gategroup announces retail platform trial with easyJet
gategroup has announced today it will be launching a winter trial of its Epax digital retail solution, with one of Europe’s leading airlines easyJet. gategroup is working in partnership with its long-term analytics partner, Black Swan Data.
"The introduction of Epax will offer airline customers an intuitive, convenient, and engaging way to access inflight retail services, allowing them to browse, order and buy from inflight retail ranges, all from their own mobile devices," reads the November 18 press release from gategroup.
Passengers will be able to access a full on-board retail offering in one location from their own personal device, keeping physical contact with equipment or material onboard to a minimum.
Traditionally airlines have only offered seat-back screens for inflight content. Epax is the first platform to deliver access to a full on-board retail offering direct to a passenger’s own device. The retail experience will be accessible via simple connection to an onboard wireless network through a browser.
Epax will support more relevant choices, using machine learning and data driven innovation to offer a smarter inflight retail experience. Customers will be presented with more of what they want, based on factors such as flight destination, flight duration and time of day, as well as insights generated by a wealth of inflight retail data.
Furthermore, by removing the need for physical menus and brochures the platform has the potential to remove hundreds of tonnes of paper a year from the cabin, while smarter loading of cabins based on retail data can be anticipated to reduce waste.
“We are delighted to be partnering with easyJet to be working on this innovative industry-first solution and to trial a mobile, end to end retail experience in the cabin," said Federico Germani, Chief Commercial Officer at gategroup. "At gategroup we are committed to data driven innovation across our retail offerings, providing value not only to the end passenger but also helping our airline partners build superior customer experiences.”
