As John Lewis prepares to jet into travel retail with the launch of a store at Heathrow Terminal 2 next year, Retail Week checks into the opportunities of airport retail

  • In recent years an increasing number of retailers have moved into airport retail for the first time. Two relatively new entrants to this sector include Paperchase, which opened its first airport store at Manchester Airport late last year, and Hotel Chocolat, which moved into this arena around the same time with a shop at Luton Airport.

  • With passengers presenting boarding cards before making a purchase, airport shops present retailers with an opportunity to gain greater insight into their customers.

  • WH Smith is one of the most prominent UK retailers when it comes to airport retailers. It continues to invest in this area, with the company rolling out self-service checkouts in larger airside units from 2011.

  • UK airports handled 221m passengers in 2012, up 0.6% on 2011, according to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). However, numbers remain down on 2007’s peak of almost 240m people. Last year Heathrow handled a record 70m passengers.

  • A YouGov report published in May found that out of 27% of flyers who shopped at the airport before their most recent flight, 61% bought toiletries, 57% bought books or magazines, and 26% consumables. Just 7% snapped up clothes and 5% electronic items.

  • Harrods has six outlets across UK airports, including Heathrow and Gatwick. It also operates airport shops/food halls in airports around Europe and Asia, such as Lisbon, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore airports.

  • Duty-free sales at airports worldwide totalled $25bn (£16bn) in 2012, up from $8.9bn (£5.7bn) in 2001, according to Generation Research.

  • A recent report found that more than half (52%) of regular international travelers never enter duty free stores. According to Counter Intelligence Retail, the proportion of non-shoppers is greatest in the Americas at 57%, and lowest in the Middle East at 45%.

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