Commonwealth Bank have just launched a new Travel Money Card. It allows you to purchase USD, British pounds, Euros, AUD, NZD or Canadian dollars and fix the exchange rate. The card is accepted anywhere Mastercard works, so unlike the Travelex card, this...
You read it right, Schipol Airport has opened a “goldfish hotel”. Now I know I’m the first to complain about the lack of innovation in airport retail offerings so I suppose I should applaud the creativity in this concept, but I’m...
New to Frankfurt Airport – a vending machine which dispenses gold bars. The prototype was trialed at Frankfurt Airport and is now being rolled out to 500 locations around Germany. It can dispense 1g, 5g & 10g gold bars/coins. The 1g wafer...
The Singpore Agency for Science & Technology & Research has developed new technology that can identify the gender of a person. The technology uses complex algorithms to differentiate facial features of males & females. So what, I hear you...
Carspaze have created a new advertising platform for car park walls. It uses relatively new (dev 3 years ago) technology which allows high quality images to be printed onto specially developed fire retardant materials. Using these “posters”...
Lets face it, drugstores & pharmacies normally look pretty average. Not so the new design for Conde Lumiares in Spain. The old store design looked pretty typical, low suspended ceilings at a single height, conventional aisles etc. After alteration...
Going on Sale is generally not an option with Travel Retail. Specials sure but not having a sale. Landlords will rarely let you do it because it downgrades the entire look of the airport or precinct. That however doesn’t mean the principle of Sales...
All women know that nothing beats a sale, and most men have had this fact clearly & regularly explained to them. But why do they work so well, even in the midst of an economic crisis? Emotional Investment – it takes time to go through the sale...
With the new Barcelona Airport T1 due to open in matter of days, I thought it worthwhile taking a look at what it will contain. Firstly to put some context on this, the terminal is designed to cater to 25 million passengers. To begin with, Star Alliance...
Everybody knows how much I love vending machines, particularly for airports and hotels. They take up very little space, have little or no staff costs, can delivery huge entertainment value and very importantly can deal with the peaks & troughs in...
The days of hotel minibars stocking overpriced softdrinks and miniature spirits are thankfully passing. These days you see a surprising range of things in your minibar – some which make you scratch your head, some that are a pleasant surprise. No...
A new self-chilling can could be a boon for airlines, airports and indeed any retail location. Currently, selling chilled drinks not only requires bulky refrigerators but also power outlets or a generator. This may be a thing of the past with the first...
7.4 million tonnes of chocolate were consumed globally in 2008, which Rabobank estimates had a retail value of around AUD127 billion. This has been growing as a category for a number of years and in the GEC has continued to prove robust – after all what’s better when you’re feeling...
At Starwood Aloft & Four Points by Sheraton you will now be able to view free digital copies of your favourite magazines. Zinio’s “digital newstand” can now be accessed on guests’ laptops in their rooms or via a kiosk in the lobby. You need to log into Starwood’s...
JetBlue showed again its brand integrity, spending money on what matters to customers & saving it on what doesn’t. This week it decided to promote its first flight into Los Angeles International Airport by packing YouTube celebrities in the plane to document the ride. Basically the strategy...
Lets face it, drugstores & pharmacies normally look pretty average. Not so the new design for Conde Lumiares in Spain. The old store design looked pretty typical, low suspended ceilings at a single height, conventional aisles etc. After alteration the 2 metre ceilings became 5 but at multiple levels...
At Starwood Aloft & Four Points by Sheraton you will now be able to view free digital copies of your favourite magazines. Zinio’s “digital newstand” can now be accessed on guests’ laptops in their rooms or via a kiosk in the lobby. You need to log into Starwood’s portal and register with Zinio but after that a whole range of free publications. You can read them...
7.4 million tonnes of chocolate were consumed globally in 2008, which Rabobank estimates had a retail value of around AUD127 billion. This has been growing as a category for a number of years and in the GEC has continued to prove robust – after all what’s better when you’re feeling down than a chocolate bar. One of the contributing factors in the growth of chocolate sales has been...
Dr. Luca Tommasi and Daniele Marzoli from the University “Gabriele d’Annunzio” in Chieti, Italy, have recently undertaken a series of studies looking at ear preference in communication between people. One of the best known asymmetries in humans is the right ear dominance for listening to verbal stimuli, which is believed to reflect the brain’s left hemisphere bias for processing...
According to the Visa & PATA “Determining Travel Preferences in 2009 & Beyond” survey, one in three respondents are heavily influenced by frequent flier programmes. This was strongest in China (49%), Hong Kong (47%) & Korea (44%). As would logically be expected, frequent fliers are more heavily influenced (48%) than occassional travellers (33%). The survey also found that people...
Commonwealth Bank have just launched a new Travel Money Card. It allows you to purchase USD, British pounds, Euros, AUD, NZD or Canadian dollars and fix the exchange rate. The card is accepted anywhere Mastercard works, so unlike the Travelex card, this one will work instore, over the phone or online. Transferring betweeen currencies doesn’t attract a fee and there is only a flat ATM withdrawal...
You read it right, Schipol Airport has opened a “goldfish hotel”. Now I know I’m the first to complain about the lack of innovation in airport retail offerings so I suppose I should applaud the creativity in this concept, but I’m afraid I’m left scratching my head on the commerciality of it. Are goldfish really that big in Amsterdam? Anyway, onto the offer. The hotel is...
New to Frankfurt Airport – a vending machine which dispenses gold bars. The prototype was trialed at Frankfurt Airport and is now being rolled out to 500 locations around Germany. It can dispense 1g, 5g & 10g gold bars/coins. The 1g wafer thin piece sells for around US42 and the 10g bar for $US341. However the price is updated every 2 minutes to reflect the gold price. Given the premium...
JetBlue showed again its brand integrity, spending money on what matters to customers & saving it on what doesn’t. This week it decided to promote its first flight into Los Angeles International Airport by packing YouTube celebrities in the plane to document the ride. Basically the strategy was simply – give away tickets to a group of YouTube producers who always get high hits. Let...
The Creative Director of Coach, Reed Krackoff, hasn’t really drawn attention to himself the way other Creative Directors have in the fashion industry. This however might be changing. Coach have apparently registered new Trademarks for “Reed”, “Reed Krakoff” and “RK” for ready-wear, leathergoods & personal care products as well as “hotel & restaurant...
The Singpore Agency for Science & Technology & Research has developed new technology that can identify the gender of a person. The technology uses complex algorithms to differentiate facial features of males & females. So what, I hear you say … well consider the application for marketing & for retail. What if you could change your message according to the gender of the person...
