P&O cautious about the return of duty free - could REDUCE sales

[Steven]

Not sure if this is better in news or discussion - please move if appropriate!

P&O's head of buying and merchandising was interviewed recently.  Among the topics was the potential return of duty free where she made an important point - if duty free returns it could bring with it the return of quotas.  Of course if the U.K. is a third country outside the EU and it's trading area then those quotas will likely be quite restrictive - far from the return of the booze cruise it could be the nail in the coffin!  She says P&O do quite a bit of business from people taking advantage of having no quotas and going to France to purchase alcohol, something which could stop if quotas are imposed.

Of course it's only one possible scenario, but interesting to here a different perspective that isn't just newspaper speculation.  I'm not sure any other senior manager in the ferry industry has actually gone on public record over duty free in any detail?

It's quite a long (and very retail sales related) interview, but here's the link anyway.

https://www.trbusiness.com/video-channel/retailer-operator/nicola-tompkins-head-of-buying-merchandising-po-ferries/153533

The current non-EU duty free allowance is 16l of beer, 4l of wine and a litre of spirits.  Tobacco allowance is 200 cigarettes (or equivalent such as 50 cigars)

https://www.travelsupermarket.com/en-gb/blog/travel-advice/how-much-duty-free-can-you-bring-into-the-uk/

Would there be enough margin on a bottle of whiskey and 200 cigs say to significantly lower ticket prices?  How many people realistically are going to lug around 16l of beer around a ferry to get their moneys worth? 🤔