The face of travel retail is changing, according to L’Oréal Travel Retail Managing Director Vincent Boinay.

Speaking at the TFWA World Conference & Exhibition in Cannes last week, Boinay advised that the travel retail market is no longer solely dominated by the likes of pillar brands Lancôme, Estée Lauder, Chanel and Dior and the emergence of millennial consumers alongside shoppers from China and Brazil is changing the industry.

“Therefore we need to enlarge the portfolio available in duty-free store,” said Boinay, speaking at the annual L’Oréal Travel Retail press conference.

Talking about the changes from 20 years ago, he continued, “Today it is totally different. Travel-retail is changing at the speed of light because of customers like millennials and Chinese and Brazilian shoppers.”

And while the market is said to be a volatile one, the innovations are continuing, unveiling a virtual tool that L’Oréal will use ongoing. “We need to have sustainable development; tools that can be reused, easily renovated and changed according to innovation,” he said.

Indeed, despite the volatility, he explained that people use travel retail to ‘discover brands’ while his colleague Consumer Product Division General Manager Stefania Fabiano suggested that the ongoing popularity of make-up will continue to drive the sector.

She explained, “It will remain the fastest growing category [within beauty] in the next five years in travel-retail. This comes from new consumers, millennials and the selfie generation. They love to play and experiment, make-up is the ideal category for them. They are ultra connected, love tutorials and are becoming more expert.”