A Research on the Relationship between Duty Free' Locations and Sales of its Product Attributes at Airport : a Case of Departure and On-Arrival Duty Free at Incheon International Airport

Abstract

On-arrival duty free will prevent Korean outbound passengers from keeping the duty free items they purchased at the departure during their travel. Most Korean tourists have requested the airport authority to install on-arrival duty free since the grand-opening of Incheon int'l airport. Considering the fierce hub airport competition in the North East Asian region, the Korean government's decision to install on-arrival duty free is regarded as a well-timed intervention. The purpose of the research was to analyze sales correlation based on a comparison of sales of both departure and on-arrival duty free and to propose an administrative implication. Compared to business conglomerates running departure duty free, on-arrival duty free operators, who are small or medium companies, have weakness in product composition, marketing, and merchandising capabilities. According to the analysis, outbound passengers, who purchased fashion accessories and leather products at the departure duty free, tended to purchase cosmetics/perfume or liquor on the arrival duty free. Such complementary purchasing behavior of passengers showed there is barely a negative correlation between departure and on-arrival duty free.