First, let’s talk retail. Retailers worldwide have developed sophisticated retailing techniques to better serve their customers – as such, they’re constantly looking for the competitive edge and better ways to reach customers, more efficient customer journeys and opportunities to proactively meet customer needs.
These retailers don’t see themselves as “product-centric” suppliers, but rather fulfilling customer needs, and asking themselves “what else can I do for the customer?”
It’s time for airlines to follow suit.
For a long time, airlines that have pursued product-centricity have been challenged by:
- Limited visibility into individual traveller preferences
- Difficulty selling and servicing a broad range of personalised offers
- Struggled to manage complex partnership agreements due to inadequate system capabilities
Being customer-centric is vital to being one of today’s successful retailers. Guiding shoppers, both online and offline, in a way that encourages them to add items to their shopping baskets.
There’s no difficulty for airlines to demonstrate a fundamental mindset shift to think beyond the seat, and truly behave like retailers by enabling customer-centric innovation. The new frame of reference among the airline retailing model is: “How do I fulfil my customer’s end-to-end needs to capture maximum share of wallet, while maximising the lifetime value of each customer?”
Besides, travellers want to be recognised so they can enjoy personalised, contextualised, and seamless experiences that meet their needs throughout their traveller experience.
Technology and modern consumer experiences are key drivers of evolving customer expectations. The thing about ‘retailing’ is, that it puts the customer at the heart of the business to become more customer centric.
Even in today’s environment, challenges persist in identifying end-users and their needs, launching new products promptly, dynamically pricing in real-time, monitoring product consumption status, managing ancillary products, introducing updated payment methods, and servicing offers. As a true retailer, addressing all of these challenges is essential to better serve customer needs.
Exploring technological advancements in retailing could help to unlock significant revenue opportunities, which according to McKinsey airline retailing – essentially selling products in new ways, could be worth $40 billion by 2030.
The task at hand is to address the packing of relevant offers in real-time across multiple channels, which should include both air and non-air services, in order to fulfil the customer’s needs throughout their journey.
Our strategy is simple
ClarityIFR allows airlines to tailor offers that are dynamically retailed, while being seamlessly fulfilled and delivered as orders on-board. It’s a need to help airlines put their distinctive stamp on the map, prioritising the decisions that can be made for them in real-time.
Airlines already hold access to a great deal of data that’s enriched with purchasing decisions from each individual, and by prioritising data collection and analysis – this is how airlines can adapt and adjust to today’s conditions and purchasing behaviours in real-time by constructing relevant and target-group specific offers. As a result of doing so they shall unlock:
- Greater relevant offers driven by continuous customer searches, purchasing history and pricing algorithms will significantly improve customer engagement and satisfaction.
- Customers will benefit from attractive, tailored offers that creates better conversion rates for airlines.
- Improving customer choice based on demand forecasting will optimise sell-through rate, reduce costs, and increase supply chain efficiency.
Why should airlines care about offers and orders?
Embarking on this transformation means airlines must consider every aspect of the customer journey, including shopping, booking, payment, delivery and financial back-office processes. Working backwards from the customer experience and simplifying retail-fulfilled processes to accommodate travellers will enhance differentiation in a crowded marketplace, promote loyalty and deliver profitable, sustainable revenue growth.
A world of flexible offers and orders is on the horizon. Those who partake will deliver:
- Greater personalised and higher-margin content
- Use real-time data flows from offers and orders to grow revenue and reduce costs
- Improve choice for customers by embarking on new partnerships
- Customers will benefit from a transparent shopping experience
While the transition has become gradual, the good news is that the industry initiatives are already underway to address these challenges. Dynamic bundling, offers and dynamic pricing are just a few of the ways being dealt by airlines.