Emirates enjoys successful pre-order duty-free service

A positive response to the soft launch of its pre-order service on www.emiratesred.com in July,  from customers across all routes has prompted Emirates to expand its pre-order product range in the coming months to become the primary platform for adding travel add-ons to any Emirates flight.

The roll-out will see more exclusive products including special tickets to some of Dubai’s main attractions, bespoke items created for Emirates, and limited-edition items sourced from some of the world’s leading brands and vineyards.

Emirates’ customers can pre-order their duty-free items from 21 days up to 40 hours before flight departure. The service is currently available to customers in all classes, on all Emirates flights departing from Dubai. Emirates will progressively offer this pre-order service on flights inbound to its Dubai hub.

As a part of Emirates’ ongoing strategy to enable innovative, digital solutions at all steps of the journey, customers can now place orders and pay online from the convenience of their personal device. This enables customers to secure products that may otherwise not be available in sufficient quantities on board due to high demand and also delight their loved ones with the ultimate surprise gift on board. For August, there are nearly 20 luxury products on EmiratesRED that are pre-order exclusives and not available onboard.

By dynamically managing its onboard inventory through pre-order, Emirates is able to reduce fuel burn and its carbon footprint by reducing weight on each flight. Increasing flexibility and reacting dynamically to changing operational requirements and customer preferences is vital during this time. Since relaunching EmiratesRED in-flight retail on board in September 2020, Emirates has seen key in-flight retail performance indicators surpass pre-pandemic levels including revenue per customer.

The technology platform powering the EmiratesRED pre-order service was developed by Bonflite, an innovative company which has emerged from Intelak, one of the UAE’s most established incubator programmes for travel and aviation start-ups.