Airlines are always looking around the industry at best practices. For carriers in emerging markets, where Internet penetration is lower and e-commerce strategies are less advanced, leading European and US carriers are often studied closely.
For example, Volaris marketing director Jose Calderoni says the Mexican low-cost carrier has looked closely at what Southwest Airlines and Virgin America are doing online, as well as the web strategies of leading retailers and even politicians. "We can learn from other companies and countries, and apply their novelties here," Calderoni says
Calderoni says his team has received great access to Southwest's e-commerce and marketing gurus, who have been eager to share their strategies with Volaris since the two carriers forged a partnership in 2007.
While Volaris and Southwest do not plan to begin codesharing until late this year, Southwest has already helped Volaris build brand awareness in the USA by promoting Volaris fares on its "click and save" e-mails. Southwest.com is also already hosting a Volaris micro-site and Calderoni says more joint e-commerce marketing efforts are expected once the codeshare formally begins.This has enabled Volaris to market in the USA without having to invest in traditional print, radio or television advertising. "It's totally an online effort," says Calderoni.
Colombian low-cost carrier Aires also has the Internet to support its new US services. Aires e-marketing chief Alexandra Guevara says so far it has targeted Colombians residing in the USA through a Spanish language online marketing and advertising campaign. But Guevara says Aires is now working on an English version of its website to support the second part of its strategy, which includes targeting the leisure market.
About a third of Aires' tickets are now sold online, including 43% on US routes. Guevara says Aires focused on improving its website and driving more sales to the online channel since transitioning to a low-cost model early last year. "Internet is the main driver in the company strategy," she says. "And we are working in different activities to increase web sales, like cross-selling, up-selling, mobile sales, one-to-one digital etc."
Guevara points out that Colombia now has the third highest Internet penetration rate in Latin America after Argentina and Brazil, and has seen a 93% surge in broadband subscribers over the last three years. "This shows the opportunities of the Colombian market in digital strategies," she says.
Calderoni says Volaris is similarly well positioned to capitalise on Mexico's fast Internet growth. Volaris.com.mx already accounts for about 60% of the carrier's bookings, which makes it one of the largest and fastest growing websites in the country. Calderoni says on average online sales only account for 10% of total sales at Mexican retailers. "We see very rapid growth of usage. We are now trying to make our site more friendly so every grandmother can use it."
SITA senior product manager access and ancillary products Jill Cox says claims that online sales in the airline industry are starting to plateau are overblown because they fail to take into account markets outside North America and Europe. "There are a lot of airlines that still have a lot of work to do to fully implement the channel," Cox says, pointing out several airlines have not yet even begun selling non-air products on their websites. "There are a lot of things still to be done. We're not mature yet."
Source: Airline Business
