BrainTrust Query: American Airlines - Buying the Friendly Skies?
American Airlines recently announced that it will be testing a retail sales program aboard selected flights. With the help of on-board internet connectivity, passengers will be able to shop from their seats for many items. In other cases, the airline will be looking to its flight attendants to take an active role in selling products and services.
Much of the merchandise is said to be similar to what's currently found in the infamous SkyMall catalog, known for its off-the-wall items such as video-recording sunglasses and spy-camera watches. Other proposed product offerings under the new program include things such as live performance tickets and limousine rides. Even Disney is considering selling park passes on select flights.
When it comes to new retail concepts I firmly believe in pushing the boundaries of convention. That said, I think this program will fail. Not because I disagree with the idea of being able to buy what we want, whenever and wherever we want. It's because the realities of air travel are virtually incompatible with successful retail.
Planes Make Lousy Stores: The conditions in a plane don't lend themselves to making a purchase that's anything more than a necessity. It's noisy, you have very little room to move and you're often dead tired from work or play - not to mention running the security gauntlet. Agonizing over what size of heated dog bed to buy is probably the last thing you want to do on the red-eye between Portland and Chicago.
We're Conditioned to Being Ripped Off: When was the last time you bought anything on board a plane that you thought was of surprising value or quality? The truth is, we're conditioned to being ruthlessly gouged by air carriers and we resent it. I'll typically only buy food on an aircraft if I'm desperately hungry because I resent overpaying for a horrible meal. I can't imagine experiencing the same irrational urgency to buy tickets to Wicked or a pair of lawn aerator sandals... but that's just me.
Flight Attendants Are Not Salespeople: The airline industry has sunken so low in terms of service standards that the role of a flight attendant is now almost purely getting you from A to B safely. Safety is of course of utmost importance but sadly they seem to do so with very little interest in brightening your day or enriching the flying experience. To suddenly expect these same people to morph into cheerful, knowledgeable salespeople between cabin prep and cross-check simply defies logic.
Above all, there's one thing working against this concept. It's the nagging question that will play on the minds of passengers like me. Instead of resorting to peddling stuff to make a few extra bucks, why couldn't American (and most other airlines) just put more effort into making their customers feel happy comfortable and valued? That's something I'd gladly pay $15.00 dollars to experience.
Discussion Question: Is airline travel incompatible with retailing? Is there a better opportunity to reach captive airline travelers beyond the SkyMall catalog? How might adding online capabilities expand the shopping potential on airlines?