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Korean Air has done it again.
The world’s most successful – and arguably most innovative – inflight retailer has now stretched the boundaries of online retailing.
Its new-look website, CyberShyShop.com(http://www.cyberskyshop.com/english/index.aspx) is one of the best examples we have seen of travel retail embracing the online opportunity.
In fact until now there have been precious few embraces. The travel retail channel in general retains – mysteriously – a largely half-hearted relationship with the online community.
The Moodie Report is currently researching – and assessing – each and every travel retail offer online. Since we did a similar exercise three years ago the number of sites has grown but the quality has barely crept ahead.
There are honourable exceptions – notably in Australasia, the Middle East and the airline community. But not many.
Too few sites showcase all or most of their range; too few show quality visuals; too few allow online ordering; and pitifully too few show retail pricing.
A quality website allows a travel retailer (especially an airline which already enjoys a relationship with the traveller) a marvellous opportunity to interact with the consumer; to talk up the offer; and to develop pre-order sales.
In a retail channel which constantly bemoans its own low penetration rates, it continues to baffle us why more retailers do not at least attempt to radically enhance their online presence and drive traffic towards it.
In contrast, click on CyberSkyShop.com, then choose any of the SKUs featured on the home page. Note the quality imagery (enlarged with a click), the pricing, the description, the shopping cart, and the snazzy zoom/magnifying facillity.
There is good segmentation of the offer, an emphasis on customer service and a Korean Air miles reward scheme.
The site is almost certainly even better in its native Korean (sadly my linguistic skills do not stretch that far).
If readers have other examples of quality travel retail websites we’d love to hear from you. But as with its inflight magazine, Korean Air’s will take some beating.
