Its catalog is in lots of planes, but Skymall gets 30% of sales on the web
Skymall’s catalog is on hand in 97% of domestic flights and is viewed by 86 million airplane passengers per day. Skymall has been targeting a captive audience with a mix of high-end products from big catalog names such as the Sharper Image and Hammacher Schlemmer since its launch in 1991. But with a $20 million investment in IT, it moved from a manual distribution process, much like duty-free deliveries on international flights, to a web-driven inventory-less system to cut costs, Coleman Gardner, director of technical operations and data management at Skymall Inc., said at the Retail Systems 2002 conference this week in Chicago. The ROI is still being realized, he says, but notes that sales are up 5% this year over last year.
The company had $70 million in total revenue in 2001, 30% of which came from the web, Gardner said. Skymall developed an e-commerce strategy in 1999 to take advantage of the new market opportunity. Skymall also has used online redemption of loyalty programs to boost sales, he said. Skymall’s deal with Mariott Earnings and Rewards helped boost average orders from $80 to $100. Skymall also plans to re-launch a program with Carlson Gold Points in late 2002 or early 2003, he said.
Skymall also plans to move into TV commerce, where customers order goods from their television sets, Gardner told conference attendees. Orders will be transmitted via XML to Skymall’s order systems. Gardner said the company is testing sales over 1,000 TV units but did not elaborate on the pilot. Skymall is owned by Gemstar TV Guide, which is developing a TV commerce program.
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