adding to the pressure by exposing the retailers already weak spots.
Discussion
With the increase in the number of air travellers in Australia, Lagardère Travel Retail stores have been making a significant amount of profit. The company’s, stores are located in airports including Adelaide, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The primary reason why customers prefer buying from these stores is that they are designed as a one-stop-shop for passengers. They provide air travellers with an in-depth range of snacks, beverages, books, souvenirs convenience items, as well as travel essentials. However, according to the company’s monthly financial statement, recently, almost all the stores have been reporting a drastic decline in revenue. the company’s manager explained that the primary reason for this decline wasCOVID-19 pandemic In addition to other factors including political, social, legal economic, technological, ethical and environmental that continues to pose a threat to the company’s financial position COVID-19 is
adding to the pressure by exposing the retailers already weak spots.
In addition, the travel retail sector is one of the industries that are considerably exposed to the potential impacts of COVID-19 pandemic. The industry relies on manufacturing companies located in various parts of the world (Barua, 2020). This means that most of the commodities being sold at the stores are imported. The industry also relies on complex global supply chains as well as distribution networks to access and distribute its products. In other words, without access to other countries, the travel retail stores have been cut off from its main, manufacturing company’s suppliers as well as distributors. Due to the lockdowns placed on major cities by the government and airlines banned flights both domestically and internationally, the travel retail stores are facing numerous retail ecommerce, supply as well as shipping challenges. As a result, the stores are not able to adequately meet the needs of their customers. The lockdowns, border closures and restricted movements has resulted in the stores losing some of their customers and their sales going down. The inability to satisfy its customers and a decline in sales have translated to a significant decline in the company’s revenue (Mayfield and Mayfield, 2017). Lagardère Travel Retail stores in Australia are also reliance on a large workforce. Each of the stores has over 300 employees. However, Following the epidemic the stores have been forced to cut down on the number of employees as well as the working hours.
