Schiphol Airport's Trading Sections Analysis

There are several diverse ways that I could interpret or understand this brief; given that Schiphol Airport is also such an energetic center of consumer/customer activity, with many varieties of customer sections at any time. So as to get some further insights on what could be appropriate to check on more closely, I went to visit Schiphol Amsterdam Airport to practically observe the place and hopefully achieve some meaningful insights into latent consumer needs. This was a vital section of my work into reframing the brief since in order to successfully respond to the issues I have been set, it was very important that I have experience at the Schiphol Amsterdam Airport. The biggest challenge at the Schiphol Amsterdam Airport was the fact that even after visiting the Airport I couldn't actually experience how it is behind passport control because of tight and strict security measures taken by Schiphol. During the experience, I observed the three main issues or challenges that were substantial enough for me to start doing the research and looking into the solutions.

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Airport Navigation (including luggage inconveniences)

There wasn't a clear flow of individuals, departures and arrivals are all together mixed with no clear organization and separation of diverse travelers. Many individuals walking in lots of diverse directions results to a disorganized feeling and with shops too being mixed in, but without clear zones for shopping; only random shops all over the plaza, cohesion between airport planning and shops lack.

Lots of individuals browsing, but less shopping (conversion)

I observed out that the conversion rate from individuals walking into the shops compared to the actual individuals who made any purchase was low/poor. Individuals seemed to walk inside the shops, and spend their time browsing and looking at the items in the shops, but they wouldn't make any commitment to buying those items. Reasons for this could be many, of which one is seeking on how to develop the interactivity of browsing in-store, to help this conversion.

Variety of shops lack

After having a talk with one of the shops assistant while carrying out my interviews at Schiphol Airport, I learned that individuals working in the plaza's shops have experienced some travelers coming to ask them if there were more shops around since they were not satisfied with the shops' selection. Highlighting the demand for much more varieties in terms of brands, made me think about the opportunity of putting up brands/products on a rotation so as to maintain the varieties fresh. It is important to note that this remark came up not in the typical retail context but in the food spots context.

I decided to carry on to the second main section and here I developed a question of innovation that I would report and answer with my solutions and ideas. So from this section of insights I carried on and framed a Problem Statement:

How can I motivate airport browsers while shopping after customs into actual buyers? How could I improve the retail conversion rate?

2 Relevant Trends.

This problem is associated with several trends in the industry of retail:

Experience marketing

Retail is becoming more ferocious as more brands and products emerge, and so does the dimensions that brands and retailers will go to set up their brand apart. As long as a coherent brand or retail Experience is novel and could be tremendously effective.

Virtual Reality

This technology is sifting down from rich people and scientific labs into the hands of many more individuals. It is more available than ever before and this alertness is leveraged in various diverse ways, including retailer.

Personalization and Customization

Brands hope that customization will create a deeper connection between a shopper and the product. Buyers also value the prospect to customize and create their own items, and as a result, the association among the consumer and brand strengthens.

This problem replies well to the originally presented brief. It addresses more than one matter raised by the original brief directly. For example, one of the matters that the customer would like to have addressed is to raise the revenue for shops in the airfield and how conversion level from browsing to purchasing would be increased, and naturally should address this point. A client group representative came to hear from me and give a response to some of my earlier ideation sessions. She was very specific/precise and how she fingered towards more groundbreaking keys to retail experiences. She always mentioned Experience sales as she was intense to maintain Schiphol Airport retail involvement at the forefront to ground-breaking experiences in travel and shopping.

3 Assumptions

Throughout the process of (re)framing the brief and problem, I had to come up with some unsubstantiated decision and assumptions due to limitations. Assumptions that affected my project direction were as follows:

I assumed that many similarities among the Schiphol duty-free section and the Schiphol plaza. I used my remarks from Schiphol plaza to impact a concept that was going to be for another part of the airfield. Nevertheless, I had no option as I was not able to have access into the area, even after emailing the parties concerned.

I only visited Schiphol Airport during the daytime, which probably led me to observe an uneven cross-section of the different types of Schiphol travelers; nevertheless, I later did the research into this so as to justify my choices.

1.1.4 Considering Different Perspectives

To come up with different perspectives I applied the tools from the IDEO Design kit handbook. In this handbook, there are several tools that map out the different consumer journeys, so that one can put their viewpoint, latent necessities and touch points into consideration. Through this specific innovation, areas are picked out so as to provide suitable and relevant solutions.

