Intercultural comparative analysis of airport shoppers' buying behavior at duty free shops

As a result of the increase in traffic, liberalization, privatization and globalization in the airline industry, there have been some structural changes such as privatization and commercialization made in the airports, of which control and management are thought to be better handled by the state. Especially after the commercialization of airports, a new turn was taken in airport management and marketing. Airports pulled away from their role of only serving air transport and have almost become shopping malls. While in the traditionally managed airports the only customers and income generators were airlines, with the commercial airport model the customer portfolios of the airports have expanded. Emerging as a new distribution channel for the retailers, airports have become important shopping places that attract various customer groups who do not aim to travel, as well as being places that are frequented by millions of passengers from many different nationalities. Thus, analyzing the buying behavior of consumers in airports has become crucial. By analyzing the factors affecting the buying behavior and satisfaction level of customers' buying behavior in airport duty-free shops, this study aims to find out how these factors differ on the basis of national culture dimensions in various cultures. The findings of the empirical research conducted with Turkish, German, British and Russian participants indicate that there are some differences among these four national cultures by various criteria.