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up vote 9 down vote favorite

There's an inflight shopping magazine in the pocket of the seat in front of you - that no one reads.

The crew come through with a trolley of merchandise - that nobody buys.

There are special offers broadcasted through over the PA - that aren't being listened to.

It was pretty cool like 20 years ago, but I don't really see the point anymore; why is onboard/inflight shopping still a thing?

share|improve this question
4  
Since even Ryanair keeps doing it and they're known for saving every penny, I'd guess that people still do buy stuff from the shopping magazine. On a personal note, I'm much more annoyed by all the "exquisite cuisine" ads when it comes to airline food. – JonathanReez 4 hours ago
2  
I regularly see people buying. The volume typically seems so low that I can't imagine it to be cost effective, but I'm just guessing: I don't know how much it costs them to keep the inventory on the plane; I don't know what the actual volume is; etc., etc. – phoog 4 hours ago
2  
You speak about cost effectiveness, but it's quite cheap to do it. The stewards are already there, and have free time to do it during of the flight. There aren't many expenses; the only one is the fuel cost of flying around a cartful of merchandise. – Federico Poloni 4 hours ago
1  
@FedericoPoloni Except I suspect the cart weighs more than most passengers and takes up about the space of a passenger, and there is paperwork/restocking etc involved that takes time on the ground. – pnuts 4 hours ago
5  
@pnuts the cart takes up more than the space of a passenger, at least two, but unless you find a way to cut people in pieces and later glue them back, I seriously doubt you'll be able to fit two additional passengers in the storage's cubic compartments – motoDrizzt 3 hours ago
up vote 10 down vote

From guestlogix.com:

The airline onboard retail industry has been growing annually at an average rate of 12.9% since 2012, and totaled more than $5 billion in sales in 2014...

Short answer - it works, and makes the airlines money. If it didn't, they wouldn't do it. Captive market, bored people, and duty free, even if some might think they can get better deals elsewhere.

  • Tobacco, wine/spirits and fragrances/cosmetics account for 70% of DFTR sales •
  • Region-specific DFTR trends exist – i.e. tobacco and wine/spirits are a larger percentage of overall sales in EMEA (44%) compared to Asia Pacific (12%)
  • With sales growth of 25%, short/medium haul and long haul flights could outpace X-long haul flights in the future, despite relatively even DFTR sales at present
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9  
"duty free"... Have you ever looked at the prices? Most item are much cheaper when bought in normal shops. – algiogia 3 hours ago
1  
Big brands rather sell exclusive products in duty free shops so you cannot compare how overpriced they are. – Leos Literak 3 hours ago
1  
:) maybe, though isn't that what Amazon is for – mcfedr 1 hour ago
2  
@mcfedr then you loose the day in the mail, not the mall ;) – simbabque 1 hour ago
1  
@njzk2 I think the point was that if you buy stuff in the plane you don't need to bring it with you onto the plane and you don't have to waste time going shopping at your destination. Ordering it online to your destination requires some kind of address if you want to order it up front. But you might not have a hotel, so that's hard. If you order it online after you arrive you need to wait for some time until you receive your stuff. Of course you can do something else with that time, but it's a day without the thing you didn't bring with you in the first place. – simbabque 36 mins ago

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