Amenity Kit and Caboodle: Luxury is the New Pax Expectation
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This article originally appeared in The APEX EXPO Daily Experience – Day Two.
APEX Insight: APEX Media caught up with Buzz Products, Linstol and Inflight Direct to get the latest on amenity kit market trends. “There is a desire for the kits to have a purpose beyond the plane,” explained Alena Kirzner, marketing director at Buzz. Facing this demand from passengers, airlines and amenity kit suppliers are raising kit standards of quality and longevity and partnering with luxury brands to appeal to business traveler taste.
The latest Delta One amenity kit features a bag by luxury luggage makers Tumi, and contains skincare from NYC-based, Malin+Goetz – the kind of products you’d see scattered about the glossy pages of a luxury magazine. In the airline amenity kit market, it’s these kind of brand collaborations that are increasingly à la mode.
“There is a desire for the kits to have a purpose beyond the plane,” says Alena Kirzner, marketing director at Buzz Export Services. “Delivering relevant brand collaborations can enhance the passenger experience and value.” Generic kits are being outmoded in favour of personalized, specialty bags.
Take the golf-geared Greg Norman Great White Shark products that Linstol showcased at APEX EXPO. “It’s sort of a unique brand in the golf space,” says Mark Russell, vice-president, Linstol. “We’ve developed a line of amenity kits that will add an interesting brand to the market.”
Even amenity kit products without the brand association are raising the standards of quality and longevity. “We’re getting away from the less expensive, disposable type products and looking forward to product that can be reused, re-gifted, with more quality that can provide comfort on all flights,” says Russell. “I also think that we’re seeing more of a seasoned passenger in the air and the expectation level is higher.”
“We’re getting away from the less expensive, disposable type products and looking forward to product that can be reused.” – Mark Russell, Linstol
And for practical reasons: “Our goal was to have the passenger take the complete package with them to reduce trash levels when cleaning the aircraft,” says Thomas G. Mockler, CEO, Inflight Direct.
While quality can be appreciated across different regions, one size, or one amenity kit, does not fit all. “It’s still difficult to go to South America with a single brand that’s going to work there and take that brand from a cosmetic perspective to Europe or the United States. You definitely see some regional differences on the cosmetic side,” Russell says.
Inflight Direct has witnessed preferences for hard sole slippers over soft sole slipper socks, and learned that certain colors may indicate bad luck in some cultures. Linstol developed a special hand sanitizer formula for Middle Eastern travelers who prefer non-alcohol-based solutions.
“It was like, ‘Woah, never really thought about that,'” says Russell. “But it clearly is the difference between being able to talk to an airline about a specific item in a kit and not.”