Alaska Airlines is utilising vPreo with more carriers set to follow.

Retail inMotion (RiM) has released a new duty free and catering pre-order interface enabling airline passengers to pre-select items for delivery to their seats.

The LSG Group member’s new vPreo solution will eventually replace the current end-to-end pre-order function, which is either in operation or being deployed with clients.

VPreo has already been implemented onboard Alaska Airlines, although passengers are able to pre-select meal options only for delivery to their seat.

This can be done up to three weeks in advance of their departure through the airline’s app or website by clicking on a ‘pre-order now’ link that presents a number of meal options for order, with duty free pre-order working in the same way.

Jan Blanchard, CCO, Retail inMotion.

‘SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENT’

Passengers can also choose to pre-order duty free and meal items for other passengers on the same booking.

RiM would not disclose the amount invested in the solution, nor the names of specific airlines set to adopt it, instead stating that a number of carriers have expressed strong interest in the solution.

“This new pre-order product is built using proven micro-services architecture technology, allowing to build, test and deploy new features and customisations in a fraction of the time originally needed for a new release,” Jan Blanchard, Chief Commercial Officer, RiM told TRBusiness.

“This is done while keeping a unique code base for all our clients, hence greatly improving the company capacity to onboard new clients and adapt the solution to their specific needs.

“Retail inMotion is constantly investing in improving its technology platform. We’ve made significant investments in the pre-order solution as it is a core element of our strategic plan. We have a dedicated pre-order team who specialised in developing the product further with new integrations and functionalities.”

Additionally, home delivery is part of the functionality of the new vPreo solution.

“We plan to deploy a solution for an airline later this year which will include an ecommerce service for browsing products, placing and paying for an order,” added Blanchard. “This will include home delivery combined with advanced reporting and marketing capabilities.”