Hong Kong International Airport: Redefining 24-Hour Travel Retail with AI Contactless Shopping

Customer Requirements

Airports are one of the most demanding retail environments in the world.

Passenger traffic changes by the hour. Some travelers are rushing to the boarding gate. Some arrive late at night. Some are transferring between flights with only a short window to buy water, snacks, personal care products, or packaged food.

At Hong Kong International Airport, retail convenience needs to match the rhythm of modern travel: fast, contactless, reliable, and available around the clock.

Traditional airport retail often faces several challenges. Manual checkout can create queues during peak passenger flows. Staffing costs are high, especially for extended service hours. Space is limited, yet product categories must remain diverse enough to serve different traveler needs.

The Travelwell Contactless unmanned store was designed to solve these pain points and create a smarter travel retail experience.

The project needed to address several key requirements:

1. 24-hour passenger convenience
   Travelers need access to food, drinks, and daily essentials at different times of the day, including early morning, late night, and transfer hours.
2. Faster shopping during peak flows
   Airport customers often have limited time. The shopping journey must be short, intuitive, and free from long checkout lines.
3. Contactless and efficient service
   A modern airport store should reduce manual touchpoints while keeping the experience safe, clean, and easy to understand.
4. Compact but high-performance retail space
   The store needed to display beverages, packaged food, personal care products, and travel essentials within a limited footprint.
5. Digital operation and real-time visibility
   Airport retail requires accurate product tracking, transaction records, and backend management to support daily operations.

To meet these needs, Hong Kong International Airport introduced an AI-powered contactless store experience supported by Cloudpick technology.

Cloudpick Solution

Cloudpick provided the AI-powered unmanned retail technology behind the Travelwell Contactless store, combining computer vision, smart sensing, access control, automated checkout, and real-time backend management.

The customer journey is simple:

Enter the store
Travelers access the store through a controlled entry process.

Pick products freely
Customers choose beverages, packaged food, snacks, personal care items, and travel essentials directly from open shelves.

Walk out naturally
There is no need to queue at a cashier, scan every barcode manually, or complete a traditional checkout process.

AI recognition and automatic settlement
Cloudpick’s system identifies the selected products, generates the order, and updates transaction and inventory data automatically.

This creates a truly contactless Grab & Go experience for airport passengers.

The store layout is designed around airport efficiency. Clear signage, open product displays, digital guidance, and illuminated visual elements help travelers quickly understand how to shop. The “24 HRS” positioning also makes the store a reliable convenience point for passengers outside standard retail hours.

Compared with vending machines, the store provides a wider product range and a more natural shopping experience. Compared with traditional staffed retail, it reduces checkout friction and supports longer service hours with lower operational pressure.

For airport operators and retail partners, this model also creates valuable operational data. Product movement, sales performance, and inventory changes can be tracked digitally, helping improve assortment planning, restocking, and future retail optimization.

Video

To see the Hong Kong International Airport AI contactless store in action, watch the video below:

YouTube:
https://youtu.be/t2z6iCSL-QI?si=YPNwCoVm5vHYgMS3

Result

The Travelwell Contactless store at Hong Kong International Airport shows how AI unmanned retail can upgrade travel convenience in high-traffic transport hubs.

For travelers, the value is immediate. They can quickly enter the store, pick up what they need, and continue their journey without waiting in line. Whether it is a bottle of water before boarding, a snack during transfer, or a daily essential during late-night travel, the store provides convenience exactly when passengers need it.

For operators, the benefits are equally clear:

1. Faster passenger service
   The Grab & Go process reduces checkout waiting time and improves shopping efficiency during busy travel periods.
2. 24-hour retail availability
   The unmanned model supports round-the-clock service with less dependence on continuous cashier staffing.
3. Better use of airport space
   A compact AI store can serve high-frequency passenger needs without requiring a large retail footprint.
4. Lower operational pressure
   Automated recognition and checkout reduce repetitive cashier work and make store operations lighter.
5. Broader product flexibility
   Open shelves allow the store to carry beverages, packaged food, snacks, personal care products, and travel essentials.
6. Real-time data support
   Digital transaction and inventory data help operators understand passenger demand and optimize product selection.

More importantly, the project proves that airport retail innovation is not only about luxury shopping or large commercial spaces. Sometimes, the most valuable improvement is making everyday convenience faster, smarter, and more accessible.

By working with Cloudpick, Hong Kong International Airport has introduced a practical AI retail model that matches the pace of modern travel. The store becomes more than a convenience shop. It becomes a 24-hour intelligent service point inside the airport journey.

Customer Testimonial

A representative from the project said:

“Airport passengers need convenience that is fast, reliable, and available at different times of the day. With Cloudpick’s AI-powered contactless store technology, the Travelwell unmanned store provides a smoother shopping experience for travelers while helping operators improve efficiency, reduce checkout pressure, and manage retail operations more intelligently. This project offers a valuable reference for the future of airport convenience retail.”