For some time yet, perhaps even into 2021, it seems that China and its ‘consumer-friendly and business-friendly’ approach to travel retail will remain a rare bright spot for travel retail’s recovery.
Over the last few months, we’ve seen plenty of brands leveraging the Chinese opportunity, buoyed by Hainan Island’s expanded offshore duty free shopping policy introduced on 1 July and the robust return of domestic travel and spending. So, while 2020 offered plenty of challenges for most industry stakeholders, for Chinese mobile start-up iSkyTrip, this year only represented opportunity.
iSkyTrip — a joint venture between Trip.com and Shanghai Airport Authority — streamlines the Chinese traveller’s airport journey and removes the Chinese language barrier. The innovative platform aims to integrate the information and services of key airports from all over the world into one single App, removing pain points specific to Chinese travellers.
In this interview, iSkyTrip Head of Business Development Overseas Market Tulio Meng talks about leveraging data and technology to offer the best services for Chinese shoppers. He also shares his views on how platforms such as iSkyTrip can lead the industry towards recovery and previews what partners can expect at the company’s #Virtual Stand OC-G3 at the upcoming Moodie Davitt Virtual Travel Retail Expo.
What is the major focus for iSkyTrip at the Virtual Travel Retail Expo?
Our main focus at the Virtual Travel Retail Expo is to engage with new and potential partners. This includes VIP service operators, travel retailers, food & beverage operators and airport authorities. We seek to bring high-value Chinese consumers to our partner airports and operators, especially once borders are open again.
In what ways has the iSkyTrip App transformed the traveller journey in Shanghai Pudong and Hongqiao Airports for the COVID-19 era?
iSkyTrip App users can now purchase exclusive products in the drop-off lane, benefit from premium parking perks and reserve VIP lounges and services at both Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport.
In terms of retail and F&B, our IT team is working round-the-clock to fully integrate our mobile platform to both airports’ POS systems. We estimate that by the end of this year, travellers will already be able to order and pay through the iSkyTrip App for products and meals in both airports.
Domestic travel in China has been a rare shining light in terms of recovery for the travel retail industry. How can iSkyTrip stimulate that revival?
Since the middle of the year, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has already been contained in China. Because of this, the Chinese travel retail industry is already on the road to recovery. During this time, we partnered with CDF-Sunrise Duty Free to launch a direct-mail service and launched an exclusive ‘6677’ drop-off lane and reservation service with Hongqiao Airport. We also teamed up with a number of VIP lounge operators to take their services online.
These projects have been quite successful over the last few months, proving that the mobile trend is only growing stronger. Integrating mobile and omnichannel services is important to adapt to changing consumer behaviours. We believe we can offer partners the most efficient and convenient way to do so
Any major targets by geography, channel or retailer type?
We don’t have any specific geographic targets when it comes to looking for new partners. We want to bring our flexible omnichannel solutions and mobile technologies to airport industry stakeholders from all around the world, especially those that serve a lot of Chinese travellers.
In terms of channel type, we are looking to partner with more border duty free stores and railway duty free retailers. We are also focusing on VIP services, F&B businesses, travel retailers and airport authorities.
How do you view the continuing impact of COVID-19 on the wider industry?
There’s still a long way to go before international travel will return to what it was. In China, the travel retail industry is largely focused on domestic travel. In fact, the demand for domestic travel in China has already reached 90% of 2019 levels.
However, this doesn’t mean that international airports should just sit and wait for things to go back to normal. Now is the perfect time for airport authorities and commercial operators to review, optimise and remodel their businesses to adapt to the new normal of travel.
We have also observed a significant shift in consumer shopping habits from offline transactions to ecommerce and contactless. In the first half of 2020, China experienced a huge surge in demand for courier services, online food delivery and ecommerce. We’re entering the market at the right time to help our partners satisfy Chinese consumers’ growing demand for online.
How do you think the channel can and should engage with travelling consumers to accelerate and sustain that recovery?
In China, COVID-19 has certainly accelerated the trend for online and mobile shopping with ecommerce users increasing significantly over the last few months. This also means that there is a fundamental change in the customer journey through airports.
The traditional perception of airports having captive customers and benefitting from a constant flow of travellers has now changed. Travel retail industry stakeholders must actively embrace mobile and online innovations such as iSkyTrip to engage with travellers before they even arrive at the airport and to offer a more efficient contactless experience.
How would you like to see industry partnerships evolve amid this new normal?
We believe that airports, F&B operators, VIP service providers, small and large brands should recognise that the world will be different after COVID-19. We need each other now more than ever. Cooperation, transparency and integration is more crucial than ever before. Sticking to the traditional way of doing things will not help recovery. We need to embrace new consumer trends and technologies, which will be the key to unlocking a sustained recovery and eventual growth.
iSkyTrip Goes for Gold at The Virtual Travel Retail Expo Rituals is a Gold Partner at the inaugural Moodie Davitt Virtual Travel Retail Expo. The unique 5-day ‘live’ event, followed by a 30-day showcase, begins on 12 October, just after the conclusion of the Chinese Golden Week holidays. It features a star-studded series of events across the five days, including a Symposium, category workshops and a new consumer research initiative. Registration is free for buyers, exhibitors and preferred media partners. (Click here to register) |
