Website of the Week Cyprus Airways’ Shop in the Airwww.cyprusairways.com | |
 | Content (0-4): 3 |
 | Pricing (0-2): 2 |
 | Navigation (0-4): 3 |
 | Style/Design (0-4): 3 |
 | Supplementary information (0-2): 1 |
 | Overall incentive to shop (0-4): 2 |
 | Total (0-20): 14 |
Scoring system explained – click here | |
Website of the week – Cyprus Airways’ Shop in the Air
Cyprus Airways is the national carrier of Cyprus. It currently serves 31 scheduled destinations in Europe, the Middle and Near East and Gulf area.
The airlines describe its achievements as being made up of the key ingredients of “traditional Cypriot hospitality, Mediterranean spirit, modern business practices and uncompromised customer commitment”. We visit their e-Shopping portal “˜Shop in the Air’ to see if the online offer lives up to those claims.
STYLE
Cyprus Airways’ Shop in the Air website is integrated with the airlines’ main website and thus shares the same design and colour theme.
Shop in the Air can be accessed via an “˜e-Shopping’ thumbnail or via the “˜Services – During Your Flight’ link on the airlines’ main site. The navigation panel rooted at the top of the website applies to the main site and contains links to other non-duty free related pages such as Flights, Hotels, Cars, Travel Info, Sunmiles, Services, Customer Care and About Us.
Simplicity is the overall theme of the website, featuring only the company’s colours of blue and yellow against a clean, white backdrop. The usage of shades of blue fits comfortably with the association of an airline with the sky. Information is neatly displayed in columns and panels.
Shop in the Air’s homepage is neat and pleasant looking. Product categories are displayed in a grid in the middle of the page by representative thumbnail images. The product categories can also be accessed via a drop down menu above the thumbnail links.
On the left of the homepage is a panel holding the search tool, a menu of links (to Shop in the Air homepage, Conditions of Online Sales and Currency Converter) and a box displaying the customer’s shopping basket.
On the whole, the homepage is structured and straightforward; much like a summary of contents for the user.
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Simplicity is the theme of the website, featuring the company’s colours of blue and yellow against a clean, white backdrop |
CONTENT
There are a total of 11 product categories namely Ladies’ Fragrances, Men’s Fragrances, Skincare & Cosmetics, Jewellery, Watches, Gifts & Accessories, Logo Items, Electronics, Toys, Confectionery and Liquors.
Under each category, products are displayed in neat and visually appealing rows of thumbnail images with product name, prices (in both Euros and Pounds) and the option to add the item to basket.
Four product thumbnails are displayed per row and the page stretches down to include all the items in one page. Customers can scroll down and need not continue on to further pages to browse through products within one category.
Clicking on either the product name or the product thumbnail will lead to the individual product details page. An enlarged version of the product thumbnail image and product description is displayed together with the product prices and the “˜Add to Basket’ button.
The site makes good use of thumbnail images, which adds welcome imagery and colour to the site. A good effort is made to ensure every product comes with an accompanying image.
Image quality is patchy though. Many pictures are not the product images per se but taken from the advertising campaigns featuring the products. This is sufficient to create visual recognition but arguably falls short for those who would like to take a closer look at their potential purchase.
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(Left) Shopping basket; (right) good use of visually appealing thumbnail images adds imagery and colours to the site |
Cyprus Airways offers a wide range of product categories and a good variety of items from well-known brands. The only product category not offered is tobacco/cigarettes.
Fragrances for men and women feature big brands such as Gucci, Escada, Dior, Hugo Boss, Diesel and Puma. Popular brands and products are offered under Skin Care & Cosmetics such as the YSL Radiant Touch Concealer/Highlighter (€26), La Prairie Cellular Eye Contour Cream (€73) and Lancome Mini Juicy Tubes (set of five, €39). Travel retail sets are available as well as a Biotherm skincare set for men (€15.00).
The Jewellery category features an eye-catching range from popular brands such as Swarovski, Thomas Sabo, Equss, Carlo Gioielliere and Pierre Cardin. New products from Taiwanese jewellery brand Sun are available as well.
The Watches category offers 20 products for both men and women. Gifts & Accessories features items such as scarves, keyrings, sunglasses, wallets and pens.
Logo Items is a unique category featuring aircraft themed figurines, collector and gift items, such as aircraft miniature models, aircraft plush, aircraft refrigerator magnets and playing cards with Cyprus Airways’ logo.
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Neat and structured: product details page |
A range of useful items can be found under Electronics, including cameras, digital translators, hair trimmers, shavers, book lights and travel adaptors.
Eight products dedicated to children are founds under toys – plush toys, Lego toys, Lego watches, flying aircraft toy and a handheld Sudoku game.
Popular chocolate brands such as Ferrero, Kit Kat and Ritter are offered in gift-ready travel packs under Confectionery. 11 types of spirits can be found under Liquor.
We like the convenient shopping basket feature, displayed throughout in a box on the left panel. The basket is updated instantly and customers can view, add, remove the items or proceed to check out at any time. The “˜my basket’ link on the left panel also leads to the dedicated shopping basket page that displays the items in a more detailed table form. From here, customers can edit item quantities, remove items or proceed to check out.
The website also provides the ever useful travel retail tool – the currency converter. The currency converter is linked from and powered by another website and boasts a converter for over 164 currencies. However, the currency converter is on a separate page rather than placed conveniently alongside the products; so browsers must leave the product page to make use of the facility.
Information on pre-order and payment procedures can be found under the “˜Conditions of Online Sales’ link on the left panel.
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The shopping basket is a delight to use |
NAVIGATION
Navigating is straightforward with the website’s basic and clear-cut layout. There is no information hidden in obscure corners or pages that cannot be directly accessed from the homepage.
However, as the Shop in the Air webpage is a part of the main Cyprus Airways website, the navigation panel at the top is more applicable to the main site. The same goes for the search tool which only displays results from the main site but does not cover the Shop in the Air section. The site could enhance its service by including a search tool for its e-Shopping webpage as well.
The “˜Home’, “˜Site Map’ and “˜FAQ’ links at the top right of the page is likewise geared towards the main site. To return to the shopping homepage, visitors have to take note to click on the “˜Shop in the Air’ link on the left panel rather than the “˜Home’ link at the top right which will bring them to the homepage of the main site.
GENERAL OVERVIEW
Cyprus Airways’ Shop in the Air has got the basics right with a pleasant, structured and easy-to-use website and pre-order service.
Generous use of images, a nifty shopping basket and a solid currency converter are nice touches. There is potential for improvement with a search tool, more comprehensive information on duty free allowances and a duty free FAQ section. Nonetheless, simplicity is refreshing and the basic needs of the travelling shopper are well-covered.
What we like:
o Pleasant, straightforward design and neat, structured layout
o Pre-order facility
o Shopping basket
o Currency Converter
o Good usage of thumbnail images
What needs adding/improving:
o Search tool
o Information on duty free restrictions and FAQ
o Consistent product images
o Conveniently placed currency converter
Website of the week scoring system explained:
Content: How wide is the range of items on offer? Are there good quality photos and product descriptions?
Pricing: Are product prices listed? For all products?
Navigation: How easy is the site to use?
Style/Design: How does the site look?
Supplementary information: On allowances, currencies, after-sales service, useful tips and so on.
Overall incentive to shop: This includes tone, promotions, offers, competitions and, importantly, pre-order.
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