DUBLIN, Ireland, November 25, 2020 – Retail InMotion, a leading global in-flight retail and technology specialist headquartered in Dublin, today announced that it will carry out a new R&D project to meet the new demands arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and utilise pioneering technology to drive innovation and improve the passenger experience across all stages of their journey.
Retail inMotion’s R&D project, to digitise onboard retail, intends to develop an end to end environment to support the future air travel experience and enable safe interactions between passengers and crew while ensuring an improved and efficient experience that is in line with social distancing standards. The proposed R&D project is expected to be completed over the next 2-3 years.
RiM is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland (Industrial Development Authority).
“As the pandemic is forcing airlines to look at new ways of working, innovation plays a central role in post-COVID-19 recovery plans,” said RiM Chief Executive Officer Stefan Patermann. “This R&D investment allows us to develop the products and services the airline industry needs as new demands are arising from the pandemic.”
Martin Shanahan, CEO, IDA Ireland said: “A central part of IDA’s remit is to support our clients to both maintain their existing presence and to position them for future growth in a world of accelerating change and disruption. The choice of Dublin for this R&D project is a clear endorsement of the skills and expertise of the Retail InMotion team here and the activities to be carried out here strengthens Ireland’s innovation capability in the sector.”
Areas of focus include a fully digital ordering and payment solution for retail products, pre-flight and in-flight. The future of retail in the airline industry is no longer limited to in-flight; passenger touchpoints have been extended to pre and post-flight and delivery touchpoints have grown to include locations such as the airport and even customers’ homes. Retail inMotion aims to drive the integration of retail brands, airport shops, and further third parties into one central marketplace to open a wider product portfolio to the passengers. Furthermore, everything will be ordered and paid contactless from the passenger’s personal device.
Retail inMotion’s Dublin office was chosen for this investment because of its highly skilled engineering focused workforce, which includes expertise in distributed systems design, mobile development, machine learning, test automation, data science, network engineering, and interface design.
As air travel is currently undergoing the largest disruption seen since its inception due to the pandemic, the challenges for the airlines to serve and sell products on board increase significantly. Retail inMotion aims to change the way people experience travel and be the best partner for the retail experience to all on the move, by broadening its scope to encompass all stages of the passenger journey and provide market leading, innovative, and sustainable products and services.
About Retail inMotion
Retail inMotion is an onboard retail and technology expert for the travel industry. Its culture of collaboration and innovation continues to help it in steadily strengthening its position in the global onboard-retail industry. RiM offers proprietary products, solutions, and services in technology, crew engagement, product development, and fully outsourced onboard retail services.
Retail inMotion is a wholly owned subsidiary of the LSG Group. In 2019, the companies belonging to the LSG Group achieved consolidated revenues of EUR 3.4 billion.
