Kam Jandu, CCO Budapest Airport: “Budapest is a forward-thinking airport and expectations are high that this initiative will create new income streams for airline, the retailer, the brands, as well as the airport. Working together through BARTA principles opens up the opportunity to drive growth by presenting travellers with retail offers at every stage of the journey from sofa to shop to seat.”
Budapest Airport, in collaboration with Heinemann Duty Free and Wizz Air, has launched a trial of a unique new travel retail concept, which has the potential to revolutionise the duty free and travel retail industry.
The BARTA (Brand, Airline, Retailer, Technology, Airport) initiative goes beyond the existing airport-retailer-brand relationship, bringing an airline into the mix for the first time with anticipated sizeable increased revenues and footfall for all involved.
“Airlines are the first engagement for every passenger travelling through an airport, from ticket purchase to check-in, and have 100% digital connectivity with the travellers,” explains Kam Jandu, CCO Budapest Airport. “Bringing an airline into a travel retail relationship and working with its highly efficient connectivity with consumers can only serve to improve sales growth across the board.”
During the three-month trial, which started on 1 March, any departing Wizz Air passengers spending over €50 or €75 in the Hungarian gateway’s Heinemann Duty Free store will receive a €4.50 or €7.50 voucher, respectively. Customers may redeem these vouchers on board in the WIZZ Café, choosing any product from the airline’s wide selection of hot drinks, fresh sandwiches, snacks, soft drinks or alcoholic beverages.
The offers will be promoted via the digital channels of all parties, including wizzair.com and the Wizz Air App. This is the first time that Wizz Air has participated in such a shopping promotion which offers an outreach to up to 1.75 million travellers booking seats this summer.
“Budapest is a forward-thinking airport and expectations are high that this initiative will create new income streams for the airline, the retailer, the brands, as well as the airport. Working together through BARTA principles opens up the opportunity to drive growth by presenting travellers with retail offers at every stage of the journey from sofa to shop to seat,” enthuses Jandu.
Ildikó Jankovich, Managing Director Heinemann Duty Free at Budapest Airport, adds: “We all serve one common goal: it is to make air travel a truly joyful event for everybody. Thus, the promotion fits in perfectly with our philosophy to accompany our customers along their journey through individually tailored offers and services at all touchpoints. We are very proud to be celebrating this pioneering cooperation together with our longstanding partner Budapest Airport and Wizz Air and we anticipate excellent results from this.”
“Wizz Air constantly strives to improve its services and product portfolio to best meet the needs of its savvy customers. As Budapest Airport’s largest airline serving 66 destinations, we are excited to launch another innovative initiative which will create further value for customers who choose Wizz Air,” says George Michalopoulos, Chief Commercial Officer at Wizz Air.
