BAC works with Brisbane Airport retailers to develop online marketplace

The Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) has announced that it has found opportunity amidst adversity, working with impacted retailers at Brisbane Airport (BNE) to create the BNE Marketplace. 

Launching to the public on 16 April 2020, BNE Marketplace is an online airport retail store that provides consumers with access to sought after products usually on offer throughout the airport, some at heavily discounted prices.

With airport stores solely reliant on passenger foot traffic – which has fallen by 96 per cent at Brisbane Airport since 29 March 2020 due to travel restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic – the BAC team was motivated to find unique ways to support its retail business partners that are holding millions of dollars of stock.

Executive General Manager – Consumer at the Brisbane Airport Corporation, Martin Ryan, said: “If necessity is the mother of invention, COVID-19 is its father. The BAC team has gone from concept to full eCommerce site in just 16 days. At launch, the site will feature nearly 200 highly sought-after tech items, as well as watches and beauty products, with other products being added each week. Importantly, this project has kept 25 people in jobs during this challenging time, while supporting the local logistics and freight companies and boosting partner employment through the need for people to ‘pick and pack’ items.”

Lotte Duty Free, Brisbane Airport’s biggest retail outlet, is the first retailer to offer products online via the new marketplace, with the goal of more retailers coming online if the project proves successful. The BNE Marketplace will initially operate as an ‘order online and delivery’ model, with local company Shippit providing logistics support to Australian residences exclusively.

Rob Hango-Zada, Shippit’s Joint-CEO and co-Founder, said: “We are proud to support this initiative and play some role in enabling airport retailers to continue to flourish in a 100 per cent online world. We have been blown away by the number of businesses pivoting their operations in uncertain times to not just survive but thrive during this challenging time. The BNE Marketplace has turned the world of airport retailing on its head – our mission is to revolutionise how businesses ship anything to anyone anywhere in the world, and this presents a great opportunity to collaborate with Brisbane Airport on just that.”