Airlines can increase individual traveller transactions by €35 through personalised merchandising techniques, a study from Amadeus has revealed.
Thinking like a retailer: Airline merchandising, a report commissioned by Amadeus and written by consulting firm Frost and Sullivan, highlights that in the battle for additional service revenues, airlines must “more effectively” use the customer data they collect.
With airlines now able to gather and analyse more traveller data through social media, session history from in-flight connections, travel history and previous purchases, the report argues this information can be used to create a single view of a customer.
This would allow airlines to adjust their merchandising techniques according to the timing of individual traveller journeys.
With 26 per cent of all travellers more likely to respond to messages tailored to personal interests and 22 per cent more likely to respond to location-specific promotions, the study encourages airlines to develop comprehensive merchandising strategies that take into consideration the impact of timing, technique, channel, service and pride.
“It’s clear that in order for airlines to succeed in the highly competitive and fragmented travel retail sector, they must think like retailers and adopt an effective approach to merchandising, in which personalisation takes centre-stage,” said Amadeus VP for airline IT, Julia Sattel.
Merchandising techniques
The report found the five most important merchandising techniques are user-interface optimisation, context-aware email notification, promos and third-party deals, push notifications and value-added bundles.
It also showed 79 per cent of global travellers would prefer to buy extra travel services directly from airlines.
Frost and Sullivan’s strategy consultant Lawrence Lundy, said: “As airlines evolve from being providers of one core product – flights – to travel experience businesses with a wide range of services, they need to view themselves as retailers.
“Understanding where, when and how to merchandise products and services to the traveller is vital to retailing effectively, and this study aims to cast light on precisely these elements of a merchandising strategy.”