The latest commission-based avenue of profit maximisation for airlines is the sale of Virtual Products (VPs). This form of Ancillary Revenue has grown in awareness over the last couple of years and is now at the forefront of several major airlines onboard sales initiatives.
Virtual Products are weightless items sold through the airline’s onboard Point-of-Sale device. Passengers are given by crew a printed voucher with a barcode which is exchanged for the product at the incoming destination. This can also be extended to the delivery of items ordered to the passenger’s home or work.
The inventory of products is endless due to the nature of the items being weightless. This has been more commonly used in the past for selling items like train and bus tickets; however the potential of VPs are being explored in more depth and the possibilities extended. Currently, airlines are targeting passenger’s onboard leisure routes with tickets to leading tourist attractions and in the near future, on-line capabilities will allow for the sale of limited availability products such as tickets to sporting and theatrical events.
Novo Ivc is currently working with a number of our clients to facilitate the sale of Virtual Products onboard. The most popular attractions include:
- Disneyland Paris
- Disneyland resort and Disney's California Adventure Los Angeles
- Walt Disney World Resort Miami
- Legoland Discovery Centre
- Madame Tussauds
- Sea Life Aquarium
- The Dungeons
- City Cards
- Hop-on Hop-off Tours
- San Francisco Cable Car Tours
For a full list of Companies and Attractions, please Download the Virtual Products Suite and for more information please contact Novo Ivc.
The sale of Duty Free Items and Food & Beverage makes up a key component of pleasing passengers during a flight, as well as maximising revenue for the airline. This is further enhanced with the capability of passengers to Pre Order products.
Pre Order is the ability of the airline to provide an item for a passenger onboard which they requested before the flight. This is used most frequently for dietary meals or meal upgrades but can be extended to include any product in the airline’s inventory – duty free, high value items and Virtual Products. This additional facility increases the passenger’s perceived consumer control and absolute retail opportunity.
Novo Ivc’s SkyPOS software for onboard retail devices has a module specifically built to handle Pre Orders and the products associated. The information is loaded from the Back Office system onto the onboard device which then informs crew of the products to be distributed to passengers. Payment is taken onboard through the POS.
