Airport app Flio conquered one million installs at the end of last year and Chairman Brian Collie tells Luke Barras-Hill the milestone provides leverage for further growth and expansion into new markets such as the Far East.

Flio has come a long way since it launched in 2015 with a dream of becoming a one-stop global airport app.

Four years on, it has transitioned from a simple service provider (flight updates, gate changes, lounge access, parking and F&B and retail offers) to working with a number of prominent brands, retailers and operators.

RETAIL, BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT…

Today, it serves more than 3,000 airports and boasts an enviable client list containing all the above, plus the often missing part in the ‘trinity’ jigsaw – the airlines.

Partners include L’Oréal, Mondelēz, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Fraport AG, Athens Airport, Hamburg Airport, Gebr. Heinemann, HMS Host and easyJet.

Usage increased by three-and-a-half times between January and December last year and the platform dubbing itself the air traveller’s ‘flight companion’ hit one million installs by year-end, supporting its claim to being the world’s most used airport app.

Reacting to the milestone, entrepreneur, technology investor and Flio Founder and CEO Stephan Uhrenbacher said at the time that the app strives to equip passengers with an awareness of all aspects of their travel, providing better information to switch stressful journeys into efficient and enjoyable ones.

According to Flio, this approach is grounded in the value passengers ascribe to having certainty in the information they receive during their travel journeys: flight departure times, gate changes, cancellations, delays and a wider plethora of airport and retail services.

The company’s growth path been made easier via a growing number of partnerships with key stakeholders at airports, enabling the app’s users to access guidance, advice and special offers at some of the world’s busiest terminals.

Upon entering the application, they can access more than 1,500 instantly bookable services, from airport trains such as Heathrow Express to lounges or fast track, all at the touch of a button.

Additionally, the ability to monitor commercial flights in real-time and track metrics such as aircraft type, average travel times, routes and locations offers extra value to users who can receive push alerts, often before the airport makes its announcements.

Sitting alongside Uhrenbacher, the app’s brainchild, is Chairman and former BAA Group Retail Director Brian Collie. As a veritable force in the travel retail world having overseen World Duty Free’s UK retail operations and as a former Chairman at lastminute.com, Collie knows a thing or two about retailing and providing quality customer service.

As he admits, the airport retailing stratosphere has certainly changed since he presided over retailing at BAA around 25 years ago (when duty free was conveniently positioned ‘in the corner’) where he transformed the terminal operations at London Gatwick Airport North and South plus London Heathrow Airport Terminal’s 1 and 4.

“People all over the world now just accept that airports have got big shopping malls in them; back then it was world-leading, industry changing stuff,” Collie tells TRBusiness. “.

“We are in the same position now with technology. When we set out with Flio, we targeted one million installs, so for us it has been three years developing, principally, the technology and content to attract people.

“Those million downloads are users flying on average five return journeys per year. On every return journey you go through four airports, so you actually have 20m airport visits if you have one million downloads. That is the opportunity attracting advertisers as well as retailers, food & beverage operators and car parking operators.”

BESPOKE BRAND CAMPAIGNS

Collie says the app’s ability to target individual and personal product adverts at individuals rather than groups of people travelling through airports is an important facet of Flio – be it a tactical ploy to entice passengers into stores to increase penetration and conversion, or a more overt trumpeting of a particular brand message.

“The main target for all retailers and duty free operators is penetration – always has been and always will be,” notes Collie. “A terminal with maybe 10m outbound pax… two or three million of them may buy duty free. Even if you convert it into a walkthrough, not everyone will stop, browse and buy.

“Once you’ve got the penetration, it’s about attraction and conversion to sale. One of the first offers we had in the app was from World Duty Free through the UK airports and it was all about competitions and coupons that targeted offers to someone who was interested.

“By downloading the Flio app, you have a user, buyer and an interested party and know if you give them an offer, they are more likely to buy. It became an easy way to target interested parties. Now, it’s become much more than that.”

With that in mind, Collie says attentions have now shifted towards more tailored campaigns for brands. For those that typically have to fund marketing and advertising activities aimed at potential buyers solely by themselves, Flio now gives them the opportunity to talk directly to a captive audience.

“We currently have a campaign with Philip Morris for Iqos and they wanted to explain to the potential [adult] user what the technology behind it was. One of the big changes we’ve made in the past few years is moving into targeted, bespoke campaigns for the brands rather than just using coupons for the duty free operators. That works for everybody; if the brand can get the customer into the duty free shop, the shop and airport benefits.”

FAR EAST MOVEMENT

That’s not to say the travel retail market doesn’t already offer a wealth of app options for the intrepid traveller to search and use.

Indeed, a great many airports and retailers already possess their own apps and loyalty schemes – ‘Red by Dufry’ and ‘Heinemann & Me’ being just two notable examples. But choice equals competition, so the question turns invariably to whether any one given platform supersedes another by virtue of its efficiency and ease of use.

“Not everyone wants to have a dozen airport, airline or duty free apps and one of the trickiest thing I always found in duty free is most people don’t understand the ‘brand’,” remarks Collie.

“The consumer doesn’t think ‘I am going to Gatwick to Dufry because I have the Red app’, or ‘I’ll go through JFK with the Hudson app’… they just think it’s the airport’s duty free shop.

“Getting people to download retailers’ branded apps is beyond difficult. Passengers want simplicity – you need to give the traveller the opportunity to have one app that does something for everybody, whoever owns or runs the duty free or parking.

“Hand on heart, the duty free shops around the world are spectacular even compared to 10 years ago and they are part of the experience and joy for people that have time to spend at an airport, but from a technology point of view you have to look through the other end of the binoculars: who is looking for what and how we can give it to them easily. The single app makes a difference.”

One app and one access funnel may make things simpler, but is there a risk of information overload by trying to have one platform that appeals to everyone?

“There is if you continue to use a sort of shotgun approach [to technology],” concedes Collie. “What we’ve been working on now for quite some time at Flio is to personalise. The more you use the app, the more we know what you’re interested in. The adverts and offers are targeted to you and we’ve introduced additional elements.”

“We’ve added a link now for flight compensation, so if it’s delayed or cancelled, you can go through the app and process.”

When Collie and Uhrenbacher – who met at lastminute.com – started out on the Flio journey, the roadmap was to pursue airports in the UK and Germany. Once proof of concept was secured, the firm expanded across Europe where it is now established. In the US, it is also gaining users. However, there are untapped markets ahead.

“Geographically, we are looking to build our relationships with airlines but also with airports in the Far East,” confirms Collie. “That comes with the next stage of growth. You can’t do the deals and understand the issues unless you have people on the ground.

“We bootstrapped the business in the beginning and we’ve now got some very good investors who have taken a long-term view and that enables us to look further ahead.”

Pressed further about its plans for Asia and the potential to open an office there, Collie confirms it is something the firm is looking at, partly in conjunction with its partners, as it aims to tap into the continuing nirvana of Asian – and particularly Chinese – travel.

A one-year timeframe, ‘would be a good target’, he adds when asked by TRBusiness about a timescale for execution, however he concludes: “We’re not about putting flags on the map, we’re about building the brand through the users.”