Introduction: Qatar Airways Chief Retail and Hospitality Officer Thabet Musleh explores the evolving role of gifting within Qatar Duty Free’s strategy focus and how the retailer delivers a memorable experience to all travellers.

Central to the approach is the mantra of offering ‘Something for Everyone’, where gifting is positioned as a key driver of purchases across demographics. Musleh highlights the impact of seasonal campaigns, such as Eid activations with Lindt, as well as year-round gifting offers enhanced by personalisation and memorable in-store experiences.

Additionally, he discusses Qatar Duty Free’s concept of ‘Transit Tourism’ which plays a significant role in offering authentic, culturally rich souvenirs for travellers.

At Qatar Duty Free (QDF), one of the mantras is to offer ‘Something for Everyone.’ It’s a pillar of our strategy that makes sure every shopper at Hamad International Airport has a memorable and fulfilling shopping experience, no matter their background or budget.

Gifting is a major purchase-driver in our channel and we pride ourselves on delivering a strong proposition for gift-giving across the spectrum of traveller demographics.

There are several elements of gifting that we focus on:

• Seasonality: Global and regional celebrations offer clear opportunities to engage with shoppers.
• Year-round: Methods such as personalisation and gift-wrapping elevate any purchase, at any time, into a meaningful present.
• Souvenir or ‘sense of place’: Customers can share the cultural elements of their travels with loved ones.

Delivering seasonal showstoppers

Eid Al-Adha is a key period for many travellers in the Middle East – an important holiday that involves a rise in travel to reunite with family and friends. QDF’s recent campaign around Eid, delivered by Lindt, clearly resonated with holiday shoppers.

With Lindt sales at QDF already up +51% on 2019 levels, the targeted promotional activity delivered an additional surge compared to the same period in 2023, with Lindt Swiss Masterpieces – the brand’s ultimate premium gifting product – up +26% year-on-year.

When we talk about ‘Something for Everyone’ we are not just referring to a broad product range – we are talking about democratising excellence.

We want everyone to feel special. That’s why the various options offered by Lindt during this activation aligned with our vision of purchasing a premium yet affordable gift that transforms into an experience through personalisation, gift-wrapping and other special touches.

This is equally true of Lindt’s impressive new sense of place wallbay, which includes a selfie camera, as well as the personalised sleeve dispenser that elevates the purchasing experience for gifting.

We’ll be partnering with Lindt to bring similar levels of excitement and gifting engagement with a Ramadan HPP in 2025.

Year-round gifting experiences

While we make sure that festive periods are accounted for through seasonal gifting activations, we also want shoppers to find compelling gifting options year-round. We continuously work hand-in-hand with our brand partners to come up with the most innovative and engaging concepts possible and we increasingly see gifting placed at the heart of such experiences.

Take, for example, the Penhaligon’s engraving service, which allows passengers to personalise any full-sized fragrance. A customer can simply choose a desirable, engravable product and request a personal message to be added to it. A personalised Penhaligon’s perfume bottle serves as a thoughtful and luxurious gift, ideal for commemorating special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and corporate milestones.

The ability to add a personal touch transforms these products into meaningful keepsakes, ensuring that the recipient feels truly special.

Transit Tourism: Going beyond sense of place for souvenir shoppers

Another pillar of our approach where gifting plays an important role is the concept of ‘Transit Tourism’. We’ve pioneered this concept in travel retail, centred around making the airport an integral and enriching part of the travel experience – not merely just a transport hub. The opening of Souq Al Matar, an authentic traditional Qatari market in the airport, personifies this concept by going beyond traditional notions of sense of place.

We know that people love to gift authentic local goods from their travels to friends and family, visitors to Souq Al Matar can find a wide variety of authentic Qatari gifts – similar, if not the same, gifts that they could find in Doha’s famous Souq Waqif – as they browse the seven local retail outlets housed in a traditional setting. We have everything from high-quality local fragrances to a wide variety of spices. The range of options for shoppers looking to gift something authentically Qatari is extensive.

Putting gifting front-of-mind

As the sole retailer at Hamad International Airport, we are in a privileged position to deliver gifting campaigns across our retail footprint. Our Score Great Gifts campaign is an excellent example of how we aligned FIFA World Cup fever, soccer-related traffic and shopping experience to stimulate gifting.

By tapping into the football-frenzied atmosphere with a world-class shopping offer and promotional treats, QDF delivered a highly successful campaign that clearly resonated with football fans and travellers from across the world. At 850 locations around the airport, we targeted customers with eye-catching campaign visuals that featured QR codes linking to the campaign digital universe, with a Spin the Wheel game and special incentives on offer.

A +112% increase in sales during the campaign period was proof of the power of targeting customers with compelling gifting offers at various points around the airport space.

The power of universal offers for universal moments

While consumption patterns and category preferences vary by nationality, the impulse to gift is truly universal. At Qatar Duty Free, ‘Something for Everyone’ is about ensuring that everyone gets a first-class experience, regardless of what they are buying or who they are buying for. There’s a joy in buying for others, and we want to deliver excitement at key gifting periods to ensure that this impulse is also reflected year-round. ✈