Abstract
Personal selling as part of marketing communication at airport retailing has always been playing a vital role in the interactive selling process. While with the consumer adaptation of social media and the pervasive trend of adopting digital media in the retailing industry, in-store salespeople are confronting new challenges that have been generated under such environment. This paper focuses on finding opportunities and challenges that are encountered by the salespeople at airport retail stores by reviewing relevant theories and concepts on both the traditional and evolved selling processes. Combining consumer acceptance of social media with factors that would be concerning for making purchases; and with structured interviews that take place in real time at the venue of Dublin airport lay the foundation in understanding the rationale behind consumer acceptance of social media and salespeople. In turn, it is uncovering the role of personal selling in between the two domains refined from theories; including revenue generation and relationship building at the airport. Understanding the concurrent role of personal selling based on consumer needs is essential bilaterally for both the seller and buyer. Although this study defines the role of personal selling as more tangible in terms of revenue generation, however relationship building could be regarded as in a form of consumer initiatives, when salespeople are being approached by consumer as problem solvers. Author Keywords: Role of personal selling in airport retailing;
Influence of social media has on personal selling at airport stores;
Consumer acceptance of social media and personal selling at airport stores;
The concurrent function of personal selling has been dominated with revenue generation other than rational building.
