Airport Experience® News - Retail Innovation Issue 2024

Terminal, as well as Allsaints in the West Gates Concourse. In Terminal 2, travelers can visit the recently opened Larchmont Junction, which offers luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior and Gucci.” YVR currently offers standalone locations of several luxury brands, including Hermès, Cartier, Burberry, Bulgari, Chloé and Moncler, among others. “In recent years, some brands, including Gucci and Bottega, have exited airport locations as part of their ongoing retail strategies,” notes Benedict Ma, director of passenger retail experience. “At YVR we recognize that there has been a shift in demand for luxury travel retail since 2020. While contributing factors to the travel retail shift vary, we can point to considerations such as frequency of trips, age and income of travelers, and origin and destinations as well as geopolitical and macro-economic factors. As travel patterns and habits continue to change, we are evolving our retail program and offerings to meet the needs of travelers today and into the future.” Many travelers and airports today are demanding more local representation in concessions – but industry professionals don’t believe this has played a part in luxury retail’s declining demand. “Local and luxury brands cater to different types of customers,” Ma says. “At YVR, while we are working on enhancing local representation to best serve our community and align with our long-term engagement goals, this doesn’t minimize demands for luxury items. Our goal is to balance both, so we can meet the diverse needs and preferences of all our passengers.” Paradies Lagardère’s Bisset points out that local brands typically have similar financial productivity to luxury brands. “Local representation is driven more by sense of place needs from airport stakeholders and therefore isn’t correlated to the recent changes we’ve seen in luxury demand,” he says. CDA’s Ritter also notes that the growing focus on local representation in retail hasn’t obscured the demand for luxury goods, but it has influenced the overall retail landscape. “While there is a notable

trend toward featuring local brands and products, this shift is more about complementing the existing retail mix rather than replacing luxury offerings,” she says. “Local representation caters to travelers seeking unique and region specific experiences, adding diversity to airport retail. However, luxury goods continue to hold appeal among certain traveler segments, and their presence is shaped more by broader economic and travel trends than by the shift toward local representation alone.”

Above, Right: Vancouver International Airport currently offers standalone locations of several luxury brands, but the airport has seen a shift in demand for luxury travel retail since 2020 and some brands, including Gucci and Bottega, have left the airport.

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AX NEWS SEPTEMBER 2024