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The Retail Revolution- The Role of Bureaux de Change

The Change Group - innovating Bureaux de Change worldwide

Airports are being redefined to face the commercial challenges of twenty-first century air travel. They have been recreated into exciting and entertaining business centres in addition to being retail and entertainment hotspots. Passenger traffic is increasing rapidly, with predictions that global passenger figures could reach seven billion a year by 2020. However, although passenger numbers are on the rise, revenue per passenger has declined. Increased security measures in recent years have also led to higher operating costs, with a nervous public wanting to see action on environmental concerns such as global warming, but hesitant to pay the price penalties involved.

In the face of these challenges, the need to boost non-core revenue streams, such as retail, has become critical and plays an important role in airport planning and terminal design. Airports have now begun to incorporate cutting edge retail and entertainment strategies to increase non-core revenue and consequently between 30% and 50% of the revenue of some of the world’s leading airports now comes from retail and commercial operations. This has a profound impact on airport development strategies and it is vital to maximise these revenue streams to secure long-term competitiveness. Airports who originally found themselves in competition purely with other competitors in travel such as trains, buses and ferries now find themselves benchmarking themselves against ultra prime shopping streets. Airports need to attract high-quality retailers with “easy-in and easy-out” leasing structures to enhance the passengers’ retail experience.

Customer Empowerment

The Change Group's bureau at Sydney airport

Bureaux de change form a key part in the retail strategy of any airport and contribute significantly to revenue. They contribute towards bringing in the romance associated with travel and making it a fun-filled and exciting experience. Service through face to face human contact is what is consistently shown as being desired by shoppers. Thinking of the traveller as a shopper is key to this process.

The buying and selling of foreign currencies is the primary function provided by The Change Group. This service increases the passengers’ spending power by providing them with the local currency to spend at the airport among other places. Contrary to popular belief, though the concept of the cashless society has been around for some time, statistics show that globally the use of cash is rising. Though the usage of credit cards is increasing, cash cannot be easily replaced due to its convenience and universal acceptance. Carrying cash also helps tourists keep track of their spending during a trip, with no danger of returning home to a huge credit card bill.

The Change Group - Serving the International Traveller Worldwide

Bureaux de change provide more than just an avenue for the passenger to change cash. They also function as vital information points and they help assuage the stressed-out experience prevalent at airports. Every international passenger needs to change cash. However, the ratio of international passengers who do so at the airport is not very high. So the questions arise ‘What can be done to improve upon this?’ and ‘How to prevent the lost opportunity when a passenger does not use essential bureau de change services and takes his business elsewhere?’ The answer may be simpler than imagined ‘Provide more opportunities for the passenger to change cash and use professional suppliers’. Airports should take care in having suppliers who do not focus on their core business and shift their attention to providing ancillary businesses having a lower cost/benefit ratio. Therefore the key here lies in sticking to the knitting and being close to the customer.

‘What is the impact of dwell times on retail revenues? ‘ It has been determined that there is a direct link between dwell time and passenger spend at airports. The additional time it now takes to pass through security and longer check-in queues reduce dwell time, adversely affecting revenue.

Location, location, location

Once passengers are through to the airport lounge how can retailers attract their attention? Well, when it comes to bureaux de change, research shows that brand has limited influence on a customer’s decision to choose one provider over another. A convenient location and high-quality service are critical to improve the conversion rate. Having conveniently located bureaux makes it easy for passengers to change money or travellers’ cheques. It is certainly important to get it right, because every opportunity not seized affects the bottom line. Cash is a commodity product and if a passenger’s mind is on other things, he will simply change money at the next point. Hence, having multiple operators within close proximity creates ‘change opportunities’ that have been shown not only to increase customer satisfaction through a sense of competition and choice but also increase the transaction rate.

To maximise their spending potential it is important that passengers enjoy a stress-free shopping experience without fear of having to miss their flights and other important announcements.

Funding the future

The retail revolution has contributed significantly to making airports 24/7 air malls providing the best entertainment, hospitality and retail experience with a wide range of choice of brands and a competitive environment that encourages innovation. Airport bureau de change income can be significantly improved through increased competition amongst operators, improved sighting of units and benchmarking against high street performance.

The Change Group International Plc

The Change Group International Plc successfully provides foreign exchange and related services in airports around the world and is able to offer specialist consulting in retail positioning, branding and design to generate the maximum income possible for all stakeholders. The company’s track record shows that it has been able to increase revenue at all the airports in which it operates and as such believes it can play a major part in helping today’s airport operators meet the needs of tomorrow’s international travellers.

Contact information
Tel: 0207 307 7200
Website: www.changegroup.com

 

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