On the Changi airport, Singapore, they have something new and interesting. The airport shops have decided to find a new way of shopping for their customers. They launched an online shopping portal! This enables the travellers to order before they go to the airport. After they arrived and have checked in, they can pick up their tax free articles and go straight to their plain.
I think that this can be something that many airport shops can do. But I’m not sure if it will work for al kind of travellers. Personally I think this can only work for business travellers, because they don’t spend a long time on the airport before they leave. They will just go there, check in and take their flight. Shopping online, before they go to the airport can be time saving for them.
But on the other hand I don’t think it will work for other kind of travellers. If the travellers are tourists, they often like to shop on an airport. (well, I do!) I think that tourists often like to walk around an airport and so shop a little.
What do you think?
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Personally, I think online shopping can work for other travellers as well (e.g., tourists). If I take myself as an example, I do not find the shops at an airport especially different than shops you can find somewhere else. The only thing that really differs is the fact that it is tax-free. Thus, I would love to be able to buy stuff beforehand tax-free and pick them up before my flight departures. Think of how much you can save buying an iPad or perfume tax-free at Schiphol! Free 21% discount! 🙂
I agree, I believe that the online shopping would work for other travellers, as well as business travellers. For example, a lot of woman spend a lot of money on make-up, and often “stock up” on their favourite products and brands when they go to the airport as it is tax-free. Pre-ordering your favourite make-up products (you know the colours etc by name and number) would save a lot of time in the airport, and I think the option of collection would work very well. This applies to favourite perfumes etc. In addition, some travellers aim to spend as little time as possible at the airport, so online shopping would attract these new consumers, as they would still have the same benefits of the tax-free shopping, as if they were to spend a couple of hours at the airport.