FUTURE of retail ‘All channels need to work together’


“We’re seeing retailers adopt a


‘co-pilot’ system where shop assistants have the technology on a phone or tablet so they can take a question and generative AI can give them the information to help someone.” He argued: “This is important in the


context of travel retail. People want knowledge rather than just piecing a holiday together themselves. They want an expert opinion and their holiday curated. They’re spending a lot of money.” Simpson agreed: “Skills and


knowledge are a key differentiator and why you would go to a travel consultant. That is where loyalty comes in. I’m sure many travel consultants have a black book of people who use them for every holiday. You don’t need a loyalty programme for that.” She added: “Retailers are interested in


generative AI and what it can bring them. However, the use cases are more about internal operations – understanding the data better, the lines that are selling, the performance of stores, and being able to access data more easily and quickly, as well as being able to personalise at scale and generate content on a broader scale. “We’re seeing some customer-


experience use cases in the grocery space, like putting a menu together and generating recipes and shopping lists for those. But 80% of use cases are internally focused.” Walton suggested: “A consumer use


case relevant for travel is aggregation of reviews. So, when choosing a hotel, rather than looking at how many stars it has and reading several reviews, you say ‘I’m taking my kids, their age is this, they enjoy swimming’ and the AI can respond, ‘This is the perfect hotel’.”


RECOVERY AND SUSTAINABILITY Both Walton and Simpson acknowledged the strength of the recovery in travel retail in 2023, with Walton arguing: “If you’re going on a holiday for the first time in four years and your spending is squeezed, you want to make sure you


28 Travel Weekly Insight Report 2024 % FIGURE 37:


RETAIL OUTLET CHANGES BY LOCATION, 2019-23 Net change of retail outlets


-3.5 -3.0 -2.5 -2.0 -1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5


-0.04% -0.7% -1.4% -1.4% -2% -1.8% % 10 7.9% 8.3% 2019 H1 Retail park 2020


-3.2% -3.3% H1


2021 H1 High street 2022 H1 2023 H1 5 -0.8%


0.25% 0.1% 0%


0.4% 0%


-0.4% 15 20 19.4% 19% 19% 18% 17.8%


14.2% 14.3% 14.5% 14.4% 14% 14% 14% 11.7% 12.4%


11.5% 11.3% 10% 9% 8% Vacancy rate by location type


2019 2020 2021 2021 2022 2022 2023 H1 Shopping centre Source: Local Data Company


People are starting to see the value in having a travel consultant. There is a place in the market for a tailored service


have a good experience and the holiday is worth it. I’m not surprised there is more of a focus on travel agents and consultants. Holidays seem to be the one thing people won’t compromise on.” Simpson agreed, saying: “People


value their holiday so much they want to minimise the risk of it going wrong. People see the value in having a travel consultant. There is a place in the market for a tailored service.” Both noted the importance of retailers


addressing sustainability concerns, but Simpson also noted the challenges in doing so. She said: “Many retailers are going through a struggle to collect data on the makeup of products and where they come from to display to customers, when supply chains can be incredibly complex. Then how far do they go in encouraging customers to be more sustainable and giving a choice? We haven’t seen a plateau yet in terms of [sustainability] certification that consumers recognise. People don’t necessarily know what ‘good’ looks like yet.” She argued: “Regulation on financial


THE RATE of retail closures on


the high street was close to zero in 2022-23 and the vacancy rate plateaued (Figure 37)


disclosure is driving sustainability more than consumers demanding it. Businesses are going to have to disclose information on their impacts. There is a lot of work being done behind the scenes to work out what data needs to be collected and where.”


H1 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1


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