WASHINGTON — Travel technologists often decry the outdated feel of flight shopping, especially from a visual perspective compared to other e-commerce experiences.
For example, take this commentary on Home Depot from the 2023 Phocuswright report.
“Customers looking for something as simple as a nail (worth less than $1) can get a 360-degree view of the product, complete specifications, ratings, reviews, and more,” the report says. “Would the same be true for airline tickets that are worth 100, 200, or even 1,000 times more?”
Now, ATPCO says, airplane shoppers can expect a rapid increase in these photos and videos.
Over the course of this year, airline-owned fare declaration repositories and technology providers tripled the number of flight queries accessing programming interfaces used to deploy product images to 6 billion per week. Provide your video to your sales channels. Some of those images include photos of airplane seats, in-flight entertainment screens, and meals.
Additionally, according to ATPCO, 48% of the world's flight schedules now include some kind of associated image or video that can be used as a sales tool within the booking channel.
“Consumers are starting to expect this type of information,” ATPCO Director Alex Zoglin said at the Elevate + TravelConnect conference co-hosted by ARC and ATPCO here this month. “When they go to Amazon, they're going to see rich photos and videos, but for airline tickets they're going to spend five to 10 times that amount and they're going to see text-only rules. From a consumer perspective. Then it’s uncomfortable.”
ATPCO dominates the market for visual flight shopping displays through its RouteHappy merchandising solution. But don't confuse the company's bullish data with its rollout of photo and video shopping assistance services.
ATPCO said it does not know what percentage of flight searches actually result in such images. However, 42 airlines, including Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines, have integrated agreements with Routehappy for photo and video content. And ATPCO says the display is used in more than 30 third-party aviation sales channels, including his three major GDSs. His OTAs such as Trip.com and Expedia. Corporate booking tools, including Concur. and metasearch site Kayak.
However, the development is not consistent. For example, in mid-April, Expedia's photo and video display was only visible within the U.S. market via the iPhone operating system, while Kayak Photos was suspended on the site's U.S. Leisure market due to a redesign, ATPCO said. Stated.
One airline that heavily uses photos in its merchandising is United. The company offers his 3D view of the aircraft interior during the seat selection portion of the United.com booking process.
A photo of the United Airlines Airbus A319 interior that airline shoppers see when choosing their seats.Photo by Robert Silk
But do images work?
For proprietary reasons, Zoglin said he is not at liberty to provide details about the impact photo and video assets have had on conversions for airlines and third-party sales channels.
“The best way to say it is that we're charging for this service and they're willing to pay because it's working well,” he said.
For skeptical consumers, the idea of displaying regular airline seats and in-flight entertainment screens as a merchandising technique may seem less appealing.
But a Phocuswright survey last fall found that travelers of all ages love such displays, with younger people showing the strongest interest. Among flyers aged 18 to 34, 47% of respondents agree they are more likely to book a flight with a visual depiction of a product than one without. Did. Only 18% opposed it.
According to airline merchandisers, photos and videos are particularly useful as tools to encourage flyers to purchase premium seats and fare products.
