Airport Experience® News - Post-Conference Issue 2024

Right: Roxann Favors of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Isabella Rhawie of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport shared airport positions on data sharing. Bottom: John Cugasi, representing Paradies Lagardère, and Roddy McOwan of WH Smith NA, agreed that data sharing tactics could significantly boost passenger spending.

to specific customer types, whether it’s a traveler already familiar with the app, an employee who uses it several times a week, or someone who’s never used the app but can be recruited into the program with the right messaging. The app also has a comprehensive loyalty program to further drive engagement and sales. “Maybe the most important takeaway I can give to this group is that this was very easy to set up and implement,” Hartman said. “We had a lot of customer data in place already but … this is something that we got going very quickly and started to see results from early on.” Hartman ended by touching on what’s next for LAX Order Now. “One of the things we’re really excited about is tighter integration with duty free ordering as well as pursuing more partnerships with other providers at the airport,” he said. “We think there’s an opportunity here for various constituents at the airport to work together to develop this customer journey where we kind of hand them off one by one, from pre-booking parking to buying a lounge pass to pre-ordering duty free to making food and retail purchases.” After his presentation Hartman led a panel discussion on how airports can use data to more accurately target passengers with customized travel experiences. At Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport (MSP), collecting daily data from concessionaire POS systems into an analytical dashboard has been hugely beneficial in pinpointing a concept’s level of performance, said Isabella Rhawie, assistant director of concessions & business development. “We have [data] broken down to how long the queue lines are, time of day, what SKUs are selling,” said Rhawie, noting that the information has been essential in helping determine trending retail — such as grab-and-go — as more profitable concepts for future installation. John Cugasi, a consultant for Paradies Lagardère , believes that “we are nowhere near where we could be in passenger

spending,” but that to effectively harness new data, concessionaires and airports must communicate better, despite concerns over security breaches and third-party sharing. In calculating the “two-way street” of airport-concessionaire shared data, Roddy McOwan, chief development officer at WH Smith North America argues that collection is actually “a three-way street — one entity that never gets involved is the airline,” said McOwan. He believes that data sharing “should be for the benefit of all stakeholders’’ in order for airports, airlines and concessionaires to best build a profitable ecosystem. Rhawie noted that MSP has “been really transparent about our data,” and welcomes conversations with concessionaires on what is — and isn’t — working. McOwan agrees that airport-concessionaire-airline check-ins are necessary for more accurate planning, adding that he would like to adjust the RFP process to release more data to bidders. “It’s great for the incumbent, because [they] know exactly what [their]

sales will be, but everyone else is left with second guessing,” said McOwan. Releasing prior sales data in RFPs will lead to better fitting concepts, noted McOwan. McOwan and Cugasi added that an updated view on passenger demographics is also essential to installing more targeted concessions concepts. Streamlining passenger journeys across operators can be challenging, noted Roxann Favors, assistant aviation director and chief revenue officer for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. “We have that data, and we’d love to be able to figure out how we leverage that to help them optimize sales… but within that, [there are] some constraints to make sure it’s fairly equitable for all of our business partners,” she said. Looking at whether a “shared handoff” of data could realistically be implemented, Cugasi said he hoped that there would be a way. “We know the technology — I hope we move up that curve faster. But I really believe it will be a big difference when somebody starts to make that happen.”

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AX NEWS APRIL/MAY 2024