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MIAL plans to strike it big with online retail sale

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Press Trust of India Mumbai
Last Updated : Sep 13 2016 | 8:13 PM IST
GVK Group-run Mumbai International Airport, which net almost 55 per cent of its revenue from non-aero business, will soon be expanding its e-commerce app 'Mumbai T2 App' to facilitate online booking of retail products both for passengers.
Joining its global peers, the MIAL launched the app last November and the airport's chief commercial officer Sanjay Khanna today said, the airport "will be expanding our offerings through the app to include online booking of goods from the over 150 retail shops in the sprawling airport as part of the second phase."
But Khanna refused to speak about the commercial side of the app, saying it's still early days.
The Mumbai T2 App features augmented reality, which provides passengers with information on nearby facilities as they walk through the terminal, push notifications, airport maps and retail guides including price comparisons at its duty free shops versus other airports.
The new online offering will include retail shopping, duty-free booking in advance (the goods can be picked up at the airport on the day of travel after presenting travel detail as existing rules does not allow delivery of goods outside the airport), said Khanna, who was talking to reporters on the sidelines of an industry summit on airport retailing.
Asked about how has been the customer reaction to the app, he said already over 1 lakh people have downloaded it.
But he parried a question on the number of shoppers using the app.
By selecting the flight on the app, a passenger can opt in to receive push notifications relating to her flight. A combination of indoor atlas and technologies provides the platform for the magnetically modelled indoor maps.
Kim Gary, head of retail strategy at the Heathrow airport in London, told PTI that the airport app brings under 1 per cent of the total 450 million pounds netted from non-aero business last year, while an official of the Changi airport in Singapore said the app helps in generating around 3 per cent of total retail sales online now.

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First Published: Sep 13 2016 | 8:13 PM IST

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