Travel Retail Is Outperforming Department Stores

Brands are finding success in airports and other transit hubs, with Estée Lauder bringing in more revenue from airports globally — they accounted for approximately 18% of its total sales in 2018 — than it did in department stores in North America last year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Other brands, including Bacardi and Gucci, have been targeting the space — and for good reason: The global duty free and travel retail industry grew around 10% year-over-year (YoY) in 2018 to reach $76 billion in sales, per The Data Circle as cited by The WSJ, while US department stores saw their sales fall 4.1% YoY to $149 billion, according to IBISWorld. Read more at Business Insider.