I’ve never been to a Gucci or Louis Vuitton store, I don’t even know where they’re located. If you ask me the last time I saw a Gucci Louis Vuitton store it would be at the Doha International Airport.
Once I noticed luxury brands at the Doha airport, I started noticing them at other airports too. Istanbul, Miami, Chicago, Baltimore, New York, I could go on and on. This got me thinking: why do luxury brands make it a point to be at airports?
Traffic
The most obvious reason why luxury brands have stores at airports is because there’s a high volume of people going through these airports. Not only is there a high traffic of people, but it’s high volume of qualified traffic. Here’s what I mean by that: people on international flights have most likely spent over $1000 trying to get to wherever they’re trying to go. A lot of these people may be on vacation or on business travel. These people have disposable income to spend on things.
Time
A lot of the people in the airport have time to kill. Whether they are just waiting for their flight or they have a long layover, people usually have time to kill in the airport and the only activity you really have in the airport is either either eating or shopping. When you have qualified traffic that has time to kill - you don’t even have to be that good, you just have to show up to make money.
Creating Desire
Although there is a lot of qualified traffic, the reality is that the vast majority of people going through these airports cannot afford luxury items and won’t be spending money on luxury goods. For the vast majority of people that pass by the luxury stores, the presence of these brands is simply to increase curiosity and desire in people that aren’t yet qualified customers.