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Starbucks Is Revamping Its Airport Presence

The experience economy is coming for your pre-flight latte.
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Francis Scialabba

less than 3 min read

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

Starbucks entered two new partnerships to expand its presence in airports, because lattes are the only bright side to a six-hour layover.

Starbucks will work with retail hospitality groups Paradies Lagardère and OTG Management to…

  • Enter new airports where Paradies Lagardère and OTG operate stores.
  • Introduce pop-up stores that move throughout the terminal, allowing customers to order at their gates.
  • Enable mobile orders at airports so customers can skip the 30-minute waits at its walk-up stores.

Starbucks’s move comes with baggage

HMSHost, Starbucks’s airport retail partner since 1991, last week opted out of their exclusive partnership. The reason? It wanted to focus its future airport efforts on smaller, local brands. (They'll still operate their current stores together.)

But it’s got a free carry-on: Sales are taking off for airport retailers. Lego, L’Oréal, and Estée Lauder are among the duty-free and travel retail stores that took in a record $76 billion in sales in 2018.

Those purchases were made by only 15% of total airport travelers—meaning there's room to grow for everyone, including Starbucks.

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.