Can Data Analytics be a Business Catalyst for Cruise Operators?

Can Data Analytics be a Business Catalyst for Cruise Operators?

Cruise Industry Trends

The cruise industry has considerably evolved since its origin in the 18th century. From shipping companies, it has now become a major new entertaining way for vacationing, attracting a growing number of millennials guests while providing a wide-range of additional services on-board such as fitness classes, fine-dining, shows, multimedia services and inland excursions, to name of few.

As of January 2020 the cruise industry generated around $150 billion in revenues worldwide according to Forbes magazine. In this competitive battlefield, cruise operators aim to attract and retain passengers by offering a growing list of value-added-services (VAS), and lowering basic fare, around $100 to $200 a day per passenger depending on cabin type (additional services and taxes excluded).

New Challenges for Cruise Line Operators

With over 300 cruise ships and 30 cruise lines competing for guests, cruise operators are launching new on/offboard initiatives and additional products and services to differentiate themselves. Additionally, forced by the COVID-19 pandemic cruise lines have revisited their health and safety measures onboard, destinations and overall business and marketing operations.

Marketing Analytics & Objectives

To increase and retain customers, maximize revenues and reduce operational costs, several cruise operators have launched and deployed a Data Analytics Solution with the goal of optimizing passenger retention. New analytics platforms, such as Inbox America’s RiANA™, provide several automated functionalities with an integrated and proactive business logic to achieve the following goals:

  • Allowing the discovery of passengers preferences towards value-added services,

  • Providing an automated process to update in near real-time the CRM database of passengers and services consumed,

  • Marketing prospection to capture new customers and retarget existing ones

  • Embedding CRM solutions to develop a new offers such as passengers’ health and security management.

RiANA™– Marketing Analytics Solution

The RiANA™ platform provides cruise operators with the following functionalities:

  1. A customer prospection analytics tool to forward online notifications to existing or new customers with new cruise promotional material,

  2. A journey-wide cross-selling module to provide smarter service recommendations based on passengers predetermined preferences, including initial trip to arrive onboard (e.g. by airline), list of preferred added services, transfer options and hotel stay,

  3. Management reports to evaluate the ROI of the cruise’s value-added-services as well as passengers’ satisfaction level.

RiANA™ Operational Solution

Two technical implementation solutions are proposed to the cruise operator depending on real-time satellite connectivity status and availability:

  1. On-premise RiANA™ platform installed and integrated with the IT Management Applications onboard the cruise vessel, to collect in an automated fashion the Analytics parameters of the Services consumed by the Passengers, and to provide at the end of the Cruise the various reports to the Data Center/Analytics team of the Operator.

  2. Cloud RiANA™ platform installed onboard the cruise vessel with real-time telecommunications services (satellite, Wi-FI) and integrated with the Operator Data Center CRM platform.

On behalf of the Inbox America’s team, we wish the cruise industry a successful renewal of the 2021 vacation season.

Learn more here to schedule a demonstration of RiANA™.

© Inbox-America Consulting Services, RiANA™ - Hospitality & Cruise Practice.

Looking Past the Covid-19 Crisis: What Strategy for Luxury Digital Retailers: Freeze or Double-Down?

The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the world into a humanitarian crisis with consequences on businesses around the world.  As it continues to spread, global tourism and retail sales are severely hit.

In the past ten years retailers have shifted to foreigners-friendly marketing, rather than focusing on the bulk of the customers in the United States. In 2019, Chinese consumers accounted for around 35% of the total spend in the global luxury market and 90% of the growth in global luxury goods (Bain Capital).

In this context, how can luxury retailers weather this storm? A range of outcomes is possible. Decision makers should not assume the worst.

U.S. retailers worry about the extent to which American consumers will also be cutting their spending due to the current uncertain times.

In our opinion, three broad economic scenarios might unfold: (1) a quick recovery, (2) a global slowdown, and (3) a pandemic-driven recession. We share McKinsey's analysis that the current prevalent pessimistic narrative (which both markets and policy makers seem to favor as they respond to the virus) underweights the possibility of a more optimistic outcome to COVID-19 evolution.

In addition, we believe that brands should both take care of their staff and consider refocus on the US digital consumer by revamp their targeting and loyalty programs.

Past peak-crisis, we invite retailers to “refocus and rediscover the American online customers". This can be done by reallocating resources to solidify market shares in the U.S.

US consumers are likely to increase their online shopping as witnessed in many countries. Consumers concerned by the impact of the virus on their business and their social life will likely find some stress-relief by turning to online shopping, at least to feel or re-created a sense of normality. In addition, consumers crave instant gratification products, especially during difficult times.

Digital shopping behaviors might extend to other retail segments such as luxury goods by accelerating pre-crisis trends: in 2019, fashion e-commerce accounted for 20 percent of the total fashion retail sales in the U.S.

Business services providers witness two clear opposite behaviors from brands.  According to Yoni Elmalem, managing partner at Inbox America, a digital AI marketing and consulting firm for brands– states “while some brands are getting into ‘freeze mode’, others double-down on their digital ads spend targeting US consumers directly in their homes. Retailers who decide to stay close to their customers and maintain targeted online investments will spare themselves being forgotten when recovery is here."

Brands should carefully monitor for the peak virus and plan ahead to be ready to reinvest and come back into the market when new cases start to decline.

Business community executives have certainly a role to play to signal to consumers that fear is not an antidote against this crisis. Proper sanitary measures and trust in the fundamentals of the US economy are.