Personalized retailing: An airline roadmap to revenue growth

For airlines, personalized retailing is the key to increasing revenue and elevating the passenger experience. However, achieving true personalization has historically been a challenge for airlines due to siloed data, narrow ‘loyalty-centric thinking’, scalability issues, and industry standards working against them.

Historical personalization challenges

Data silos and departmental views make it extremely difficult to consolidate and agree on a comprehensive 360-degree view of each passenger. Even when data is aggregated, there has been a limited and narrow way of thinking that has equated loyalty programs alone with true personalization.

Another major obstacle has been the large number of anonymous shoppers, where it was previously very hard to infer their preferences and provide a personalized experience. Scalability is also a huge challenge – developing cohort-based offers is vastly different than creating true 1:1 personalized offers at scale. To make matters worse, industry data standards have made the personalization job even more difficult for airlines.

A large number of anonymous shoppers is a major obstacle. And to make matters worse, industry data standards have made the personalization job even more difficult for airlines.

Getting started with personalized retailing

Despite these hurdles, there are practical ways airlines can get started. It will likely require a cultural shift within the airline itself. The first step is to develop a clear “roadmap” outlining what personalization capabilities you can deliver today versus what you aspire to in the future. Bring together cross-functional leaders to map where the required customer data currently resides and identify any gaps that need to be filled.

Start small by constructing offers with just one or two dynamic personalized variables. Let technology solutions be your friend and aide in this process. Use the successes from these initial simple personalized offers to gradually progress further along your roadmap.

Take personalization to the next level

For airlines already advanced in personalized retailing, Sabre’s Air Price IQ enables true 1:1 offer optimization at enterprise scale using generative AI/ML models trained on your data. The ability to rapidly experiment with various offer permutations, aided by Sabre Travel AI™ and our partnership with Google, to quickly test and learn what resonates, really lets you take personalization to the next level. This is where Sabre’s experts get most excited!

Ultimately, an airline’s ability to execute personalized experiences that surprise and delight travelers will set them apart. The journey is complex, but Sabre’s Retail Intelligence suite continuously analyzes customer interactions and optimizes across all touchpoints, simplifying the process.

Want to learn more about personalization and the transition to modern retailing?

Watch Sabre’s Bhaskara Guntreddy break it down in even more detail: