Emirates customers have been snapping up exclusive duty-free retail products from the airline’s EmiratesRED duty free catalogue, but instead of doing this during their flight, they are now opting to pre-order and purchase these items before they fly.
Once onboard, Emirates crew will then deliver the passenger’s pre-ordered duty-free items directly to their seat.
Since the soft launch of its pre-order service on emiratesred.com in July, Emirates claims it has seen a healthy response from customers across all routes, with exclusive items such as luxury fragrances Creed Aventus and Boadicea The Victorious, and popular items such as fine watches and the latest tech, being snapped up. New luxury products are being added regularly and all orders will be delivered in exclusive packaging.
Emirates customers can pre-order their duty-free items from 21 days up to 40 hours before flight departure. The service is currently available to customers in all classes on all Emirates flights departing from Dubai. Emirates will progressively offer this pre-order service on flights inbound to its Dubai hub.
By dynamically managing its onboard inventory through pre-order, Emirates is able to reduce fuel burn and its carbon footprint by reducing weight on each flight. Since relaunching EmiratesRED inflight retail onboard in September 2020, Emirates has seen key inflight retail performance indicators surpass pre-pandemic levels including revenue per customer.
In the coming months, the airline will expand its pre-order product range to become the primary platform for adding travel add-ons to any Emirates flight, with more exclusive products including special tickets to some of Dubai’s main attractions, bespoke items created for Emirates, and limited-edition items sourced from some of the world’s leading brands and vineyards.
The technology platform powering the EmiratesRED pre-order service was developed by Bonflite, a company which has emerged from Intelak, one of the UAE’s most established incubator programmes for travel and aviation start-ups.
