Understanding our passengers is crucial to informing our retail strategy. We conduct annual, in-depth customer research to understand how we can meet our passengers’ needs.
Passenger personas
We’ve created six passenger profiles, which we use to understand in-station behaviour, so that we can work with our retail partners to craft the ideal retail and product offering.
Sociable spenders
Sociable spenders are the youngest segment and are most likely to be based in London. They find shopping at the station convenient – they use the shops in the station as they are close to their home/work and they spend the most money.
Sociable spenders value loyalty programmes, and are prepared to search for the cheapest item.
They’re open to the idea of introducing more facilities and retail opportunities at a station, in particular self-checkout, limited offers or promotions and charging points.
Eager enthusiasts
Eager enthusiasts tend to be middle aged and love shopping. They are extremely happy with the current station environment and find the overall experience of shopping in a station enjoyable.
Eager enthusiasts research on the internet before they buy and enjoy shopping with loyalty programmes.
They believe that introducing more leisure and entertainment facilities will improve the station and they like the idea of having more options for socialising in a station.
Convenience cravers
Convenience cravers are predominately middle aged males, with one of the higher average household incomes, although they are one of the lowest station spenders. They’re more likely to be interested in tech and video gaming than other personas.
They don’t tend to enjoy shopping or keeping on top of trends. Their busy lifestyle means they need to shop little and often and tend to grab food to eat on the go. They prefer to do their shopping online and they will often research products online before purchasing.
They are most interested in shopping facilities which centre around convenience, in particular self-checkout, budget supermarkets and limited offers/promotions.
Environmentally engaged
Environmentally engaged are very environmentally conscious and sustainability factors are extremely important to them when they are shopping.
When on the go, their dietary requirements can make it difficult to find food – so providing options that cater for all is important to appeal to this group.
Environmentally engaged feel stations are too hectic for leisure activities and that they are too expensive – resulting in them being the lowest station spenders.
They prefer to shop from local businesses and shop online more than in retail stores.
Total traditionalists
Total traditionalists are more likely to be female compared to the other personas and are typically older – as such, they are most likely to be using the train station for leisure purposes.
Loyalty is very important to them – they stay loyal to their favourite shops and brands and like to have loyalty programs in the places they shop in frequently. They are also concerned about the cost of living and how it will impact them in the future.
They are traditional in their shopping habits – they do not like shopping online and are not concerned about the latest trends.
Selective shoppers
Selective shoppers enjoy loyalty programmes, and are loyal to their favourite products or brands.
They are concerned about the impact of the cost of living, but are also prepared to pay more for products which aren’t available everywhere.