 |
 |
Cathay Pacific’s signature colours feature on a clean white background. The site is neat and easy on the eye |
Website of the week: Cathay Pacific Discover the Shop
Founded in 1946, Cathay Pacific celebrates not only its 60th Anniversary this year, but numerous awards and accolades such as 2006 Airline of the Year (TTG Travel Awards) and 2006 Best Inflight Travel Retailer in Asia Pacific (Raven Fox Awards).
Last week, the carrier’s already-packed trophy cabinet gained another addition with an award for its outstanding duty free website. The Frontier Awards held at this year’s TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes saw Cathay Pacific’s online offer triumph, as the airline scooped The Moodie Report Travel Retail Website of the Year Award, ahead of over 400 international rivals. Here we shine the spotlight on Hong Kong’s national carrier this week to mark this digital milestone.
Style
Cathay Pacific’s signature colours – green, red and white – feature on a clean white background. Fonts and alignments are neat and easy on the eye. High quality images are used cleverly to dress up the product showcase.
Content and usability
Cathay Pacific opts for a wordy opening page (we think the one weakness of the site), where the welcome note dominates much of the space and forces the user to scroll down to find the product catalogue. Discover the Shop is the catchy title of the carrier’s outstanding online duty free pre-order service, where travellers can order items up to 21 days before departure.
The text clues you in on two important bits of information up-front: items are sold at highly competitive prices; and pre-ordered goods can be collected inflight. Also included are promotions and special offers. More on these later.
The main menu can be found on the left-hand side throughout the site and includes Shop Home, Catalogue, Special Offer, Shopping Cart, Customer Service, and Important Notes. Meanwhile the right-hand side of each page displays your shopping cart contents and two promotions.
‘Hot Picks for Oct – Dec 2006’ stands out from the page in bright red font and sits directly under the introduction. At the time of review, ten items were on offer each with thumbnail photo and dual price in HK Dollars and US Dollars, with some wearing the label ‘Exclusive’, for instance TORGOEN T1 Titanium Flight Computer Watch HK$3,500 (US$449).
Clicking on an item gives you an enlargeable image, generous description, dimensions, weight, volume, dual price, ‘add to cart’ facility and a nifty extra function – ‘See also’, which lists similar items, in the same vein as professional online shopping sites such as Amazon.
Back on the homepage the product catalogue is neatly listed towards the bottom of the page and includes an impressive 13 categories: perfumes, cosmetics, skincare, jewellery, watches, electronics, Hong Kong brands, CX collectibles, gifts and accessories, duty free alcohol, confectionery, pre-order exclusive and CX 60th Anniversary.
The site also has a thorough product search facility which enables users to search for items by brand, price range, item number, hot picks or exclusives (in a drop-down menu). Each search function then has a secondary drop-down menu to refine your search. For instance, if you were to search by Exclusives, you can choose from Airline exclusive, Cathay Pacific exclusive, Duty Free exclusive, Limited Edition and Pre-flight order exclusive. This handy service stays rooted throughout.
Pre-flight order exclusive features a range of wines, Cathay Pacific model airplanes and other airline-themed items. Wines on offer include Château Talbot 1995 HK$1,000 (US$129) and Clos Du Marquis HK$1,100 (US$142).
Of the other product categories, Hong Kong brands offers a host of products from local luxury brand Shanghai Tang, such as a silk satin and pashmina shawl retailing at HK$2,500 (U$321) as well as a host of useful AEL (Airport Express) tickets to a variety of destinations in Hong Kong.
CX 60th Anniversary includes Alexander Aqua di vita Italian Grappa 60th Anniversary priced at HK$430 (US$56).
Duty Free Alcohol offers premium brand names such as Royal Salute 21yo Scotch Whisky 700ml HK$610 (US$79) and Hennessy XO Cognac HK$720 (US$93).
Christian Dior J’adore Colour and Scent HK$520 (US$67) and Hermès 24 Faubourg Limited Edition HK$800 (US$103) are among the list of top brands listed under Perfumes.
Beside the product catalogue is Customer Service which comprises View/Edit your order, Contact us and Download catalogue. The entire duty free catalogue can be downloaded as a pdf but instead of counting the minutes for the whole publication to download you can simply pick the section you’re interested in – such as the perfumes section only.
Promotions and special offers
Cathay celebrates its 60th anniversary this year and the airline uses the landmark as both a promotional focus and a sales opportunity. There’s even a Bas Armagnac 1946 available (pre-order only) to recognise the achievement.
A monthly promotion is another highlight – October features a pre-flight order promotion, allowing the buyer to earn double Asia miles with every purchase of HK$1,000 or more.
Cathay’s ‘Whisky on the Rock’ promotion offers the chance to win an Apple iPod Shuffle thanks to one in every 12 Macallan 12yo Single Malt Whisky bottles containing a winning voucher.
Important Notes features some excellent additional services such as duty free allowances, acceptable credit cards and their limits, acceptable currency notes and coins, FAQs and terms and conditions.
Duty Free Allowances in particular deserves special mention; this allowances section is the best we have seen – beautifully laid out by various Cathay destinations rather than a simple country list. Some 48 cities feature here.
Despite the comprehensive nature of this top-class site, navigation is easy due to a good layout and clever sign-posting.
What we like
Solid product showcase
Dual pricing (HK Dollars and US Dollars)
Easy pre-order system
Excellent product search facility
Good navigation
Smart image
What we think needs improving/adding
The FAQ’s link was broken at the time of review
A less text-heavy intro
Visit Cathay Pacific.
MORE WEBSITES OF THE WEEK
Website of the week: Ambassador Duty Free
Website of the Week: British Airways Highlife Shop – 12/10/06
