Design, digital and communications agency for travel retail Wepurple will host complimentary 15-minute masterclasses examining emerging beauty, travel and lifestyle trends at this year’s TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in Cannes, France.
The Sample2Skin (S2S) sessions will explore how consumer attitudes toward self-expression, beauty rituals and brand loyalty are being influenced by developments in lifestyle, wellness and culture. The sessions will consider how these evolving traveler behaviors could be reflected in retail experiences.
During each session, participants select a trend to explore before taking part in a beauty sampling ritual. Trends explored in the S2S Sessions include:
- “Subversive Beauty” – the shift from perfection to subversive aesthetics that reject mainstream beauty norms.
- “Food as a Vibe” – the growing intersection of beauty and food.
- “Getting Swicy” – the rise of unexpected combinations that privilege contrast over conformity, such as sweet and spicy.
Wepurple says impulse purchases are growing among airport shoppers globally. It adds that the growth in impulse purchasing could represent an opportunity of around $8bn for beauty brands in global travel retail. The estimate is based on the following figures:
- Beauty accounted for 32.2% of the $75.9bn global duty-free and travel retail market, equivalent to approximately $24.4bn, according to Generation Research (2025).
- Nearly one in three travel retail shoppers now make spontaneous purchases, compared with just over one in five in 2019, according to consultancy M1nd-set.
- Applying this one-third proportion to the estimated $24.4bn global beauty market in global travel retail results in an implied value of around $8bn.