Cannes_2026_TUESDAY_ISSUE_DIGITAL

A s mobility becomes smarter, more connected and increasingly experience-driven, Gilles Roucolle, Managing Partner and Global Head of Industries at Oliver Wyman, considered how commercial spaces may transform – and what this means for the future relationship between travellers, brands and destinations. Roucolle’s central message in yesterday’s TFWA World Conference was that the role of the airport is entering another important transition. “We have moved from airports designed primarily to move planes, to those designed to move people at enormous scale,” he explained. “We are nowmoving towards airports that will be defined by intelligent mobility ecosystems that seamlessly connect people, places, brand and commerce. As technology removes friction and creates more seamless end-to-end journeys, and as AI proliferates, there will be a significant opportunity for travel retail. But passenger growth alone will not capture it. The winners will be those that optimise the shopping experience, create genuinely distinctive retail propositions and respond dynamically to an increasingly diverse traveller mix.” There are significant forces set to shape the mobility ecosystem over the next decade, with travel becoming much more connected, continuous and intelligent. “Three developments are particularly important: greater intermodal connectivity, rapid technology innovation and rising expectations around the passenger experience,” Roucolle shared. “Together, they begin to dissolve many of the boundaries we associate with travel today. The journey increasingly starts before you reach the airport, while digital identity, biometrics, integrated ground transport and new services can make movement through the airport far more seamless, productive and entertaining. Pair this with shifting consumer preferences and you have an inflection point for airports. Generating non-aeronautical, retail commerce-based revenues is increasingly becoming both a source of, and solution to, evergreen financial challenges that airports are facing.” Indeed, airports and transport hubs are evolving from places travellers pass through into increasingly connected, experience-led environments, which fundamentally expands the commercial canvas. “If an airport can recognise that I am travelling before I arrive, and technology can give me back time that I would previously have spent checking in or queuing, commerce no longer needs to begin when I walk into a duty free store,” Roucolle said. “Discovery, reservation and purchasing can happen before the journey, engagement can continue through the airport, and fulfilment can take place wherever it is most convenient. Physical retail remains very important, but increasingly as one part of a much broader, connected relationship with the traveller and local consumers.” The future of travel retail lies in becoming part of a smarter, more connected journey Yesterday’s TFWA World Conference explored the future of travel itself. In an illuminating address, Gilles Roucolle, Managing Partner and Global Head of Industries at Oliver Wyman and author of Transformations in Mobility, examined how airports and transport hubs are evolving in response to technological innovation, sustainability and changing traveller expectations. Gilles Roucolle, Managing Partner and Global Head of Industries, Oliver Wyman: “As technology removes friction and creates more seamless end-to-end journeys, and as AI proliferates, there will be a significant opportunity for travel retail.” Technology can give passengers back time – and retailers newways to engage Technology is changing almost every stage of the passenger journey. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to be particularly profound because it is rapidly becoming an interface between consumers and brands. “In our research, 62% of consumers already use AI to find or evaluate products, meaning that the journey towards a purchase may increasingly begin before the traveller ever sees the store,” Roucolle explained. “At the same time, biometrics and digital identity can dramatically reduce the friction associated with moving through an airport. Put those developments together and you have an interesting combination: technology gives passengers back time and attention, while AI and personalisation give retailers Tuesday 29 September 2026 14 T F W A D A I L Y