DFWC underlines need to refocus on customer satisfaction drivers with latest KPI Monitor

The Duty Free World Council has called for more customer engagement in its latest DFWC KPI Monitor for Q2 2019. The report, which was produced for the DFWC by m1nd-set, shows steady growth in some of the key satisfaction drivers for duty free shoppers, with the global average up by one percentage point since Q1 2019.

Engagement at the point of sale appears to be eroding, however.

 “The level of engagement between staff and visitors to the duty free shops has declined by 5% since the previous quarter according to the DFWC KPI Monitor, which is quite a concern,” says ETRC President Frank O’Connell.

“The impact of this decline in engagement is directly visible in the overall satisfaction levels and perception of duty free shops. We see in this quarterly Monitor, for example, that there is only one contributing element to the overall perception of duty free, ‘duty free is a great place to try new brands,’ that has seen an increase in the percentage of travelers who agree, while all other criteria have either seen a decline or stagnated.

 “As we discussed in the last quarterly report, there is a direct correlation between staff engagement and customer satisfaction,” O’Connell continued. “It is essential for brands and retailers to ensure sales associates on the shop floor continue to interact and engage more with customers.”

Performance in North America declined by one point versus Q1, with an increase of one point across all other regions, apart from the Asia Pacific region where there has been no change since the previous quarter.

Compared to the same period in 2018, however, there has been a consistent increase in the global average. Asia Pacific is the only region with an above average score.All other regions post below average scores in the overall satisfaction index, which is computed by aggregating the satisfaction scores on all aspects of the visits to the duty free shops and weighting these based on their impact on the overall satisfaction level.

Peter Mohn, Owner and CEO at m1nd-set added:

“We see clearly from the Monitor that where staff interaction is greater, there is also greater influence on the decision to purchase. This is particularly evident in the Middle East/Africa region and in the Beauty and Fashion & Accessories categories.

Staff in the Electronics category also perform well in influencing the purchase decision. There clearly needs to be more focus on engaging with older travelers as well as with those duty free visitors shopping for alcohol, confectionery, tobacco and souvenirs where engagement levels are markedly lower.”

The Monitor was compiled from over 4000 interviews with shoppers globally conducted in June for the second quarter of 2019.