Joe Harvey, Business Development Lead at Omnevo has been involved in Travel Retail since 2004, working for Aer Lingus, Concessionaires Tourvest and Retail inMotion.
This year at WTCE’s Taste of Travel Theatre, he will moderate a panel discussing ‘How to Drive Inflight Retail for the Next Generation of Passengers’ featuring exclusive research generated by Omnevo and masters students from Wiesbaden Business School in Germany.
Who are you, and what does your company do?
“My name is Joe Harvey. I’m the Business Development Lead at Omnevo. We’re a technology company working in the airline and airport retail space. We provide technology for airlines, airports and train companies where we provide the POS devices that the crew use for carrying out sales on board.
We also offer a full ERP back office system managing everything from logistics to financials and we also provide our ecommerce marketplace pre-order solution, mostly for airports and we’re moving into the airline industry with that.”
“I certainly haven’t seen anything as dynamic as the research that we’ve got from these master students from the Wiesbaden business school.”
Joe Harvey, Business Development Lead at Omnevo
What will your Taste of Travel session be covering?
“We’ve carried out research using Wiesbaden business school marketing masters students, to give us an insight into Gen Y and Gen Z, and the shopping behaviours of that category of consumers onboard aircraft and at airports.
It covers what their attitudes are towards inflight retail and their expectations, and it’s going to be quite an interesting eye opener for the industry. 51% of all passengers going forward on airlines are going to be Gen Y and Gen Z.
It’s very important, especially for inflight retail going forward that we understand what these customers exactly want. Unfortunately for many years, we’ve sat in a bubble thinking we know what they really want; thinking about what we were like when we were their age.
“What I love about the Taste of Travel theatre is […] it gives the likes of our students this opportunity to talk to a more informal audience.”
Joe Harvey, Business Development Lead at Omnevo
But what we were like when we were their age and our behaviours are completely different to how Gen Y and Gen Z look at life. From the way they carry out their day-to-day lives, what they want when they go on holidays, what influences them and what makes them socially responsible.
If we continue the way we’re going at the moment, then you’re going to possibly exclude 50% of your passengers. In a nutshell, if we don’t meet the needs and wants of these passengers going forward, then you’re not going to have successful programs.
I certainly haven’t seen anything as dynamic as the research that we’ve got from these master students from the Wiesbaden business school.”
Who will your session be useful for?
“It’s a really broad session — buyers and category managers and people putting these ranges together should be there. It’s also a really good one for airlines themselves, for the concessionaires, the caterers who provide these programs for the airlines and for the airports. It appeals to a wide audience.
Why is this such an important topic right now?
“The future is tough and if we don’t take into account what these people are telling us then it’s going to be very challenging because inflight retailing itself isn’t as successful as it used to be.
And we need to move with that. We need to move with the times and if we do what these people are suggesting and recommending this could potentially open up a bigger future for inflight retail.”
Why is the Taste of Travel theatre so important in getting this message across?
“What I love about the Taste of Travel theatre is it’s not as formal as standing up on stage in front of three-, four-hundred people which can be quite off putting. It gives the likes of our students this opportunity to talk to a more informal audience.”
Discover more sessions at the Taste of Travel theatre via the button below: