Let’s be honest: no passenger has ever boarded a plane thinking, “I can’t wait to browse the duty-free catalog.” Shopping is simply not a passenger need. But entertainment? That’s a different story.

The Harsh Truth About Inflight Retail

Traditional inflight retail has been struggling for years. Conversion rates are dismal, catalog pages go unturned, and crew members spend valuable time on sales that rarely materialize. Why? Because the industry has been solving the wrong problem.

Airlines have been trying to sell products to people who don’t want to buy. It’s like offering a gym membership to someone who just wants to watch a movie. The timing is wrong, the context is wrong, and the approach is wrong.

Entertainment Is the Real Passenger Need

When passengers board a plane, they’re looking for ways to pass the time. They want to be entertained, engaged, distracted from the fact that they’re in a metal tube at 35,000 feet. This is the insight that changed everything for us.

Instead of fighting against passenger behavior, we decided to work with it. Instead of pushing products, we created experiences. Instead of retail, we built shoppertainment.

The Birth of Shoppertainment

Shoppertainment transforms shopping into entertainment. It turns the passive act of browsing into an active, engaging experience that passengers actually want to participate in:

  • Flying Auctions: Live bidding competitions that create excitement and urgency
  • Flash Sales: Limited-time offers with countdown timers that gamify the shopping experience
  • FlyOver Deals: Location-based offers triggered by countries you fly over
  • Group Buying: Collaborative discounts where passengers band together for better prices

These features don’t feel like shopping. They feel like games, like entertainment, like a fun way to pass the time on a long flight.

The Results Speak for Themselves

When you stop trying to sell and start trying to entertain, something magical happens: people actually buy. Our conversion rates are 3-5x higher than traditional inflight retail. Not because we’re better salespeople, but because we’re not trying to sell at all.

We’re simply giving passengers what they actually want: entertainment. The commerce happens naturally as a byproduct of engagement.

A New Paradigm for Travel Retail

This insight doesn’t just apply to airlines. It applies to cruise ships, where passengers have days to be entertained. To rail operators, where commuters seek distraction on their daily journeys. To airports and lounges, where travelers wait and want to be engaged.

Shopping is not a passenger need. Entertainment is. Once you understand this, everything changes.

This is the founding insight of SKYdeals. It’s why we exist, and it’s what drives everything we build.