compared to 2019. Looking ahead, the outlook is promising. By 2042, global passenger traffic is expected to nearly double, reaching 18.5 billion travelers annually. The question is: how can airports, travel retail operators, and luxury brands convert this growing traffic into higher commercial returns?
At CXG, we help all travel retail stakeholders close the spend gap and seize this moment of opportunity. We bring deep expertise, proprietary data, and proven strategies to transform traveler interactions into meaningful commercial results. By identifying experience gaps, designing high-impact touchpoints, and elevating every customer journey, we empower you to boost advocacy, loyalty, and spend per passenger.
The Power of Data
Our implementation framework delivers end-to-end support, from diagnosis to continuous monitoring, turning insights into actionable strategies. We tailor our 360 approach to each stakeholder: Airport Authorities benefit from optimized retail spaces and strategic partnerships; Travel Retail Operators improve spend per passenger and service delivery; and Brands strengthen customer acquisition, brand image consistency, and experience standards. Alignment across all stakeholders is essential to drive meaningful CX impact.
Your Partner in Travel Retail Excellence
How We Help Airports
We help airports understand the traveler experience and identify key friction points across the entire traveler journey, with an additional focus on retail. We enable data-driven decisions by benchmarking service levels against best-in-class airports and evaluating retail operator performance—both during bids and throughout operations. This approach boosts commercial outcomes, enhances productivity, and ensures stronger alignment between stakeholders.
How We Help Travel Retail Operators
We help travel retail operators optimize spend per passenger by enhancing the customer experience through the right staffing models, incentive plans, and impactful training programs. We benchmark operator performance against industry leaders to drive operational excellence and provide tools that support alignment with airport authorities. From concept to execution, we enable operators to validate and continuously improve their retail strategy in the airport environment.
How We Help Brands
We help brands ensure their image, values, and service standards are consistently upheld in airport environments. We evaluate brand desirability and acquisition potential, while aligning the airport customer experience with domestic benchmarks and brand guidelines. Through staff training, coaching, visual merchandising audits alongside tools to facilitate collaboration with operators, we enable brands to optimize presence, performance, and loyalty-building in travel retail.
Contact Us Today to Start Your Travel Retail Project
Latest Insights
Reports
Revolutionising Travel Retail
The global travel retail industry stands at a pivotal crossroads. While air travel is rebounding strongly, with global passenger traffic projected to surpass 2019 levels by 2025 and nearly double by 2042, the retail opportunity within airports is lagging…
Case Studies
Elevating the Passenger Experience at a Major North American Airport
The Context In today’s world, airports have evolved beyond mere transit hubs—they are now gateways to memorable experiences. Recognizing this shift, a leading North American airport set out to transform the travel journey within one of its busiest terminals….