Flyers appear to like boarding pass offers.

A press release issued by the document Firm Securidox highlights how special offers made on boarding passes can be effective for both the travellers and the airlines.

Isango Research Confirms Targeted Messages Inserted into E-ticket

Confirmations and Boarding Passes 30 times more effective than web Placing London, 28 November 2011

Isango the destination tours and services specialist supplying amongst others Qantas, German Wings and Ryanair produced research that evaluates the effectiveness of different methods used to communicate offers and deals to passengers. The results of the research confirm that targeted messages inserted into E-tickets post web path are extremely effective.

Isango measured effectiveness by the likelihood of passengers making a purchase from a given touch point. The baseline for the study was an offer on a tab placed on the travel company’s website which clients had to navigate to. When the offer was inserted in the final purchasing page Isango found the process to be 50% more effective than the tab alone.

Isango also evaluated the results from the post purchase emails containing targeted messages. The messages were targeted using information such as gender, location, destination, class of travel, etc. The expectation was that the effectiveness would be higher due to the targeting, but Isango were astounded to find that this was 20 times more effective than offers inserted at time of purchase. Amazingly, it was 30 times as effective as the web page tab.

Mark Scott, CEO at Securidox says, “This is something we have suspected all along, but as we have concentrated on perfecting delivery of the documents, we haven’t had the evidence to prove our beliefs. We are pleased this research supports our theory that dynamically targeted messages placed after purchase dramatically increase ancillary revenue.”

Daniele Beccari, Vice President of Isango says, “Securidox’s solution enables us to deliver more relevant messages to passengers when they are looking to complete their travel arrangements. At time of purchase a traveler is not receptive to being bombarded with additional offers, but will consider offers post purchase. By delivering the right message to the eTicket confirmation or boarding pass, the traveler can review at leisure without the pressure to complete a transaction. The purchase path has become more crowded with the result that customers escape the website to avoid bombardment and inadvertent offer selection”.

Mark Scott continues “Messages inserted in boarding passes are a must have and a great value proposition. Boarding passes and the inserted messages are viewed and reinforced up to 12 times before the end of the flight through printing, gate check, baggage drop, at the retail outlets, the departure gate and on board. The document remains live even after the flight is completed with vouchers being removed and kept for subsequent use.”

Isango is a destination tours and service specialist company. Advertising on web pages such as Qantas Airways, Isango aims to deliver passengers with exciting and colorful experiences in over 50 countries.

Securidox supplies airlines with a solution that uses dynamic information to create tailored documents such as E-ticket confirmations, Mobile and Printed Boarding Passes and reminder emails.

check before you fly at www.dutyfreeonarrival.com

Spirit Airlines: Duty Free threat or opportunity?

The recent soundings at the TFWA Conference in Cairo by Keith Spinks, the European Travel Retail General Secretary, refer to the latest and “most worrying threat for the Duty Free Industry” which allegedly comes from airline baggage and ancillary revenue initiatives. In particular Keith cites the new charges and controls introduced by Fort Lauderdale based LCC Spirit, who have now restricted on-board carry on baggage and introduced charges in an attempt to restrict passengers' luggage, so to improve aircraft loading and turn around times.

Any European who has travelled in The Americas would have watched with bemusement at US travellers bringing “everything but the kitchen sink on board” and You Tube recently created a star with the flight attendant who walked off the aircraft after being hit on the head by cabin baggage.

Perhaps Spirit have discovered what Michael O’Leary discovered some time ago, that if you can move your aircraft off the stand quickly, airlines can make more money by reducing their cost base.

Spinks was quoted in the duty free media saying that this was a worrying trend which could cause major problems for duty free sales if this ancillary revenue initiative permeates throughout the airline industry.

The other point of view could be “is the cup half full or half empty” as airlines are an integral part of the duty-free environment and many, if not most, already conduct on-board sales of duty free or travel retail goods. It is suggested that any expansion of this initiative could well prove a threat to ground based outbound retail sales from airside airport shops, but there is no evidence to suggest that these sales would not be transferred to the airlines, nor that the airport retailers, who are rapidly expanding their “arrivals shopping facilities”, could not recover these sales in the baggage hall or via the internet. Furthermore, Duty Free sales within the European Union do not actually exist, so there is no legislative reason why these airport "travel retail sales" cannot be conducted on arrival, rather than on departure. For this reason the climate of threat would seem premature and somewhat negative.

Cruise and Ferry Operators are also an integral part of “The Industry” so how would such baggage rules and charges inhibit their business? Just around the corner from Spirit Airlines at Port Everglades, Cruise Operators already restrict goods coming on-board their ships and they store or charge corkage on some duty free liquors, yet this practice has been around for some time now, without it being deemed as a major threat.

Perhaps the perceived threat to The Industry is the fear of a changing travel retail environment, the accelerating ancillary revenue bandwagon and the ability of some airports or their concessionaires to adapt quickly to this new world order? Or even the airports' ability to shrug off their historical retail strategies, where the "captive audience" marketing mentality prevails?

Airlines have discovered a mechanism to enhance their income and it is highly unlikely that they will neglect these new revenue streams, many may be careful as to how they introduce new initiatives, but they will now explore every avenue to enhance revenues.

Evidence of this is clearly seen from the expanding Ancillary Revenue Conference circuit, which is starting to compete with the traditional TFWA exhibitions. The latest offering is due in Macau in January 2011. This will soon be followed by similar events in Dubai and Buenos Aires. All potential revenue streams will be discussed and considered in detail by those attending.

Perhaps the real issue here is “who owns the customer” and “do people fly because they want to go to an airport, or are airports there because people need to fly”? Duty Free consumers' greatest need is accurate and detailed information in relation to their shopping intentions, so that they are comfortable to spend, rather than the fear of the unknown which will inhibit spending. Could this lack of proper information be a greater threat than on-board baggage charges?

No doubt the debate will continue and more threats will surface. More than likely via the internet.

The King is dead, long live the King!

check before you fly www.dutyfreeonarrival.com