Today, airports can directly sell flights, hotels, holidays, parking, lounge and other travel products and reservations to customers through their ecommerce websites. Along with increasing non-aeronautical revenue (accounting for 40% of airports’ overall revenue), ecommerce sales also give airports access to valuable customer data, which they previously lost to third parties, like travel agencies and airlines. But the question is – is your airport making the most of its data? If you’re not already automating your airport’s ecommerce reporting and data collection, chances are the answer is no.
Capturing ecommerce data is crucial to your airport’s success. It will help you build a clear picture of who your customers are for more targeted marketing and personalisation, which lead to more cost-efficient spending, increased revenues and improved customer loyalty. Data and reporting will also show you where your airport is thriving or struggling and whether it’s on track to reach its goals. With accurate, up-to-date data, meaningful insights and detailed reporting, you will have everything you need to make better business decisions for your airport.
The trouble is that compiling ecommerce data, extracting meaningful insights and producing advanced reports can be incredibly time-consuming. Not to mention there is a massive learning curve in understanding what data to collect, how to do it and what the data is telling you. Hence, more and more airports are automating ecommerce reporting and data collection to simplify processes, reduce costs, improve efficiency, increase revenue and futureproof their operations.
Here we will discuss the benefits of automated reporting, what to look for in an automated reporting system and how we can support you in leveraging data to inform your ecommerce strategies and get ahead of your competitors.
Why it’s time to wave goodbye to manual reporting
Manual reporting, where ecommerce data is exported (or copied and pasted) to a spreadsheet for analysis, is time-consuming and error-prone. Most businesses that still perform manual reporting will usually only do it once a week, by which point opportunities for optimisation and a change of approach are often lost. Each time you prepare a manual report, there is a risk that the data is already stale.
It’s also worth noting that siloed reporting has several drawbacks. A significant one is that you can only view data from one source at a time and have to treat data from different platforms separately. So, for example, you may have a Facebook report, an Adwords report and a Google Analytics report, but you can’t create a report that takes cost data from Facebook and Adwords and combines it with the sales and revenue data from Google Analytics.
As your airport ecommerce business expands, it will be tough to manually track multiple advertising sources, markets, websites and brands. There will likely come a point where it is impossible to do all of your ecommerce reporting this way. Manual reporting complicates the process, wasting time, money and resources, causing massive inefficiencies and resulting in misinformed strategies. This is why it’s time to wave goodbye and welcome a new era of automated ecommerce reporting and data collection for your airport.
Benefits of automating airport ecommerce reporting & data collection
Starting to see why it’s time to make the all-important switch from manual to automated reporting? Here are several ways your airport will benefit…
Save time
How many hours a month does your airport spend compiling reports manually? Bringing together a variety of analytics and data from your ecommerce website, creating visualisations and reports and ensuring it’s all shared with the right people can be very time-consuming. Once you set up automated reporting for your airport ecommerce channels, you’ll save your team hours each week.
Save money
We know that driving innovation in a cash-strapped airport poses many challenges. When running on a tight budget, your instincts will likely tell you to continue with manual reporting. However, doing so will cost your airport more money. Instead, automate your ecommerce reporting and data collection with Rezcomm, and benefit from zero set-up fees and a pay-as-you-go service. Moreover, you’ll save significant money as your staff won’t spend hours each week compiling manual reports. You’ll also be making better business decisions from accurate reporting that grows your revenue instead of costing your business in mistakes.
Ensure consistency
Ecommerce reports will only be useful for your airport if they track and measure the same metrics in the same way each time. Otherwise, you’ll end up with unreliable, inconsistent data that you can’t compare and won’t tell you much about your airport’s performance. With manual reporting, achieving long-term consistency is challenging, especially if you rely on different staff members to create the reports. However, with automated reporting, you can standardise your reports to ensure they always measure data in the same way.
Eliminate human errors
We all make mistakes – it’s part of being human, but when it comes to your airport’s ecommerce reporting, it needs to be 100% accurate. A typo here, the wrong number entered there, and you might as well be winging your airport ecommerce strategy. By automating your ecommerce reporting, you avoid all of these issues.
Real-time reporting
We’ve already mentioned that manual reporting often comes with a time lag, especially when busy airport teams prioritise other day-to-day tasks. By automating your workflow with Rezcomm’s Reporting module, you can access real-time data and reports and be more responsive in your decision-making.
Shareability
Silos ecommerce reports are often inaccessible, difficult to share and even harder to compare. By centralising your ecommerce reporting and data collection, you can eliminate the complexity and stress associated with viewing and managing multiple systems. What’s more, you can ensure everyone who needs to access and view your ecommerce data and reports has easy access, no matter their device.
What to look for in a automated reporting system
Now you can see why automating your airport’s ecommerce reporting and data collection is the way forward (we knew it wouldn’t take long); it’s time to consider some key features when choosing an automated reporting system.
Simple dashboards – Remember, the most effective reporting workflows and dashboards favour simplicity, and it’s about finding the right tools rather than simply investing in more tools. At Rezcomm, we can support you in migrating from legacy systems to simplify your ecommerce reporting and manage everything in one place.
Centralised approach – Avoid reporting in silos. Your airport teams require easy access to the data they need to track performance, make improvements and achieve shared goals. Eliminate the complexity of managing multiple systems with Rezcomm’s Business modules, which include Analytics, Business Intelligence, Reporting, Yield Management and more.
Visualisation – Data can be tricky to understand, but do you know what makes it easier? A good visual! Enjoy access to Rezcomm’s easy-to-use dashboards and visual reports to help your team understand your data fast.
Real-time reporting – Yesterday’s data won’t give you a clear picture of what’s happening right now. With Rezcomm’s powerful Business Intelligence module, you’ll get a 360-degree of your entire airport operations, with real-time data at your fingertips.
Flexibility – The system you choose must be capable of creating the various reports you require, for example, sales forecast reports, sales financial reports and sales operational reports. With Rezcomm’s advanced Reporting module, you can create bespoke reports from any data, apply filters, add calculations, change the appearance and even add charts or graphics. In addition, you can schedule reports to run automatically and as often as you need.
Ongoing support – Need help setting up automated ecommerce reporting workflows? Are you wondering what data you should track and how to leverage it in your ecommerce strategies and decision-making? It pays to choose an automated reporting system that comes with ongoing support. Choose Rezcomm and gain access to exceptional support from our airport ecommerce experts with all the training you need to get the most from our Business modules.
Grow your airport ecommerce business with Rezcomm
Plug in our Business modules and gain increased visibility of your entire operations for smarter decision-making. With off-the-shelf solutions and easy API integration, we’ll have you ready to launch in just 2-3 weeks. Plus, if you need a tweak here and there or additional functionality, our world-class tech creators are on-hand to build the customisations you require.
Do more with your data and take your airport ecommerce business to the next level with automated reporting. Download our Business brochure to learn more and book a meeting with the Rezcomm team to get started.
Spearheading technological advancement, Alwyn Joy holds the role of Chief Technical Officer at Rezcomm. An expert in areas like Legacy to Cloud Migrations, Serverless Microservices, and Real-Time BI, he excels in managing distributed teams and implementing event-driven serverless applications.
