SINGAPORE. In a major development, Changi Airport Group is launching a cross-border e-commerce platform called E-Concierge.
The fully owned, start-up subsidiary will operate independently from CAG and the airport business
Changi Airport Group has been recruiting for several key roles within the new business over recent weeks. For example, it has been seeking an E-Commerce Digital Marketing Manager. The chosen individual will work closely with the Head of Customer Acquisition and Marketing to grow brand awareness of the business, acquire new customers and generate revenue through digital marketing strategies.
E-Concierge will implement a calendar of activities across all main online and social media channels to lead traffic to the e-commerce platform. These campaigns are designed to drive conversion, customer retention and increase transacted basket size.
We’ll bring you more details soon.
Comment: Airport e-commerce marketplaces were discussed at length at this month’s Trinity Forum in Bangkok. Auckland Airport General Manager Commercial & Retail Richard Barker said, for example, that the airport plans to create a virtual mall for its existing partners. “We want to create a marketplace where our partners can reach customers beyond the physical environment,” he added.
The scale of the investment, said Barker, is not about incremental revenue tomorrow, but looking further beyond. “In five years’ time, I want to be in the position where we have a viable business platform for duty free retailers to partner with us. It’s not just about creating resilience within our own business model, but also forming opportunities to grow.
“If we don’t start to embrace the future we will become irrelevant. We will end up with airports that have really good F&B, a few souvenir stores unique to the country, and that’s all. This is the prospect we face unless we learn to embrace and partner with the likes of Alibaba.”
AOE Founder & CEO Kian Gould said that the logical way for travel retail to adapt to the changing consumer world is for airports to become digital ecosystems
To do that, airports must partner with other service providers to create a marketplace of their own, he argued. “For the longest time the travel retail industry thought e-commerce was not suitable for travelling consumers,” Gould commented. “But look at examples like Alibaba, which has proved you can sell almost anything – even cars – online.”
Changi Airport Group Airside Concessions Division, Online Retail General Manager Nicole Foo noted: “In the next five years, digitalisation will be part and parcel of the airport shopping experience. We need to bring the service to the customers.”
