News

Millennial travelers prefer digital shopping

April 29, 2014

Millennial travelers are willing to spend their money and loyalty points on purchases for ancillary items at self-service kiosk and mobile devices, according to a survey by NCR Corp.

"Airports and airlines alike have a unique opportunity to cater to this growing demographic by allowing them to make purchases via their mobile devices and self-service kiosks," Tyler Craig, NCR Travel's vice president and general manager, said in a statement.

The NCR 2014 Traveler Experience Survey questioned 6,000 adult consumers in the U.S., U.K., China, U.A.E., Australia and Brazil. The results showed that U.S. travelers between the ages of 18-24 have a desire to use their smartphone or tablet as a shopping conduit and even a willingness to use frequent flyer or loyalty points for general purchases.

Other U.S. survey results are:

• Sixty-eight percent of millennial travelers would prefer an airline that offers the ability to purchase items such as seat upgrades, checked baggage fees, inflight meals, inflight entertainment, Wi-Fi and duty-free goods on their mobile devices or self-service kiosks over an airline that does not.
• Seventy-seven percent of millennial travelers would like to be able to make an airport-related purchase such as parking, meals, souvenirs, reading materials or spa service on their mobile device or self-service kiosk.
• Fifty-one percent of millennial travelers are willing to provide personal information in order to receive more relevant offers tailored to their location and preferences such as a discount at their favorite airport restaurants or retailer while traveling, as opposed to only 19 percent of travelers aged 65-plus who are willing to share this information.
• Seventy-seven percent of millennial travelers would like to be able to use frequent flyer or loyalty points for airport purchases.
• Seventy percent of millennial travelers would like to be able to view and purchase items from airport retailers through a self-service kiosk or mobile device and have them delivered directly to their destination.

IdeaWorksCompany, a consultancy specializing in airline ancillary revenues, and CarTrawler, a provider of online car rental distribution systems, estimate that in 2013 global airline ancillary revenue reached $42.6 billion worldwide in 2013.