Developing a typology of airport shoppers

Abstract

In view of the interrelationship between shopping and tourism, the increasing number of travellers, and the rising amount of shops and sales at the airport, insight in airport shopping motivations and airport shopper types is crucial to work out an optimal marketing strategy for airport shops. Because traditional shopping motivations and shopper type research is mainly focused on home-, clothing and grocery shopping and the specific character of an airport environment creates the impression of different shopping needs and shopper types, travellers at the Brussels airport are questioned by means of a standardized questionnaire. The results revealed two traditional shopping motivations-experiential and functional-and two motivations relating to the airport infrastructure and atmosphere. Travellers can be incited to consume by characteristics that are typical for an airport environment, with multilingual shop communication and the possibility to pay with different currencies on the one hand and impulse purchase, purchase out of boredom and purchase urged by the surrounding atmosphere on the other hand. Furthermore, three airport shopper types were distinguished: "mood shoppers", "shopping lovers" and "apathetic shoppers". The apathetic shopper is the most universal shopper. This type of shopper is indifferent to shopping no matter the context. "Mood shoppers" and "shopping lovers" are both motivated to purchase due to features of an airport. While the mood shopper is mostly triggered by atmospheric and mood elements typical for an airport environment, shopping lovers like shopping in all its aspects, although the airport-infrastructure appears to be an extra stimulation for purchase. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.