China Eastern Airlines Launched World 1st Inflight Shopping Festival "Air to Home"

November 30th, Shanghai, a new event appeared on China Eastern's new retail strategic map: China Eastern airlines and BlueFocus IFEC launched the first "Air to Home" Inflight Shopping Festival in the world together. It marks the traditional retail of China's civil aviation has been rewritten, and allows passengers to enjoy the new shopping experience in the air in the future.

Mr. Guosong Qi, Director of China Eastern Media Co., Ltd; Mr. Xuemin Shangguan, Party Secretary of Eastern Airlines E-Business Co., Ltd; Kyle Cheung, Deputy Director of Transformation Office of China Eastern Airlines; Mr. Scott Xiong, Board Secretary & COO of BlueFocus Communication Group; and Mr. Yong Li, CEO of BlueFocus IFEC Technology Co., Ltd, attended the conference.

Major Players of China's Inflight Internet

Currently, the global inflight Internet is developing rapidly. There are around 50 airlines providing inflight Internet services and more than 4000 Wi-Fi equipped aircrafts in the world. 80 percent of the North American aircrafts provide inflight Internet services, followed by Europe and the Middle East; and Asian is behind. Compared to the development of Internet and big data, China's inflight Internet is obviously behind the US and other western developed countries. As one of the three largest airlines in China, China Eastern Airlines has realized that the best way to face changes of times is to join the inflight Internet business.

It's obvious that China Eastern is ambitious, and has become the leader on the practice of China's inflight Internet. It has also become the largest and most mature IFEC fleet in China with 73 Wi-Fi equipped aircraft; which not only provide the new Internet experience and service for passengers, but also generate more profits for the airline, especially for the inflight E-commerce. There is no doubt that the new inflight retail based on the Internet flight scene will be the new for inflight E-commerce growth in the future; and differentiated services may be the one of the key points of airlines layout.

This Inflight Shopping Festival is jointly created by China Eastern Airlines and BlueFocus IFEC. BlueFocus IFEC is the very first high-tech enterprise to enter inflight Internet operation in China; it also marks BlueFocus Communications Group stepping into the inflight Internet industry. Founded in 2015, BlueFocus IFEC have independently developed the IFEC operating platform BAO and marketing platform BAM for airlines; it already launched various new marketing strategy based on Internet flight scene with many airlines; and it is the only high-tech enterprise that provides full IFEC channel and operation.

With the development of mobile Internet, passenger's consumption patterns have been migrating to online. New technology is essential to create a new inflight shopping experience, as well as product selection, purchasing, sales and logistics. For the first times, this December, China Eastern has selected more than 30 fancy, special and new products to enter "Air To Home" event based on the big data analytic result of over 10 million passenger's purchase preference. There are not only famous skin care brands Whoo and Wet'n'Wild; but also independent designer brands De Yeen jewels. In terms of purchasing method, in addition to the traditional cabin Magazine Easternmall, China Eastern APP join inflight purchasing for the first time. As to prices, passengers can not only enjoy the lowest price of this event, but also use China Eastern's points to purchase, and earn points through cash transactions. Logistics system is also remarkable, all of the products will be free delivered to passengers' home. The one-stop inflight online shopping experience is created for passengers, which fully shows China Eastern's innovation to closely link the scene value, user experience, sunk points and CRM together.

The scene of the conference venue was simulated to China Eastern cabin at 2 PM on November 30th, and the Inflight Shopping Festival aircraft named "Air to Home" is decorated with scientific and technological scene. Every guest presented at the conference is able to simulate the purchasing process of the Inflight Shopping Festival, the ground-air-connected session allows guests to experience the purchasing process in the sky. For Kyle Cheung, Deputy Director of Transformation Office of China Eastern Airlines, "the new inflight e-commerce retail in China" is a change of thinking angle. "The traditional inflight retail is dominated by airlines; passengers buy what airline supplies. However, the new inflight e-commerce retail is dominated by passengers; airlines supplies what passengers want; and the passengers decide to whether to shop online or offline and where to deliver.

The number of China's civil aviation passenger is expected to reach 670 million in 2017, this is a large and high-quality inflight consumer group. With the rapid development of China's inflight Internet and the relaxation of in-flight Wi-Fi services policy, a hundred-billion-yuan new retail era of inflight consumption is coming. How to build a perfect one-stop inflight consumer service experience to upgrade the airlines service is a common problem faced by many Chinese airlines. Nowadays, China Eastern Airlines and BlueFocus IFEC are holding hands to take the very first step.

China Eastern Airlines, the 7th largest airline in the world, one of China's three major state-owned airlines. As the pioneer of China's inflight Internet, its 73 inflight Internet wide-body aircrafts account for half of the China's market share.

China Eastern Airlines E-Business Co., Ltd., wholly owned subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines, committed to integrating all kinds of online/offline products and services, providing travel related one-stop products and services solution for hundred million passengers of China Eastern Airlines each year.

BlueFocus Communication Group, the largest communication group in Asia, committed to global business and intelligence marketing; providing one-stop intelligent marketing solutions including brand insight, digital marketing and e-commerce for clients.

BlueFocus IFEC Technology Co., Ltd. A Chinese inflight Internet high-tech enterprise that is co-invested by BlueFocus Communication Group and Guangzhou Huangpu Development District, focusing on the operation and investment of the inflight Internet. At present, the global headquarters is Located in Guangzhou Development District with branches in Beijing, Shanghai and San Francisco.

SOURCE BlueFocus IFEC