Seatrade Cruise Global is partnering with The Moodie Davitt Report to host a dedicated retail day at its 2024 event in Miami. The event runs from April 8-11 at The Miami Beach Convention Center with the retail sessions taking place at the same venue on the morning and afternoon of April 10.
Through the collaboration, a full day of retail-related programming will take place for the first time at Seatrade Cruise Global. This reflects the fast-growing importance of retailing to cruise line revenues and its role in enhancing the guest experience, and follows a successful Retail panel session at Seatrade 2023.
The Moodie Davitt Report President Dermot Davitt tells TMI that the full day dedicated retail conference comes after a positive response to the 2023 panel session.
“Delegates that attended were pleased to see a focus on the retail business, which has become so vital for cruise lines, given its own space in the event calendar. With Seatrade Cruise Global’s status as the world’s major gathering of the cruise line industry each year, it offers a platform for discussion and debate about the role of retail and its future,” says Davitt.
Themes to be addressed at the event include the future of onboard retailing, industry partnerships, sustainability in the retail design and offer, technology, the role of people, cruise port collaborations and how the sector can drive luxury brand growth to the next level.
Thought leadership will be provided by a combination of senior cruise line executives, leading concessionaire representatives and brand owners.
“This year we feature a full day of retail-themed conferencing in a dedicated space, well supported by leading concessionaires Starboard and Harding+, plus brands and brand representatives including Effy Jewelry, Duty Free Global and DENIZEN Destination. Our sessions co-organized with Seatrade Cruise Global will include a keynote interview with a senior cruise line figure about the role of retail in commercial terms and in shaping the guest experience. We will discuss partnership within the cruise ‘Trinity’ with input from a cruise line, concessionaire and brand owner,” says Davitt.
“We will talk about nurturing people and teams in cruise retail, asking how we can better attract and retain staff and what factors ensure a committed, enthusiastic workforce?
“We will cover the importance of ‘going local’ and ‘story-telling’ in retail, both from cruise line and port viewpoint.
“We will explore the opportunity for luxury jewelry & watches in cruise retail, with input from cruise line, retailer and brand. And we will address what sustainability means in the context of retail design and product offer onboard cruise ships.”
Click here for SeaTrade’s series of speakers for Retail Day.
“We will also feature senior figures from Starboard, Harding+, Heinemann Americas, Avolta, Global Ports Holding, Effy Jewelry, LVMH Beauty, Diageo and DENIZEN Destination,” he says.
The 2024 Seatrade Retail Day will reflect the ever-growing importance of retailing to cruise line revenues and its role in enhancing the guest experience, says Davitt.
“We hope it helps to generate new ideas for collaboration in the sector among all parties in the cruise ‘Trinity’ and amplifies the business opportunity that cruise represents within travel retail.”
While this is the inaugural year that a full day Retail event will take place at Seatrade, Davitt is hopeful that this year will be the first of many.
“We are in discussions about how to build on this year’s one-day conference in 2025 and beyond, and see the potential for The Retail Day to become a core component of Seatrade Cruise Global in the future.”
Seatrade Cruise Global 2024 will bring together thousands of cruise professionals to network, learn and find new solutions to industry challenges. The 2023 event welcomed over 10,000 guests, 500+ exhibitors and more than 80 cruise brands.
