The Star Malaysia - Star2

Shopping in the sky

- – Chester Chin

TRAVELLERS can now take their retail therapy to the skies with a new shopping platform by AirAsia.

The inflight e-marketplac­e Ourshop will connect the low-cost carrier’s 80 million guests to a vast range of airport, high street and local specialist retailers at competitiv­e prices. Plaza Bali Duty & Tax Free is the platform’s first official airport partner.

AirAsia Group chief executive officer and AirAsia X co-group chief executive Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the new initiative is an expansion of the airline’s e-commerce roots.

“AirAsia was the first airline to sell tickets online in this region. We have taken a mix of models and applied it to our marketplac­e. Ourshop is an e-commerce site without the risks of capex and stocking,” he said. The platform offers cashless transactio­ns and multiple delivery options: Airport, onboard, downtown in-store collection­s and home delivery. All these will be rolled out in phases.

At present, airport pickup and onboard delivery are available at selected airports and flights respective­ly.

Shoppers will also have the option to use BigPay, enabling shopping across currencies without forex disadvanta­ges and expensive credit card fees. They can earn and redeem AirAsia Big loyalty points each time they shop. These points can later be used to transact on all AirAsia platforms.

In the future, Ourshop will become a standalone product and will be made available to other airlines.

 ?? — AirAsia ?? Purchases made on AirAsia’s new shopping platform can be delivered onboard.
— AirAsia Purchases made on AirAsia’s new shopping platform can be delivered onboard.

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