E-commerce Trends

The biggest up and coming e-commerce trends are in social media and in mobile apps. Mobile apps are a big hit and especially location-based apps such as Foursquare or Facebook Places. The amount of smart phones is increasing all the time, so the companies should also develop some fun or useful apps for the customers. People are really expecting the services to become more personal, efficient and faster. KLM for example has come up with a very witty app called TripShake. You just need to shake your phone and it randomly selects a KLM destination for you and also shows the ticket prices. You can also book the flight directly through the application.

At the moment Finnair has no phone applications available. Finnair could develop an app for buying tax free items already before your flight. Another idea could be an app where you see all of Finnair’s destinations and could explore them as you wish and also make the booking and pay there.  Finnair has plans to end the check-ins for economy class customers so maybe they could make an app for checking in also. I also checked Finnair’s site to see if it’s mobile friendly and it really proved out not to be. So that is yet another thing they should consider changing.

TripShake can be found from this site: http://www.klm.com/travel/fi_fi/plan_and_book/mobile_services/klm_tripshake_app/index.htm

Have a go and enjoy!

Finnair succesfull advertising campaign!

Mobile Apps

Mobile Apps are today's newest forms of marketing.
We try to find out if Finnair have some mobile apps services, without results.
Many of airlines are using these kind of mobile apps. Maybe Finnair could use these kind of services also.
Check These Out:
American Airlines
Turkish Airlines 

Let´s wake up to social media!

During one of the lectures I remember hearing that Finns haven´t yet realized the potential of social media. During the recent year(s) the smartphones, tablet computers and light laptops have become more popular than ever. I think also the companies in Finland are following slowly the trend. This should actually be other way around.

What could an Airline do better in their marketing?
Nowadays there are a lot of airlines in the European market. Consumer can choose their carrier freely according to their preferences, either they want low-cost, specific alliance to redeem miles etc. Also the airlines are slowly trying to differentiate from one another. It doesn´t hurt to have a strong brand either. In this matter Finnair is aiming to be the leading European carrier in Asian market.

What I think influences the final choice of purchase is the timetable, price and the booking process. Though when using for example a price comparison site such as supersaver and the price is same between a non-stop flight and a stopover flight or a low-cost airline and an airline whose loyalty program I belong to, my choice is the one which operates non-stop and the one that I can get mileage points from.

The booking process should be easy and effortless. Maybe in the future we will see a mobile app also from Finnair which could make booking process as easy as a touch in a smartphones screen.

From all the e-commerce tools we have learned so far during the course, the most suitable one could be mobile optimizing and creating an application. The most challenging part with airlines in general is the information flow during rush hours, irregularities and etc.The easier the processes are made the better it is for the customer. Also the Finnair could take it further and add all the processes in the customers path when travelling. All from planning to returning home. How about adding also an application to searching baggage if it´s left behind for some reason? Though it would require some adjustments in the program World Tracer which is being used almost all airlines. Customer could just type their file reference and volá, my bag is on its way with the next flight and will be delivered during the same day! And what about a planning tool for Helsinki combining augmented reality? The sky is the limit!

How sociable?

We tested how sociable Finnair is in the social media. First they appeared to be quite active as they have their own Facebook page, official YouTube page with video uploads, Twitter and blogs which are written by the personnell. The eventual socialibility grade was 3.8 according to HowSociable.

We compared Dutch airline KLM (Air France/KLM) to Finnair´s figures and they got better score, 5.6! We chose KLM because it appeared active in the social media as ithas quite a lot of different mobile apps such as trip planning tools

link to HowSociable

Marketing or polishing the brand?

Today´s marketing has moved from newspapers and TV to internet, which is less expensive and sometimes even free. Especially channels such as YouTube are popular among companies and consumers. Many companies try to create something different to stand out from the competitors or even to shock. YouTube offers an advantage that all the posts are easy to share in other applications and programs such Facebook and e-mail.

Go and check out!

Link to Finnair Facebook-page
Link to official Finnair YouTube page 

Finnair blogs

Finnair has an informal blog which is which is being written by the personnel. In that way a normal consumer can follow all the "inside happenings". That is a good marketing tool as it promotes Finnair only in a positive way. The blog writers vary from flight attendants to captains and even members of the managerial level. The readers can comment and ask further questions which creates an informal but positive dialogue between the company and the consumer.

If you´re interested in finding out the inside stories click here

Basic information about Finnair

Finnair is Finnish national carrier and was founded 1.11.1923. It is owned by Finnish government with 55,8% share, rest of the stock owners are insurance companies, private owners and various companies. About 20% of the shares are foreign owned.

Finnair Group operates in different fields of aviation such as scheduled passenger traffic and leisure traffic, technical and ground handling operations and catering. In addition it also owns travel agencies and operates information and reservation services.

Finnair is focused on intercontinental traffic between Europe and Asia and has several non-stop flights for example to Tokyo, Singapore and other Asian metropolitan cities. With the support of Finavia Helsinki-Vantaa airport is being developed to a hub between Asia and Europe. Finnair also operates domestic and European routes.

The Finnair fleet comprises more than 60 aircraft. Long-haul flights are being operated with Airbus A340 and A330. Starting from 2014 new technology Airbus A350XWB aircraft will be introduced to Finnair fleet. European flights are operated with Airbus A320, Embraer 170s and Embraer 190s. Leisure flights are operated with Boeing 757s.

During year 2010 Finnair carried 7 139 000 passengers and 123 154 tonnes of mail and cargo.

Happy Republic day India!

I guess all of the Indian passengers onboard were pleasently surprised when the show began!