Heathrow has announced a new partnership with technology provider AOE, to offer enhanced digital services including an expanded Reserve and Collect offering.
The airport says it will launch AOE’s OM3 suite of technology, which will help to “strengthen its digital services and infrastructure to create a simple process for the 300 brands to share their products with customers, leading to greater choice within the current Reserve and Collect service”.
Short for Omnichannel Multi-Merchant Marketplace, OM3 allows venues such as airports to “digitalise their non-aviation revenues, thus providing their customers a unified and seamless online and offline experience”.
AOE recently announced a similar partnership with Auckland airport, and Heathrow said that OM3 would ultimately integrate with “numerous additional features including loyalty programmes, lounge access, parking and VIP services”, as well as providing passengers with real-time information.
Chris Annetts, Heathrow’s retail and service proposition director that the airport had a long-term vision to deliver “a seamless digital experience for all our passengers, both inside the airport and in the comfort of their homes”.
“This partnership with AOE is the next step towards building seamless end-to-end experiences for passengers and enabling us to interact with them more efficiently for an enhanced and memorable journey,” added Annetts.
Airports are increasingly looking to technology to enhance the customer experience – Gatwick recently installed 2,000 indoor navigation beacons, which it says will enable “augmented reality wayfinding” at the airport, while earlier this year Birmingham airport added BlipTrack queue management technology to help track waiting times for arriving passengers at its north immigration hall.