DFWC Academy reveals Duty Free and Travel Retail Certificate course updates
The Duty Free World Council (DFWC) Academy has updated its Duty Free and Travel Retail Certificate course.
The latest update is described as a key milestone in the ongoing provision of responsible training for the travel retail industry via the DFWC Academy.
The updated content includes insights such as increased consumer demand for travel retail exclusives coupled with the footfall challenges that the industry is experiencing due to changes in passenger mix with less high spending Chinese travelers, and the emergence of Gen Z shoppers who are demanding something more than the traditional duty free and travel retail offering.
These behavioral changes make it even more important for sales professionals at the forefront of retail to be trained to a universal standard, in a professional and accredited way, on the changes in the market and the main categories, and the impact this has on shopping behaviors in airports, ferries and on cruise ships.
The update is a result of months of work incorporating data and insight provided by m1ind-set, PI Insights and Generation Research interpretated into a learning format by the Academy’s respected industry subject matter expert, Nicola Wells from USP Consulting. The Academy’s Advisory Group, comprising members drawn from leading retailers and brands, provides ongoing supervision of course content, for accuracy and relevancy.
The DFWC is a not-for-profit organization, and is grateful to the industry research organizations: Generation for their data illustrating the evolution of global, regional and category sales for the course, and m1nd-set and PI Insights for supplying the rich consumer and category data and insights on which the course content is based. The course updates also incorporate both the opportunities and challenges identified in the data. It is now more important than ever that Industry colleagues, and in particular retail sales professionals, are aware of, and apply, this knowledge in their customer interactions.
The DFWC Academy was created as a key arm of the council, with a mission of raising industry standards through the provision of responsible retail online training courses designed to equip participants with core selling skills and information. The Academy offers several courses, ranging from the comprehensive industry overview in the Certificate in Duty Free and Travel Retail to category specific Responsible Retail courses. Courses are delivered through ACI World Training’s world-class Online Learning Centre.
Since its re-launch in 2021 the Academy has recorded almost 13,000 student enrolments. Leading airport retailers enrolling team members to DFWC courses are 3Sixty Duty Free, Avolta, Dubai Duty Free, Qatar Duty Free along with Harding+ in the cruise channel.
