Dutyfly: ‘Change how we sell to create a real differentiation’

By Andrew Pentol |

dutyfly-video

Dutyfly Solutions believes visibility, digital and differentiation are key to ensuring a successful inflight business.

The Lagardère Inflight and Servair joint venture, Dutyfly Solutions, has declared itself ‘quite happy’ with 2017 performance as it looks to find new brands and create further differentiation between airports and downtown in 2018 [see below video].

The wholly-owned subsidiary of Lagardère Travel Retail (50%) and Servair (50%) runs the duty programmes on 10 European airlines. These include Air France, Alitalia, Luxair, Iberia and Czech Airlines.

Dutyfly Solutions, Marketing & Commercial Manager, Caroline Docq told TRBusiness: “We were quite happy with the results of 2017 because we made some changes on different airlines.

INTERESTING RESULTS

“On Air France, for example, we had quite interesting results with pre-order which is important in terms of increasing the digital experience.”

Reflecting on 2018 to date, Docq said the aim of the company, which appointed Louis Dambrine as new General Manager earlier this year, was to renew all products and find new brands. She remarked: “We always want more differentiation which is key to developing business.

“Local brands are always stronger. On Spanish airlines, for example, we are looking at Spanish brands. When we are able to offer them the results are positive.”

Digital is key to developing business inflight, according to Docq. “This is because airlines are becoming more connected and we need to use this connectivity to communicate and provide visibility which is vital inflight.

“We have the crew, but we need to give visibility to the passenger thanks to wifi and digital. Everyone is travelling with a personal device. We need to change the image of inflight duty free.”

KEY CHALLENGES

All things considered, visibility and differentiation are the key challenges facing the inflight duty business. “When talking to someone about inflight it is always the same and uninteresting.

“We need to change that and make it more modern. We need to change how we sell products to create a real differentiation with the airport and local market. It needs to become more appealing.”

Click here for the main highlights from the TFWA Inflight workshop in Cannes.

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