Points of Purchase: Book and Buy
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APEX Insight: From booking to post flight, the opportunities to buy while traveling are abundant. In Part One of “Points of Purchase,” we look at the time-saving service proposals that passengers might be more inclined to buy, prior to boarding.
For airlines to be successful retailers, the first point of sale is a critical juncture for earning the trust and loyalty of prospective customers. With retail portfolios that go far beyond basic airfare, understanding when and how to push ancillary offers is key to making the sale.
A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey found 31 percent of consumers would like to make ground transport arrangements when booking. In hopes of tapping this segment, Alaska Airlines refined its online booking process for dynamic and personalized car rental offers. Working with Oracle Maxymiser, the airline explored 72 design and placement combinations, targeting the campaign toward visitors making reservations. As a result, 70 percent of visitors booked car rentals within 15 minutes of seeing the offer – a 12 percent rise in upsales.
Window Shopping
Online shopping habits can also give airline retail a healthy lift. British Airways, Finnair, KLM, Lufthansa, Qantas and Virgin Atlantic are among the airlines that offer customers pre-flight shopping from their onboard catalogs during the booking process, for delivery in flight or at home. According to research from Amadeus, following up with customers within 48 hours of a completed booking is an optimal time frame to encourage more purchases. Seventy-six percent of travelers say that context-aware e-mail offers are more persuasive.
Seventy-six percent of travelers say that context-aware e-mail offers are more persuasive.
Amadeus also recommends re-engaging travelers a few days before departure, when travel-related logistics are being arranged and finalized. Offers related to parking, transfers, luggage and other practical needs are all likely to be well received at this time.
Checking In
Airport kiosks can do double duty as retail portals, too. “Kiosks, of course, never forget to upsell,” Ryan Buell, assistant professor, Harvard Business School, said in an interview with Harvard Business Review.
Consumer technology specialist NCR finds that roughly 25 percent of passengers are willing to buy ancillaries on airport kiosks, so airlines are primed to make smart offers to passengers during the check-in process. Plus, the added dwell time created by speedy self-service technology gives travelers more time to shop at airline retail outlets, such as SWISS Shop or Lufthansa’s WorldShops.
United Airlines’ and OTG’s Gate Lounge concept, currently available at Newark Liberty International Airport and Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport, brings purchasing power to passengers’ fingertips. With a variety of seating configurations equipped with connected iPads, travelers can order food, drinks or last-minute travel items – and cash in their MileagePlus award miles as payment. Travelers can also use their miles to pay for goodies, such as snacks or neck cushions at CIBO Express Gourmet Markets.
“Book and Buy” was originally published in the multipart feature, “Points of Purchase,” in the October/November issue of APEX Experience magazine.