All shops at sea must be the same. Correct?
Wrong!
The world of onboard retailing is a truly diverse, complex and fascinating one and in this blog we will take a look at the many different types of retail offer that you can find at sea, and try to work out a little bit about what makes them work. From luxury cruise ships to slop chests, in this blog we will try to cover every type of retail you could possibly imagine.. and probably a few that you didn't!
There are so many shops at sea, how many could there be? Well no one truly knows this exact answer, but it is likely to be somewhere between 2000-2500 shops currently open at sea. This includes all of the cruise ships and all of the ferries that we will find operating across the oceans.
So, in this blog we will take you through the main ways we can classify these shops.... into 6 main and truly unique categories:-
1) Contemporary Cruise Retail Shopping
2) Luxury Cruise Retail Shopping
3) Ferry Retail Shopping
4) Port Shopping
5) Crew Shopping
6) Online Shopping
That's right.... ferry retail and online retail! Let's not forget about some of the different and most amazing and shopping at sea is done in ways you probably didn't imagine. Keep reading on to learn about some of these incredible shops... it will blow your mind a little bit!
So, let's start with the main category and the most important in terms of the types of retail you find on our website and the jobs we have available:
1) CONTEMPORARY CRUISE RETAIL SHOPPING
If you want to learn more about 'contemporary cruise lines' and how they differentiate from other cruise line types then join our E-Academy course, What is Cruising? where we define it in a lot more detail for you.
Across the main contemporary cruise lines across the oceans, we have the main type of well known cruise retail shopping experience. By contemporary cruise line, we are talking about the largest cruise ships in the world, which are generally between 2000 and 7000 passenger capacity. Most of the major cruise lines are 'contemporary' with the most famous names being Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC and NCL. Here on board these ships, you will find usually between 5-10 shops and usually in the main passenger areas. Total retail space will generally be between 400m2 to 1500m2 dependant on the cruise ship, the itinerary and the operation. Each of these spaces will sell a specific product category for guests to browse and choose from. There is a lot of variety for guests to choose from and the retailing has been designed to be an integral part of the onboard revenue operation.
Usually, there will be the following shops:
Luxury Watches & Jewellery shop - lux watches / lux jewellery / lux accessories
Duty Free shop - Liquor, Tobacco, Confectionery and Technology
Beauty shop - Perfume, Skincare, Makeup, Drugstore
Fashion shop - Accessories, Apparel, Sunglasses
Logo shop - Cruise line branded apparel
Watches & Jewellery shop - fashion watches and custom jewellery
Event / temporary shop - Pop-up retail spaces that change throughout the cruise
Here are a few example pictures to have a look at to understand more:
As you can see, each of the shops usually is fairly small, around 100m2 each. Most of these shops will generally have just one of the product categories in it. So if you are working in the beauty category, then it is likely that it will be a self contained shop. If you sell jewellery, then it is likey going to be from a jewellery shop. Only on a few newer ships do you get to see airport-style 'walk-through' multi-category shops where many of the product categories are offered for sale together in a single space. The first ships to really do this were the NCL-Breakaway class, but many ships since then have expanded this concept further. An example of these would be own experience with MSC World Europa and MSC Seascape, see the video tour of these shops:
The largest shops on the contemporary cruise ships are generally the logo, the luxury watches and the duty free shops, as this is where the largest revenue source can be. Depedant on the cruise line and depending on the passenger profile will show how much difference there are. With cruise lines with a slightly older demographic (ie. Cunard, Holland America, Princess) there will be more space to luxury. On cruise ships with a younger demographic (ie. Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC) then it is likely that logo / duty free will take more space onboard.
Contemporary cruise retail shopping is the most common and well-known type of shopping experience found at sea. But it is certaintly not the only type....
2) LUXURY CRUISE RETAIL SHOPPING
The world of luxury cruising is one of the most exciting and aspirational vacation experiences that you can discover across the oceans. You will find luxury cruise ships, ultra-luxury cruise ships, expedition ships, even some yachts and also some truly unique new ships coming into the market.
This is one of the fastest growing parts of the cruise industry and it's key differentiator is to be truly exclusive and aspirational.
Luxury cruise retail is generally designed with the same style as these incredible cruise ships, with the idea being that they are also ultra-luxury and designed to combine the experience of the ship with the shopping offer onboard.
As you can see from the gallery of photos, luxury cruise ships are generally much smaller than contemporary cruise ships, and usually have capacity for between 100-1000 passengers. So, there is much smaller occupancy and far more space per guest. This means that the onboard retailing has to be very different to what contemporary cruise ships offer, with a smaller more select retail space presented. Usually on these ships there will be 1-3 small retail shops with a total space of between 100-300m2 on offer. Far fewer brands and product categories will be offered, but those that are will be curated to be part of the guest experience.
You may find some monobrand boutiques, such as a Bvlgari store on Ritz-Carlton, or a Rolex store on Explora Journeys. You may find some select muti-category boutiques selling a small range of artisan items, across a few product categories. Or you may even find some items selected to perfectly match the itineraries that the ships are sailing to.
