In a market that has grown by 8.6% on average in the past 10 years, luxury brands and Asian markets—which are expected to be the fastest growing in the future—are the ones mainly benefiting from opportunities in the eyewear industry.

Air passenger traffic is expected to double by 2031, to more than 22 billion passengers by 2040 (according to the latest Airports Council International report). The consumer base is set to grow to include increasingly younger people, right through to Generation Z. Those who choose to make purchases during their trips are often people with an international profile. They are travellers who love luxury products and whom Luxottica has learned to know and to serve at different points of their journey

The role of our Group is to develop the presence of the eyewear category in the Travel Retail channel, maximizing the visibility of the Luxottica brands through the analysis and identification of the best development opportunities for both the retail and wholesale models.

Airports and duty-free stores at the heart of major international cities are where Luxottica and its products are mainly present today, and while the company intends to grow this in the future, there are additional areas it has its sights set on.

When it comes to Travel Retail, new areas for opportunity include the most exclusive airliners, cruises and holiday resorts: places where the most popular eyewear brands in the world can be offered to consumers, in collaboration with international companies. Recently, for example, in-flight magazines given to passengers flying with major airlines, including Swiss, Iberia, Lufthansa and EasyJet, featured an entire page dedicated to the latest Ray-Ban collection.

Digital tools such as augmented reality and e-commerce have the potential to make shopping experiences in this channel increasingly interactive and memorable. At the same time, they help to establish an ongoing rapport with consumers, which will continue long after their holiday is over.

Products and the story behind them remain at the heart of this dynamic, starting with in-store displays. They are designed in a versatile and adaptable way, to make collections, models and exclusive products—on sale exclusively in stores and in-store boutiques managed by major industry players—stand out from the rest.

A particularly successful example of this approach is the collaborative partnership (can we hyperlink the creative?) between Prada Eyewear and the DFS Group–a world-leading travel retailer of luxury products. The comprehensive marketing campaign focused on two models from the Prada Cinéma collection—launched between December 2017 and February 2018 in DFS stores worldwide—and was recently named "Best Marketing Campaign" by the international trade magazine DFNI. A new edition, currently underway, has also been announced.

The success of the initiative was reflected in the brand’s sales and rooted in an effective combination of offline and online activities. Direct digital marketing for customers and the involvement of influencer Jennifer Tse—an actress and model from Hong Kong who drew her Instagram and WeChat followers into the campaign—was supported by installations and special events organized in DFS stores (as part of the "Give Joy Together” season campaign).