Pay-Per-Use Toilets? Why Not Chair Massagers Instead?
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The onboard sale ‘shot heard around the world’ recently was a leading low cost European carrier’s attempt to drum up reaction to charge for toilet use during flight. While at first the reports seemed preposterous the move managed to attract headlines from all corners of the travel industry and conversations ensued. PR stunt or not, the effort underlies the degree to which airlines will need to tackle new revenue generation during today’s Great Recession. It puts charging for bottled water into serious perspective.
While fare unbundling is spreading wildly, airlines will need to be careful of how far they unbundle and disrupt passengers. Free access to a toilet is as basic as supplying oxygen, tap water, and heat to your passengers. Upgrade the WC experience with high-end toiletries perhaps and the sale just might catch on. The smarter move may be to provide pay-per-use chair massagers in the back row instead. Something new and comforting like this would surely spread in popularity especially on those longer flights.
While the pay-per-use toilet concept is creating noise, another emerging trend in onboard retail is worthy of more attention: ‘home-coming’ duty-free and merchandising where travelers buy duty-free and other goods as they arrive home from abroad. Asia Pacific markets are adopting this approach in new airport builds while other regions around the world, such as Canada, are taking a serious look at its ramifications for additional local employment, improved safety, and new revenue growth.
This model could, no doubt, rewrite most existing duty-free service arrangements with providers, carriers and airports. It has the potential to eliminate ‘purchase at the airport and take onboard’ entirely. With duty-free and travel retail sales ringing in over US $36 billion in 2008 and much of it carried by passengers onboard, a broad scale change would immediately deliver at least $140 million in fuel savings to airlines alone. More significantly, carriers could position to play a more integral role in onboard duty-free merchandising programs and as a result command a greater revenue share from duty-free and merchandise sales. The US $3 billion in duty-free merchandise currently purchased during flight could potentially balloon to 10 times this volume by using onboard retail platforms integrated with onboard catalogs and in-flight entertainment systems with fulfillment occurring upon arrival.
The prelude to this scenario will soon be launched by GuestLogix and a major global airline involving the integration of the GuestLogix Mobile Virtual Store™ retail platform and a leading onboard catalog shopping company. While not specifically focused on duty-free, the catalog offers a broader array of products than any duty-free program today, not to mention it provides home delivery. Delivery allows operators to sell higher priced items without the usual duty-free credit card cap because purchases can be readily authorized prior to shipment.
Using the GuestLogix solution, operators will be able to run promotions during flight to optimize sales on each on each leg of travel with product suppliers paying for advertising and product placement.
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