MIAMI: The push for mobile-first strategies within airlines must begin in the executive suite and extend throughout the organization if airlines hope to keep pace with a fast-moving mobile market and $800 billion in revenue potential by 2020, as per a report published by CellPoint Mobile.
Report Recommondations
Mobile payments: Offer a range of mobile payments to meet current passenger demand and position airlines for ancillary revenue opportunities and the expectations of mobile-first, tech-savvy Millennials who will soon dominate the travel marketplace.
Mobile loyalty: Rebuild loyalty programs from the ground up to support mobile-first sign-up, payments, redemption and personalized marketing
Mobile marketing: Explore conversational communications via chatbots and video messaging to leverage passengers’ smartphones for transactions, interactions, upsell and cross-sell opportunities
Mobile innovation: Consider the potential of blockchain-supported products and services for payments, passenger IDs, security and loyalty program transactions – an initiative supported by the company’s recent launch of a blockchain-focused Travel Innovation Hub.
“The 2017 Imperative for Global Airlines” report examines the quickly evolving payments ecosystem and the behaviors of airline customers who increasingly rely on mobile devices for travel-related transactions, interactions and communications.
The report focuses on key strategies for airlines as they struggle to keep pace with passenger behaviors, more than 80% of whom travel with smartphones and mobile devices, and marketplace innovation being driven externally by payment technology companies, mobile device manufacturers and others.
CellPoint Mobile, a provider of mobile-first commerce and payment solutions for airlines and travel companies, urges airlines to embrace mobile-first strategies and capabilities “quickly and comprehensively if they are to emerge as passengers’ full-service ‘mobile travel companions.”
“With directives that start within the highest levels of the executive suite, airlines and travel companies must quickly begin to infuse mobile-first strategies throughout other business services so that loyalty programs, passenger interactions, transactions and ancillary sales can serve passengers well and capture new revenues from the mobile marketplace,” said Kristian Gjerding, CEO CellPoint Mobile and author of the report.
Emboldened by a mobile-centric strategy, airlines can attract more passengers, create more opportunities and paths to purchase, cater to a younger, mobile-focused customer, re-energize their loyalty programs, and position themselves for success in the mobile environment,” he added.
Musafir Namah Bureau