US/GB: What duty-free products are consumers purchasing?

Projected to generate a revenue of $139.4 billion by 2026, duty-free retail is experiencing significant growth pushed by a rise in travel and tourism. While shopping from duty-free stores at airports, seaports, railway stations is enjoyed by many, what products do consumers buy from them?

Data from YouGov Profiles reveals that while almost a third of American consumers (27%) are most likely to buy chocolates and candies from duty-free stores, British consumers are most likely to purchase fragrances (44%).

In the US, spirits and/or liqueurs - unlike most of the other product categories - are marginally more likely to be purchased by male consumers (21%) than by female consumers (20%).

Skincare items round out the top five products American consumers tend to purchase at duty-free stores. While a fifth of female consumers in the US (21%) are likely to buy them, this number falls to less than two out of ten male consumers (14%).

In Great Britain, female consumers (54%) not only outpace the national average when it comes to buying duty-free fragrances, they are also far more likely to do so than their male counterparts (35%).

Though they do not make it to the top five for Americans, tobaccos are the fourth most likely to be bought duty-free products amongst the Britons (20%). They are also markedly more likely to be purchased by British men (23%) than by British women (17%).

Female consumers in GB are notably more likely to buy make-up items (including sun care and hair products) than the male consumers (25% and 5%, respectively).

Explore our living data – for free

Discover more travel and tourism content here

Want to run your own research? Start building a survey now

Make smarter business decisions with better intelligence. Understand exactly what your audience is thinking by leveraging our panel of 20 million+ members. Speak with us today.

Methodology: YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for the US and GB is nationally representative and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.