MASTERCARD
Harnessing travel retail’s nascent data potential
Mastercard Senior Vice President Market Insights Sarah Quinlan tells TRBusiness that a well-curated mobile platform backed by relevant data to create personalised offers for shoppers is a ‘must’ if travel retailers are to achieve a significant sales lift.
‘D
ata is power’ as the old saying goes and there’s plenty of it out there to
help travel retailers discover what travelling shoppers are purchasing. Mastercard tells TRBusiness it has
several platforms, from destination reports to country-specific digital advertising insights that can reveal vital statistics on who’s travelling, where they are going and what they are spending on. “We work with many airports and
travel retailers as a tri-partner to ensure that data gets shared in the industry,” states Mastercard Senior Vice President Market Insights Sarah Quinlan. “We know, for example, US
tourists spend more on hotels, the British splash out more on food and drinks and the Chinese spend more on shopping/retail while on holiday. We also know that US tourists actually spend ten-times more
than
Chinese travellers.” This type of data can be cleverly
segmented to find out what certain groups are spending on dependent on their age, gender and city they come from. This can be coupled with further information such as their motives for travelling, which in turn can help retailers target their offers. “So, if you know people are
travelling to the UK, say for Wimbledon thanks to the low pound, there’s actually nothing to stop retailers from being creative and partnering with airlines to get even more data to help target those customers with personalised offers before they land in the UK,” suggests Quinlan. “This type of targeted marketing can provide a significant
MARCH 2018 Travel retail players would do well to focus on accessing relevant data in the future.
uplift in sales.” However, Quinlan believes few
travel retailers are using data to create personalised offers in this way. “The biggest hurdle for many
merchants is figuring out exactly which data the business needs to focus on to reach its objectives,” Quinlan explains. One of the biggest mistakes,
she suggests, is over focusing on ‘big data’. “Retailers tend to want to know
too much, but data is worthless unless you know the two or three critical pieces you need to achieve your goals,” she continues.
Measured metrics Once you figure that out, you can track and measure those metrics to hone your marketing and advertising campaigns, as Quinlan outlines. “The key is to keep data focused and simple and use metrics you
can understand, measure and learn from.” A well-curated mcommerce
platform is also a must, Quinlan adds. “We know from our research that 82% of people worldwide use their mobile device while they are out shopping (although they may not necessarily use it to actually make a purchase). So, an mcommerce platform is vital to reach your consumers.” However, the DF&TR
“Retailers tend to want to know too much, but data is worthless unless you know the two or three critical pieces you need to achieve your goals.”
Sarah Quinlan,
Senior Vice President, Market Insights, Mastercard
TRBUSINESS 19
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