Luxury cruise ship retailing is all about experience, service and discretion. It is not the same as contemporary cruise lines with less 'in your face' style, but whilst smaller they are still ultimately very successful. Quality rather than quantity!
3) FERRY RETAIL SHOPPING
And now for something completely different!
Did you know that the largest operator of shops at sea is not a cruise line but actually a ferry line? Did you know that the largest retail space at sea is not actually on a cruise ship but rather on a ferry sailing in the Baltic Sea? Did you know that there are 2 floor stores on some ferries where passengers can put shopping in a trolley and take it directly to their car? Welcome to the amazing world of ferry retailing.
Ferry retail exists where there are very specific conditions for it to work. 1 or all of the following:
1) Longer ferry routes
2) Ferry routes that are tax free
3) Ferry routes where the prices onboard will be much cheaper than onshore.
So, there are some specific areas which can benefit very strongly from such conditions, primarily Scandinavia and the UK ferry market more than anything.
Indeed when we look at the ferries sailing across the Baltic Sea from ports like Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo and Kiel, we are actually looking at offerings which could be confused for being like cruise ships. Incredible malls at sea, full of amazing retailing. These 'cruise ferries' have some of the largest retail spaces at sea, with the largest retail space of any ship in the world being on the Tallink ferry My Star. Indeed Tallink is actually the 20th largest travel retail company in the world, which just happens to be a ferry line! This is how significant shopping can be on some of these ships.
Categories like confectionery and fashion have a much greater prominence than in cruise retail. And top of the tree is the drinks category which really shows its place, thanks to the advantage of tax/duty free with also the easy benefit of being able to load it into you car.
Ferry retail is a wonderfully surprising and exciting part of the onboard shopping experience, and one we will go into more detail about in a future blog! Watch this space :-)
4) PORT SHOPPING
Ok, technically this is not at sea, but it is fully connected with those who are sailing so we can add it into our list here! Many cruise and ferry ports around the world have shops in their terminals directly connected to the embarking and disembarking passengers.
The number of shops that have been built and created in recent years has grown tremendously, as great opportunities have arisen to add a different offering for cruise passengers. Generally the port shops can offer a wider range of local products, gifts, souvenirs that onboard simply don't have space for. And alongside this, there is the chance for local operators to have the convenience of a good location and competitive prices next to the passenger flow of passengers entering or leaving the terminal. Most new cruise ports being built now will have some form of port shopping built inside them for the added revenue benefit, but also for the passenger experience.
Here is one of the best examples of port shopping, at Barcelona cruise port.
If you want to learn more about the opportunities of port shopping, then please watch the keynote presentation done by Andres Villalever at the recent DFNI Cruise Conference in Istanbul.
For ferry retail, there has been a large increase in the number of terminal shops that have opened where there is convenience to buy quickly and simply before embarking. A good example of these are the shops opened in the channel ports in the UK, such as in Calais. Prices are tax and duty free, and the passengers have the convenience of loading straight into their car!
5) CREW SHOPPING
When we talk about shopping onboard cruise ships, we always think about the passengers, but do we think about the crew!? Crew are some of the best customers in cruise ships where they can have the items which they need, good value products and a range of good products that they want to buy. Whilst most crew generally do most of their shopping ashore in the ports they visit, there is a great 'hidden' offering onboard for crew either with shops that are designed to offer products that they might miss from home, or with some products that they would like to purchase. There are also quite a few 'deliver to ship' companies who work to offer crew products that are available to pre-order and then have delivered alongside. One of the most popular product categories for crew shopping is technology products - such as bluetooth speakers and mobile phones. Here, good prices and good convenience make it really popular with the onboard crew.
Also consider the huge numbers of ships around the world who don't have passengers onboard but have crew shops. Sometimes these are called 'slop chests', and will have a range of necessity items that crew need to buy - just imagine how many of these small shops are operating across the oceans. That's a lot of tubes of toothpaste!
6) ONLINE SHOPPING
So finally we have online shopping. A number of the cruise lines offer guests 2 types of online shopping. 1) Pre-order and 2) Post-cruise.
Pre-order are when guests can buy items before they get onboard the ship to have delivered to their cabin or for an occasion onboard the cruise ship. Many guests like to pre-buy onboard credit, but also special occasion packages like beach kits, birthday packages etc. For ferry retail, pre-order can work
And also there is post-cruise purchasing where guests can buy many of the items related to their cruise once they have disembarked from the convenience of their home. One of the best cruise lines to look at this offering on is AIDA cruises. The range of products directly related to the 'cruise experience' here is incredible.
CONCLUSION
So, let's be honest! There was a much wider selection of retailing than you probably imagined their would be. The sheer diversity and differences that you can find across the oceans is one of the most exciting things about the world of shopping at sea. We hope we have intrigued you enough to want to learn more.
If you found this blog interesting, then have a look at the next blog where we talk you through the main differences between cruise retail and airport retail
And if you are inspired to want to work in this industry, then have a look at all the latest jobs we have on offer!
In summary.....
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