Pre-flight checks, safety demonstrations, emergency response, aircraft security, food and drink service, passenger announcements, inventory, stocktaking, flight reports, aircraft security – there are many facets to the cabin crew role. Like any workplace, not everyone will excel in (or enjoy) every aspect of their job, and selling onboard is one area crew often struggle with. After all, being a good salesperson doesn’t come naturally to everyone.
“Not all crew will think retail is their best skill,” says Anthony Carson, Global Crew Engagement Manager at Retail inMotion. “Instead they may have a talent for making announcements, merchandising or connecting with people.”
With the proliferation of onboard connectivity and an increasingly ‘serve-yourself’ aviation model, there have been questions raised about the relevance of crew engagement for onboard retail, observes Lance Hayward, Founder and Managing Director of The Hayward Partnership, who adds: “But more recently, I’m of the opinion that it really does matter.”
Hayward argues that once onboard, the travel experience is unique and should be recognised as such. Just as travellers might make an impulsive purchase while killing time at the airport waiting for their departure gate to be called, passengers might also buy something once onboard, or at least pass some time flicking through the retail selection in the inflight magazine.
“It is one of the few points of the journey from home to destination where it’s possible to have an oasis of positive human interaction, over a relatively long period of time if you are on a medium or long-haul flight.”
Through effective training and well thought out incentives, airlines can transform crew into confident, expert personal shoppers to help guide a purchase. “This would bring a rewarding experience for crew members, the passengers and the airline,” says Hayward.
But how much airlines invest in retail training depends on their business model.
“Of course, it can be expensive to provide world-class training, especially if you take crew offline and staff turnover is high,” he explains. “In this respect, I would recommend airlines take a holistic view on ROI [Return on Investment] and include the metrics of revenue growth, NPS [Net Promoter Score] and crew commission and retention when reviewing the business case.”
Product placement
Even with the best sales people walking down the aircraft aisle, the first step is to ensure you make the right product selection for your potential buyers.
“Icelandair renews the product selection a few times a year to keep the offering fresh and exciting,” says the airline’s Operations Analyst Thorunn Gudmundsdottir.
Getting regular feedback from crew is key to knowing when product choice needs updating.
“It is important to have [a route of] communication between cabin crew and the office,” adds Gudmundsdottir.
“Our crew have a clear communication path to the Icelandair onboard team, and we encourage them to give us feedback on new products or if there are changes in consumption, which we can verify and monitor with sales data.”
Crew are more likely to want to sell products they believe in, explains Sunclass Airlines Head of Inflight Product and Catering, Tobias Ögren.
“It’s important to engage crew to want to sell the products and not ‘force’ them to do so. Having a great assortment of products means crew are more motivated to sell. It is all about inspiring them to become better at selling, instead of pushing them.”
Combination code
Exclusive onboard offers appeal to passengers and also make it easier for crew to sell with confidence.
Combos, where you can buy one item and get another for half price, or special collections of products at an exclusive onboard price, are likely to entice passengers.
Meal deals are especially effective, when passengers can get a sandwich, snack and a drink for a discounted price. Making these clearly displayed in inflight brochures and shared in onboard announcements gives crew a head start.
“The key is to announce all products at the front using the handset,” advises Viva Aerobus Onboard Services Manager, Marcos Flores González.
But if the onboard announcements don’t catch the attention of passengers, cabin crew can remind people as they are making their purchase, prompting them by saying “For only €1 more you can also have a hot or cold drink,” for example.
Retail rewards
Perhaps the most effective way to encourage cabin crew to find their inner salesperson is through incentives, both for individuals and for onboard teams.
“Cabin crew receive commission on all items sold onboard,” says Icelandair’s Gudmundsdottir. “We also monitor sales and every two weeks send out a report where we highlight the crew who sold the most for that period. With this we hope to motivate other cabin crew members to reach that list and sell more onboard.”
Sunclass takes a similar approach. “Crew get commission and we also arrange different sale competitions,” says Ögren.
Iberojet pays a percentage commission on total sales per flight but the amount is also based on comparisons with other flights of the same length (such as domestic, European or long-haul) so that commission is calculated depending on whether total sales are below, the same, or above the average for that flight.
“We also give prizes for the best-selling cabin crew each month,” says the airline’s Director of Customer Experience Juan José Salgueiro.
He explains that motivating crew is more difficult on long-haul flights where teams are larger – eight to 10 people – so the commission per person is low.
“We have a monthly incentive programme, usually sponsored, where we give out Amazon gift cards to cabin crew members who excel at selling onboard F&B and retail products,” says González at Viva Aerobus.
Carson at Retail inMotion recommends running sporadic, short-term incentives to reduce stock or drive a quick uplift in sales, for example, to shift items with a short shelf life.
A problem shared
The difficulties of motivating crew to sell was high on the agenda earlier this year at the first meeting of INK [Inflight Network of Knowledge], a new industry knowledge-sharing group for airlines with buy-on-board programmes.
“We are looking into new ways to incentivise cabin crew to sell onboard. Conversations at the INK meeting were lively on this topic and we got great ideas from our colleagues around the world,” said Gudmundsdottir at Icelandair.
Ögren at Sunclass Airlines said he came away from the meeting with the idea of running more competitions to motivate crew, while others learned about the power of ‘combos’.
Laura Heijmann, Transavia Buy on Board Manager and Inflight Sales Manager and one of the founding members of the INK network, notes: “It was reassuring to see that we all have the same challenges.” •
