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Qantas has increased the frequency of its popular Sky Shopping brochure from three to four editions a year |
AUSTRALIA. Almost one year on from the launch of its duty free pre-order service at www.qantas.com, Qantas is reporting a strong uptake of the online service by its passengers.
“It’s an innovation that has proved very popular,” General Manager Inflight Services Eric Jelinek told The Moodie Report in an interview at the airline’s Sydney headquarters.
“Being online enables our customers to get the prices before they fly and make comparison with the airport prices. This has helped to address the misconception that onboard prices are more expensive than airport prices. Certainly we know we are very competitive on price.”
Jelinek said that pre-order has also helped the airline address the critical issue of cost of carriage amid the current peaks in aviation fuel prices.
“We want to ensure that we are flying product that in the first place the customers want, and in the second place they can buy – otherwise we’d be carrying a lot of extra weight that is burning fuel and contributing to the whole greenhouse effect.”
According to Inflight Product Development Manager Philip Capps, pre-order purchasing is skewed towards higher-value products. “The customer is able to purchase without all the ‘noise’ around them, so we find that there are relatively more sales of high-value watches, for example.
“It’s good for us because we’re not buying large volumes of this stock to position around the world, and it’s good for customers to make a more considered purchase and still have the reassurance that it will be onboard and they can receive it right away.”
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The Qantas inflight service management: General Manager Inflight Services Eric Jelinek (left) and Inflight Product Development Manager Philip Capps; Fragrances, cosmetics and jewellery continue to drive Qantas’s inflight business | |
Targeting the customer
To help improve targeting of product to consumer demand, Qantas has increased its In Sky Shopping brochure from three to four editions a year. “It’s the smartest way to ensure we can adjust a broad offering that interests our customers,” Jelinek said.
Fragrances, cosmetics and jewellery continue to drive a large proportion of the inflight business, reported Capps, although the travel goods category is demonstrating solid growth. “Customers are really trying to find goods that ease the travel experience,” he said.
“Duty free has been seen as being about gifts for friends and colleagues. That’s very much still there, but there’s an increasing proportion of purchase behaviour that is about ‘what makes my travelling experience more comfortable’.”
Qantas’s own merchandise range continues to perform strongly both in the inflight duty free service and by direct order from the www.qantas.com website. Purchases of model planes by aviation buffs sustain this category, and the new A380 plane model is exciting strong interest.
“This is going to be a big seller,” said Jelinek. “We’re taking delivery of the first of our 20 A380s later this year and the first service is in October.”
“One of our many strategies is to position ourselves as the most premium-class airline for product and service, and we believe strongly that duty free is a key component of being a full service airline,” Jelinek continued. “Our focus is as much about what we’re offering the customer in terms of the service as it is about the revenue streams.”
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