As the summer holidays draw to a close and our holiday tans fade, many of us will be thinking ahead to our next travel adventure. Although household budgets have been squeezed by the ever-increasing cost of living, many British families continue to prioritise holidays, even if that means cutting back in other areas. Recent research by ConsumerX shows that 58% of Brits intend to spend the same or more on holidays, with a further 3% stating that it’s their main priority for their disposable income.
What this tells us is that ‘summer holiday’ isn’t just one purchase, bought on a travel agent or flight company website, and job done. It’s something that’s planned over a period of months; there’s not just the plane ticket and hotel to buy, but a new wardrobe of clothes, luggage, health products, streaming content to keep travellers entertained during downtime, and much more.
Holidays last more than a week or two
The holiday spending spree doesn’t end when the plane lands back in the UK, either. From the taxi home to the grocery shop that will almost definitely be needed, there are still more retail opportunities to be had.
As Paul Skeldon states in a recent CustomerX substack post: “The money attached to the Summer Holiday Moment travels much further than the customer does. It moves through airlines, hotels and tour operators, certainly, but also supermarkets, fashion retailers, pharmacies, banks, insurers, restaurants, entertainment businesses, mobile operators, pet-care providers and transport platforms.”
Yet, as Skeldon also points out, retailers often think of summer holidays – and the retail opportunities they offer – in a siloed way. “Each sees its own transaction but rarely the larger occasion connecting them. Customers, however, aren’t thinking in that siloed way, they aren’t looking in terms of simply who sells the holiday, but rather who understands the moment well enough to win their next travellers’ cheque,” he says.
A new approach to cross-sector collaboration
While there has long been collaboration between airlines, car-hire firms and travel insurance, some travel-based collaborations are now becoming more creative. British Airways allows customers to link their Club and Uber accounts, for example, earning Avios points on eligible Uber airport rides, reserved journeys, rail and Eurostar bookings, and qualifying Uber Eats orders. Similarly, Tesco has teamed up with Virgin to convert Clubcard points into Virgin Points. Travellers are not just being rewarded for their flight, but for the taxis and food and drink that go along with it.
Tesco is an example of a retailer that sees opportunity within the travel sector – and this is what CustomerX’s Cross-Sector Commerce Summit is all about. Instead of looking at retail in the traditional, siloed way – split into categories – it focuses on moments, and looks at offering the customer what they want as simply as possible.
Taking place on 14-15 October 2026 at Olympia London, CustomerX will welcome over 3,000 commerce leaders and more than 120 tech suppliers. More than 100 speakers are booked – from a wealth of retailers, brands and partners including IKEA, British Gas, Reckitt, H&M and Uber Eats, to name but a few.
The programme is built around three core pillars:
1. Copy. Take a proven pattern; a playbook, blueprint or metric and apply it directly to your business.
2. Collaborate. Accelerate your progress by finding the right partners, data rails or distribution tools.
3. Compete. Identify exactly where to win on positioning, speed or cost-to-serve.
The idea is that businesses can learn from each other, and rather than simply viewing each other as competitors – or separate categories altogether – seek out mutual opportunities for growth. Travel is just one example of where this can work, with clear benefits for both parties, but multiple sectors also provide cross-selling opportunities. CustomerX is the starting point for thinking outside the box – and learning from organisations who are doing this already.
Travel shows what happens when retailers look beyond the transaction and focus on the wider customer journey. CustomerX is about helping businesses spot those opportunities and learn from those already putting them into practice.
CustomerX takes place from 14-15 October at Olympia London. Find out more and book tickets at CustomerX.net.
