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| The LanChile Duty Free website impresses both on first glance and on further exploration. Effortless in its navigation and classy in its execution, this site is a travelling shopper’s haven in terms of both offer and design |
Website of the week: LanChile Airlines
Available on flights departing or connecting at Santiago de Chile Airport, LanChile Duty Free is available online and onboard LanChile Airlines. Lan is a part of oneworld – a mega-alliance comprising Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia and Qantas – and it seeks to provide excellent benefits and services to its passengers.
Style
Displaying the characteristics of a premium airline, LanChile’s online duty free offer is effortlessly classy and without pretence. It is stylishly formatted to lend style and substance.
LanChile generates a professional yet welcoming look with its attractive colour scheme of teal blue, red, white and grey. Smart and simple, the website cuts out unnecessary fuss but still looks like it has paid care and attention to its image thanks to its tasteful colours and fonts. Although the website lacks photographic imagery, it cleverly avoids appearing static; the reason is that the site is rich in colour and high-quality photographs are available to the user by clicking on the name of the product.
Content and usability
The LanChile Duty Free website impresses both at first glance and on further exploration. Effortless in its planning and execution, this site is as close they come to a travelling shopper’s haven in terms of both offer and design.
LanChile Duty Free’s homepage offers dual menus, which remain on each page like a helpful guide. One menu runs across the top of the page offering services Home, Your shopping bag, Pre-order and About us. The secondary menu runs vertically down the page listing the six main product categories Women, Men, Kids, Accessories, Temptations and Pre-order Exclusives. Also included on the homepage are a helpful site update in Spanish and a preview of the inflight catalogue’s front cover. And to top it off are LanChile Duty Free’s Specials – a “˜what’s hot’ feature currently featuring a fragrance, inclusive of its price and picture.
On a similar theme is See Also, which sits neatly on the right-hand side of the page and helpfully displays products recommended by LanChile Duty Free.
The product categories are split into further sub-categories: Women comprises Cosmetics, Make up, Women Fragrances, Jewellery, Women Sunglasses and Women Watches. Men includes Men Fragrances, Men Sunglasses and Men Watches. Kids features For all, Just Boys and Just Girls. Accessories consists of Others, Electronics and Pens. Temptations encompasses Chocolates, Liquor and Tobacco, while Pre-order Exclusives involves Offers, Liquor and Tobacco. This comprehensive product display is completed by the equally strong pre-order service and product search engine.
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To celebrate the launch of our new Travel Retail Web-Wide Index, each week we put the spotlight on one of the growing array of dedicated travel retail websites or web sections. Click here or on the image to read the index. |
The Pre-order service is excellent and the presentation first-class. Clicking on any product enables the user to check out the availability of the item, enter the quantity of the product and view the price in US Dollars. Click on any item and a picture and brief description appear.
If a product is out of stock, a user may still pre-order the item. Once in stock again you will receive it. Or you may hand in your contact details in order to be notified via e-mail. The following sentence is courteously added: “Please complete the form below and we will contact you once the item you have selected becomes available. This is a complimentary feature and you are not in any way obligated to purchase the item.”
A search button is also available which tracks any brand or product a user wishes to find.
Your Shopping Bag sums up and displays the contents of your purchase which gives you several options – recalculate, remove, edit quantity, checkout and add more. The homepage also exhibits your cart contents should you need to take a quick glance.
Offers includes products from the existing product range which are on special offer.
Help tells the user about pre-order and includes contact details.
About Us gives useful information about currency and payment methods as well as giving further opportunities to contact them regarding any queries or customer service-related complaints.
Our verdict
LanChile Duty Free is a top-class online travel retail offer. The display of products, pre-order system and design have all been extremely well executed. Another almost subliminal feature is the tone of courtesy and care for the shopper.
One element that may enhance this already fine website is to weave into it A Sense of Place. Chile has an exotic culture rich in personality and vibrancy and a heritage of quality ethnic products. Where are they? Why not add a final touch of Chile to spice up an already tantalising dish?
Visit LanChile Airlines.
COMING SOON: The Moodie Report Travel Retail Worldwide Web Awards.
Sponsored by P&G Prestige Products
Which websites offer the best service to consumers? Which are most user-friendly? Which are the most stylish? And which, crucially, offer the greatest incentive to shop?
Every year we will judge, through a combination of industry polling, consumer opinion and specialist judges, who is doing most to wow travellers on the web. International and regional awards.
Results announced in May 2006. More details coming soon.
MORE WEBSITES OF THE WEEK
Website of the week: Air Canada – 15/02/06
Website of the week: James Richardson Duty Free – 08/02/06
