Online retailers undercut airport tax-free shops
Holidaymakers who shop online could save twice as much as those who make last minute purchases at the airport.
Passengers spent £2.5 billion on tax-free shopping in Europe’s airports last year, saving an average of 6 per cent against high street prices, but they could have saved 12 per cent if they had shopped online, said price comparison website Kelkoo.
Heathrow offered the worst tax-free discounts of all European airports, offering just 3.1 per cent off high street prices, according to Kelkoo, while Lyon St Exupery and Charles de Gaulle in Paris offered the most at 11.9 per cent and 11.5 per cent respectively.
Kelkoo’s survey, carried out by the Centre for Retail Research, found that 59 per cent of UK consumers believed that they would pay an average of 20 per cent less for goods in airport duty-free shops.
However, the survey claimed that a basket of 22 tax-free goods bought at 10 European airports would offer an average saving of a little over 6 per cent, which suggests airport retailers are not passing the full VAT rebate on to customers as this would give an average saving of 17.4 per cent.
Kelkoo UK managing director Bruce Fair said: "Eleven years on from the end of ‘duty-free’ there is still the perception that tax free shopping offers the best deals.
"In reality, higher overheads, decreased competition and less choice means that ‘tax free’ shops are not always the hunting ground for bargains that people think they are. In fact, airside retailers simply cannot compete with online retail for the best prices.”
Then again, he would say that wouldn’t he?
Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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