Blueprint celebrates strong 2025, gearing up for ten-year anniversary

Blueprint is closing 2025 on a high note. The Copenhagen-based travel retail consultancy has delivered another year of growth focusing on helping airports, retailers and brands rethink what comes next.

Thomas Kaneko Henningsen, Blueprint Partner, said, “I do not recall experiencing this degree of unpredictability, instability and rapid change on a global scale during my 25 years in this industry. We are at a critical crossroad where the old travel retail playbook is being phased out and replaced by a new one shaped by younger lifestyle travelers, AI (artificial intelligence) technology, experiential retail, social commerce and highly volatile geopolitics.”

The impact of megatrends on European airport shopping was addressed in a series of four features by Blueprint and published by The Moodie Davitt Report in the beginning of the year. The analysis, in association with ACI Europe, included a five-year forecast for revenue per airport passenger in Europe across Retail, Duty-Free and F&B categories and provided critical insight into future spend trends and commercial potential. The analysis concluded that F&B continues its growth trajectory towards 2030 but surprisingly, Duty-Free and Retail are on a downward trend. The analysis was presented at the ACI Europe Commercial Forum in Antalya and the TR Consumer Forum in Amsterdam earlier this year.

To further embrace the European airport revenue forecast 2030, Blueprint launched a dedicated team of Gen Z advisors, bringing fresh insights from the next generation of travelers straight into strategy projects. From understanding how mobile-first shopping will shape travel retail in the coming years to reimagining experience-driven retail and leveraging the rise of social commerce. By 2028, Gen Z is forecasted to become the biggest travelling consumer profile representing 1.2 billion shoppers with $12 trillion in spending power by 2030, making this generation the largest and most powerful in history.

To track and predict Gen Z and Millennial lifestyle shopping behavior, Blueprint made a strategic investment in Indivd. The Swedish AI company provides patented GDPR-compliant shopping behavioral analytics to leading retailers worldwide. Blueprint and Indivd now offer the airport community easy-to-operate and cheap AI technology with the highest level of accuracy.

The first project with a leading airport went live early October and is in the process of being scaled. Individ’s AI capabilities were presented at the ACI Europe Innovation Forum webinar and Blueprint moderated a panel debate at the APTRA conference in Mumbai on how AI technology can enhance the travel retail experience.

The consultancy also added geopolitics to its list of megatrends providing insights and perspectives that benefit the travel retail community. From global trade wars and tariffs to travel bans and currency fluctuations, geopolitics directly affect air traffic demand which in turn impact industry sales. Blueprint has also hosted debate events and published features highlighting how shoppers increasingly ‘vote with their wallets’.

Gearing up for 10-year anniversary in 2026

“As we approach our 10-year anniversary in 2026, we’re more committed than ever to helping the travel retail community stay ahead by anticipating how megatrends will transform shopping on the go” said Sonja Soskic, Blueprint Partner. “We will continue to push a shopper-centric approach and take innovative collaboration between airports, operators and brands even further.”

To celebrate the company ́s 10th anniversary, the team is planning its annual “For Friends, By Friends” event for 30th September 2026. At this year’s Cannes event, the consultancy in collaboration with Summerbird Organic welcomed more than 100 guests for an informal get-together and extended a personal thank you for their ongoing support the team receives.

Blueprint was grateful for being nominated for Team of the Year at the 2025 Frontier Awards. While the award went to the world’s leading airport retailer Avolta, the nomination underlined Blueprint’s appetite to support the travel retail community.

Blueprint will continue its unwavering support of the industry by joining the newly formed ACI Europe Airport Lounge Task Force, serving on the NTRG (Nordic Travel Retail Group) advisory board and as members of APTRA and WiTR+.

Future-Proofing Consulting

Today, the industry is at a pivotal moment. While blessed with continued passenger and retail sales growth the coming years, the travel retail channel faces significant challenges on multiple fronts. The dramatic changes in shopping behavior, the rise of AI technology along with rapidly evolving social commerce and the unpredictable impact of geopolitics call for a multi-dimensional approach to travel retail.

The consultancy continues to work on its white paper addressing how the industry will evolve the coming years. Titled Inconvenient Predictions about Travel Retail – Why Airports, Operators & Brands Must Reinvent Themselves, this food for thought write-up examines facts, figures and evidence-based cases on how megatrends continue to transform the travel retail ecosystem.

Karl Walter, Blueprint Partner, commented, “We remain committed to future-proofing our work on how to leverage megatrends when it comes to developing, implementing and tracking commercial strategies. We are here to advise but also help the travel retail community act.

“2025 has been another exciting year of growth, learning and partnership. We’ve brought new voices to the table, pushed our dynamic thinking further, and delivered future-ready commercial strategies.”