John de Giorgio CEO of Concessionaire Analyzer+: “I think the most important point is that airports currently don’t collect sufficient data. What CA+ allows them to do is fully automate the collection of detailed sales data, which typically means transactional level data collected in real-time.”
Commercial revenues are increasingly important for airports of all sizes. Creative concepts and cutting-edge technologies are essential elements in driving passenger spend, and John de Giorgio, CEO of Concessionaire Analyzer+, gave Airport Business an insight into how airports can control, manage and boost their vital non-aeronautical revenues.
The commercial and retail environment in airports has never been more important, providing revenues that make a crucial contribution towards profitability and funding infrastructure developments. Indeed, when airports are investing in new infrastructure, the commercial space is often a key element in those plans.
John de Giorgio is the CEO of Concessionaire Analyzer+, a division of Shireburn Software Ltd, the company he founded in 1983. He specialises in assisting airports in controlling, managing and boosting their vital non-aeronautical revenues, and gave Airport Business a fascinating insight into the ways in which this can be achieved.
De Giorgio explained that the Concessionaire Analyzer+ software solution helps airports to maximise non-aeronautical revenues. “I think the most important point is that airports currently don’t collect sufficient data,” he began. “What CA+ allows them to do is fully automate the collection of detailed sales data, which typically means transactional level data collected in real-time.”
This enables airports to undertake a deep level of analysis and gain a detailed insight into what’s happening in their terminals, with a greater certainty of accuracy. “We also provide automation and productivity gains, by cutting manual processes into a much more streamlined, automated process. So control, automation and insight are the three return on investment drivers,” de Giorgio added.
The level of interest and acceptance within the industry has reportedly been extremely high, and the references certainly bear this out. Concessionaire Analyzer+ is currently working with several airports, which in Europe include Copenhagen, Keflavik and Malta International. The solution can also be provided in a multi-airport environment, and Concessionaire Analyzer+ is speaking with a number of operators, some of which operate several airports.
Tangible results are being seen at these airports. “This is in terms of the airports being able to better understand not just the general performance of non-aeronautical activities, but also to drill into the data and allow them to understand on which routes they are being more effective, and how particular concessionaires are performing,” de Giorgio explained. “The airports can only be as good as their concessionaires are.”
Armed with a real-time understanding of their business, commercial teams can be refocused from data collection to data analysis and business development, optimising the retail mix and conversion.
By utilising these tools, airports can be more focused and effective with their non-aeronautical revenues. CA+ provides the opportunity to improve controls and reduce the delay in data analysis, increasing agility and responsiveness to trends as they happen. “Armed with a real-time understanding of their business, commercial teams can be refocused from data collection to data analysis and business development, optimising the retail mix and conversion,” de Giorgio commented. “Digital advertising can be taken to a whole new level, with shorter campaigns targeting specific passengers and flights with real time sales results available for analysis immediately.”
Looking ahead, the strategy is to consolidate market share and, in terms of a roadmap, one area Concessionaire Analyzer+ is working on is integration with passenger flow systems to be able to correlate that data with CA+ data. It is also looking at the ability to use the data to undertake and automate the predictive analytics, to undertake forecasting of future sales and revenues within an airport.