I took a look at several customer profiles and mapped out on an understanding maps trip the customer would have throughout the encounter in the Airport. The first two pictures demonstrate how I mapped out the customer's journey via Schiphol Airport, put into consideration the activities, sayings, emotions, dreams and hopes, needs and troubles of the customer and when are they fulfilled.

First Customers Profile:

Business traveler

Frequent flyer

Chinese

Traveling with two associates

43 years of age, married with two kids

Second Customers Profile:

Part-time Garden designer

American woman

Travels with the husband and the daughter

After going through the two diverse perspectives I proceeded to map-out on what insights I achieved from tackling empathy maps onto consumer travel journey so that ii could put onto it more context and apply more tangible touch-points in the Schiphol Airport and observe it from this viewpoint. Some of the things I did earlier were rearranged as a result of doing this and it made it much more applicable to clients brief particularly.

Chapter Two

2.1 Client Analysis

I was provided with a brief by the clients concerning what they required to be improved in the Airports plaza. They needed me to look at the following issues:

We want to provide a relaxed and pleasant shopping experience for travelers behind the passport control

How could the above be enhanced while issues concerning security are being sharpened?

How can we keep shoppers and retailers happy?

How can the volume of individuals entering the stores be increased?

What is the association to prior and after passing control shopping?

How can the travelers navigate at the same time shopping?

2.1.1 SMART Analysis for Clients

2.1.1.1 Specific

My prospective clients want the creation of a more pleasant and enjoyable experience for the buyers visiting Airports plaza. While security remains hind and individuals feel safe. They want bigger stores revenue to be created and to gain this they require that more individuals enter into the stores. They require also to know how individuals traveling navigate themselves around Schiphol.

2.1.1.2 Measurable

All Schiphol expenses and their passengers' spending habits have been measured. According to Schiphol statistics 2013-2014 experienced a decline of 1.41 average per traveler. Happiness of shoppers was included in the Schiphol brief because studies have proven that happy travelers speed over 7 percent more.

2.1.1.3 Achievable

According to the research, I conducted the present client brief is difficult to achieve. Creating more stores attention and getting more individuals into the shops without Schiphol's security level dropping is nearly impossible. Shoppers will go through information burden and create more stress and confusion if awareness for more shops is created. Research proves that shoppers prior passport control have more stress as result of higher heart rates experienced, this will make experience at Schiphol less pleasant.

2.1.1.4 Realistic

When examining whether or not client brief is realistic there exist a few challenges. First and foremost security requires a lot more invested into so as to keep its levels up and even at the same time security level remaining high is not guaranteed. Secondly it is very difficult to attract more individuals to each and every shop in Schiphol plaza. According to economics some shops are desirable as compared to others. It will be difficult to keep retailers and buyers happy. Already buyers undergo through stress during time of travel up to the control of passport. Forcing them to give stores more attention will generate stress and make Schiphol airport appear too keen to get their productions. It would create a feel same as walking on market of tourist, for example, Thailand. One will get disturbed by lot of advertisements and individuals trying to enter into their shops

2.1.1.5 Time

It is very difficult to approximate the time when the client brief would be achieved. There exist lot of laws and regulations that require to be gone through whether this is feasible or not. So its really difficult to put period time on it. That is the reason why I redefined the client brief, through the research I conducted.

Re-defining the Brief

I changed client's brief because from my interviews I found out that the main buyers' section that was not actually fascinated towards Schiphol Airport plaza were arrivals. After that I came up with my own explanation of what was required at the Schiphol Airport plaza.

How could the above be enhanced while issues concerning security are being sharpened? - How can a more pleasant experience be created for arrivals without security level decreasing.

How can we keep shoppers and retailers happy? How can retailers be brought to the customers positively and a positive experience created while at Schiphol Airport plaza.

How can the volume of individuals entering the stores be increased? How can stores awareness and more be created under the arrivals At Schiphol Airport plaza.

How can the travelers navigate at the same time shopping? How can the plaza be helped to navigate their commodities to the buyers.

I defined the client brief in this manner because I saw a huge opportunity during my observation at the arrival gate. A big number of individuals actually do not have somebody coming to pick them and they naively walk around trying to figure ou...