Turning Traveler Purchase Intent into Tax Free Shopping: How Stockmann Engaged New International Shoppers
International shoppers do not discover retail destinations by chance. Their journey starts much earlier — while planning their trip, researching destinations and building their shopping wish list. Once in destination, their attention becomes even more competitive — split between landmarks, hotels, restaurants and shopping districts.
For retailers, this creates a significant opportunity: reach and engage travelers before they ever enter the store.
That is exactly what the iconic retail company Stockmann, founded in 1862, set out to achieve. Stockmann's Helsinki flagship is Finland's most iconic department store, attracting both local shoppers and international visitors. Bringing together its curated premium selection of fashion, beauty, home and lifestyle brands under one roof, it has become an essential stop for many visitors exploring the Finnish capital. Today, Stockmann operates five department stores in Finland, two in the Baltics and an online store, stockmann.com, and is part of Lindex Group plc, listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.
To continue attracting international shoppers in an increasingly competitive environment, Stockmann partnered with Global Blue on a targeted Digital Marketing campaign designed to capture the attention of travelers before and during their trip.
From Tax Free Shopping to Digital Marketing
For more than 20 years, Stockmann and Global Blue have worked together to enhance the Tax Free Shopping experience for international shoppers in Finland.
What began with Tax Free Shopping services has evolved into a broader collaboration focused on creating value throughout the traveler journey. Today, the partnership extends beyond Tax Free Shopping to include Digital Marketing solutions designed to help Stockmann reach, engage and convert international shoppers before and during their trip.
This evolution reflects a broader shift across retail. Attracting international shoppers is no longer only about what happens inside the store – it increasingly depends on connecting with travelers at the right moments throughout their journey, long before the purchase takes place.
Reaching International Shoppers at the Right Moment
As travel patterns continued to evolve in Finland, Stockmann sought new ways to increase awareness among international shoppers and attract new visitors to its Helsinki flagship store. The objective was simple: engage travelers at the right moment, provide a compelling reason to visit and turn that engagement into measurable results.
To achieve this, Stockmann partnered with Global Blue on a Digital Marketing campaign built around a clear shopper incentive: a 20% Extra Refund offer available at Stockmann Helsinki. Rather than relying solely on in-store discovery, the campaign focused on reaching shoppers at multiple touchpoints across Global Blue’s proprietary channels.
01
Before the Trip
A pre-travel direct emailing campaign targeted eligible international shoppers while they were still planning their visit, putting Stockmann on their shopping radar before arriving in Finland.
02
At the Destination
A second activation reinforced the message once travelers were already in Finland and closer to making a purchase decision. Combined with additional visibility across Global Blue channels, the campaign kept Stockmann visible from travel planning through to destination shopping.
The Impact: Turning Engagement into New Shoppers
The campaign demonstrates how targeted Digital Marketing can translate shopper engagement into measurable retail outcomes. Importantly, Stockmann had the opportunity to influence the campaign’s tailored targeting, which was based on customers’ nationalities and Global Blue data on potential customers’ previous travel and purchasing behavior.
The campaign successfully drove acquisition and influenced spending:
The campaign’s strongest impact was customer acquisition. According to the post-campaign analysis1, 85% of campaign shoppers were new Stockmann Tax Free shoppers, demonstrating the campaign's ability to expand Stockmann's international customer base.
The campaign also influenced purchasing behavior. Shoppers who engaged with the activation generated an 11% higher Average Transaction Value compared to shoppers who did not participate, highlighting how targeted Digital Marketing can encourage higher-value purchases.
The two-phase campaign successfully converted shopper engagement among the selected target group into tangible results, including store visits and purchases.
Three factors contributed to the campaign’s success:
Together, these touchpoints helped Stockmann stay visible throughout the traveler journey and convert engagement into store visits and purchases.
Alongside our loyal domestic customers, international visitors have always been an important part of Stockmann’s customer base. We want to further enhance Stockmann's position as an inspiring and rewarding destination for visitors to Helsinki by continuously developing our carefully curated premium assortment, services and ways of engaging travelers throughout their journey. In line with our brand promise - we want to create feelings that last. This campaign demonstrates how relevant, well-timed communication can turn travel plans into store visits, purchases and new customer relationships.
Great results are built on strong partnerships. We are proud to see how our long-standing collaboration with Stockmann continues to evolve, creating new opportunities to engage international shoppers. This campaign demonstrates the value of combining innovation, traveler insights and Digital Marketing to deliver measurable commercial results while enhancing the shopping experience for international visitors.
The Takeaway:
From Visibility to Shopper Acquisition
The success of the Extra Refund activation demonstrates that international shopper acquisition begins long before the traveler enters a store.
By combining targeted Digital Marketing, traveler insights and a compelling incentive, Stockmann successfully engaged new audiences and influenced purchasing behavior at key moments throughout the travel journey.
The campaign demonstrates how retailers can combine traveler insights with targeted Digital Marketing to acquire new international shoppers, increase spending and drive measurable commercial results. It is also another example of how the long-standing partnership between Stockmann and Global Blue continues to evolve, creating new opportunities to deliver value beyond Tax Free Shopping.
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Reach international shoppers before and during their trip with Global Blue Digital Marketing Solutions
1Global Blue Source: Campaign Results as of December 2025.
