Airport Experience® News - Retail Innovation Issue 2024

ABCs” of proper data collection, says Christina Apatow, co-founder and CEO of AI-powered digital infrastructure company FetchyFox and a panelist on the recent AMAC panel. Apatow recommends that every airport and concessionaire considering incorporating AI tools both find a trusted tech partner and get certified in cybertools and data handling, lest they let their data fall into the wrong hands. “You don’t want your competitive data leaked to somebody else,” she says. When airports and concessionaires manage their data properly, AI tools can help them “reduce the cognitive load while pushing the commercial experience,” says Apatow, citing a FetchyFox tool designed to increase average order values by creating custom product combinations. “In less than four months, we can see a 25% to 50% increase in average order value by creating custom combos, cross-selling and upselling. When you look at the airport as an ecosystem rather than operating in a silo,” she adds, “then you can make magic.” “We’re all learning together,” says Nikki Harland, chief operating officer at Paradies Lagardère and fellow AMAC panelist of the industry’s adoption of AI tools. Harland notes that Paradies Lagardère frames the incorporation of AI new tools above all else around solving a pain point, adding, “There’s a lot of sizzle when you hear the buzzword ‘innovation’, but really, [technology] has to actually solve something that needs to be solved.” The team at Paradies Lagardère – which has employed AI in everything from customized visual merchandising displays to a partnership with the AI-powered Clockwork manicure machine – prioritizes tools that “drive things like speed of service, operations and productivity,” says Harland. Developing and incorporating different AI systems has been “a journey for us to learn, to test and to fail and to get back up again and try different solutions to solve different things,” she adds.

The Data Management Factor Industry experts cite secure, ethical data management as the biggest challenge to incorporating artificial intelligence technology into airport ecosystems. “Big organizations like airports are understandably risk-averse. They want to be sure a new technology is really ready, secure, and cost effective before getting involved,” says Nussbaum. “There are a lot of positives and benefits to all stakeholders in implementing AI but, of course, like everything else in life and technology, you have to err on the side of ethical, responsible and secure use of AI,” adds PIT’s Nayyar. “In a rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, building a responsible business use case for AI involves more than just keeping up with technological trends. It requires a mindful evaluation of the environmental (besides the societal) impact, ensuring that the adoption of AI technologies is not solely driven by the hype but by a genuine need and a clear return on investment,” he adds, citing PIT’s plan to collect and analyze in-store data as a predictive model for airport traffic and demand forecasting, enabling the “development of customized and targeted sales and marketing strategies which will help the passengers and also help our retail partners.” To stay secure , airports and concessionaires must follow “the

Above: Paradies Lagardère prioritizes AI tools that drive things like speed of service, operations and productivity, says Nikki Harland, chief operating officer.

One airport already marrying artificial intelligence and cutting-edge digital interplay is John F. Kennedy International Airport Terminal 4 (JFK), where LA-based communications platform Proto has showcased holographic, interactive appearances by celebrity Howie Mandel and installed curated programming from the Bronx Zoo in the airport’s busy terminal. Proto founder and CEO David Nussbaum says that Proto’s temporary programs have the capacity to become more permanent ones focused on customer interaction and transaction. “When Terminal 4 is ready for it, Proto’s AI can offer real-time flight updates, personalized advice, and showcase the terminal’s best art and food spots,” says Nussbaum. For their part, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) executives say that they are in the process of exploring potential AI uses around wayfinding and digital concierge services, product recommendations, digital product experience, real time information and assistance, multilingual support, customer feedback analysis, entertainment and product storytelling, resource and staff allocation based on predictive capabilities of AI systems and artificial reality for advertising purposes.

Left: LA-based communications platform Proto showcased a holographic interactive appearance by celebrity Howie Mandel and installed curated programming from the Bronx Zoo in JFK Terminal 4.

16

AX NEWS SEPTEMBER 2024