Website of the Week Sydney Airport Shopping www.sydneyairportshopping.com.au | |
 | Content (0-4): 3 |
 | Pricing (0-2): 1 |
 | Navigation (0-4): 3 |
 | Style/Design (0-4): 3 |
 | Supplementary information (0-2): 2 |
 | Overall incentive to shop (0-4): 3 |
 | Total (0-20): 15 |
Scoring system explained – click here | |
Website of the Week – Sydney Airport Shopping
AUSTRALIA. Sydney Airport, which is undergoing a major A$500 million (US$470 million) redevelopment of its T1 International Terminal, has unveiled its brand new shopping website (www.sydneyairportshopping.com.au).
Describing the aim of the new site, Sydney Airport said it would provide retailers with “yet another aperture to promote their products, their sales and their promotions… a unique portal to capture the attention of this vast, diverse travelling public.”
An ambitious goal indeed, but one that Sydney Airport manages to deliver with finesse. The new-look site is sleek and boasts contemporary appeal, and is full of helpful features and services for passengers. Most of all, it provides added value for the airport’s retailers, allowing them to take centre stage and showcase their latest news and offers.
THE HOME PAGE
The home page opens with a stunning view of the Sydney landscape at dusk, the iconic Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge in plain view. ‘Shopping that’s going places: Your holiday begins here’ declares the bold text, as it invites us to select a terminal – T1 International or T2 Domestic – to get started.
The home page also offers a preview of what’s in store when users select an option, including news on T1’s expansion and upgrade, special offers and a store locator. A competition for a A$2,000 shopping spree is also prominently highlighted on the home page.
A warm welcome, coupled with good orientation for the visitor and punctuated by a Sense of Place, signals that the site is off to a good start.
T1 INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL*
Visitors might get a little overwhelmed here, as there is so much text and flashing images filled with information on retailers and special promotions. But this effect is minimised by the neat layout of the different sections, clearly segmented by the site’s hot pink, blue and grey colours.
Featured sections include Store Locator, News & Events, Value for Money”¦ Take Sam’s tips and save, and Featured Retailers.
* As both the T1 and T2 pages have identical formats and features, we will only be looking at T1.
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The home page opens with a stunning view of the iconic Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge at dusk |
News & Events
The site’s News & Events section contains frequent updates on the latest happenings, from new products (such as handmade wool carpets from Rainbow Serpent and Karamel Glaze Doughnuts from Krispy Kreme) to new allowance laws in Australia.
A teaser preview is shown on the home page with a link to read the entire story, as well as a link to “˜More News and Events’.
Store Locator
The Store Locator allows visitors to search for a store in two ways – by simply entering the name of the store or refining the search by specifying the retail category and sub-category. The latter method uses three accessible drop-down menus.
Once the desired store is selected (we chose DFS Watches), the site directs us to the dedicated retailer page.
Here we have a comprehensive introduction to DFS Watches, including the brands it carries, telephone numbers, opening hours and locations. DFS even provides a 100% price guarantee (“Find an identical item in Australia that is cheaper and we will match that price”), worldwide product guarantee, free battery change and strap adjustment.
More useful are the two maps – one interactive and one in PDF format – that direct visitors to the DFS Watches store at the airport (more on the maps later).
The retailer page also showcases current in-store promotions under “˜Great Value for Money Offers’, and visitors can opt to add the offers to their shopping lists, send to their e-mail addresses or print the offers. The shopping list automatically appears under the Currency Converter with every addition, without the need for registration. This saves visitors lots of unnecessary procedures and helps them to keep track of the deluge of promotions available. Unfortunately, the shopping list cannot be called up again on future visits, so visitors must remember to e-mail or print the list before leaving the site.
Because the site is not an online shopping facility but rather a shopping guide, there are no extensive product showcases and price lists. The site, however, directs visitors who want to pre-order their duty free shopping to the SYD Tax and Duty Free website.
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The T1 International home page features retailers and their latest retail offers in an attractive image slideshow format |
Interactive and PDF Maps
The Interactive Map is an excellent complement to the Store Locator, providing a virtual layout of the shops at Sydney Airport T1 and T2.
Hovering your mouse over each shop space highlights it and displays the shop name in hot pink. There is also a clickable control to move up, down, left and right as well as zoom in and out of the map.
To the right of the Interactive Map are several icons (ATM, Internet, etc) which visitors can click to see their locations on the map.
Those who want a comprehensive map containing the entire listing of shops and services can download the PDF map – perfect for printing or downloading to your PDA for reference at the airport. Separate maps are available for T1 and T2, and they are colour-coded for easy reference.
‘Virtual site assistant’
Located on the right hand side of the website is an innovative way of showcasing Australian hospitality – and what we refer to as the “˜virtual site assistant’.
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The Interactive Map complements the Store Locator by providing a virtual layout of the shops in T1 and T2 |
“Welcome to the new Sydney Airport Shopping Website,” says the smart-looking female representative, who recommends random links to various parts of the site. “You might want to check on one of our most popular stores DFS Watches,” she suggests. And when we next refresh the page, she points us to a story on Bombay Sapphire Revelation, the luxurious US$200,000-a-bottle project from Bacardi which stopped at Sydney Airport.
Our virtual site assistant also helps visitors to search the site by entering a keyword into the search field and clicking the “˜Ask Me!’ button. Entering the keyword “˜pasta’ calls up four search results (“Here’s a few things I found that you may be interested in…”) – Catalina Bar & Café, Paging Harry, Slipstream and Volare, all of which have the word “˜pasta’ in their retailer page descriptions. The animated expressions of our virtual assistant (apologetic when no results are found, almost triumphant otherwise) add a dash of life to the website.
Value for Money”¦ Take Sam’s tips and save
This section on the T1 home page features the latest special retail offers in an attractive image slideshow format. The attention-grabbing images change frequently, highlighting different featured offers from retailers. Visitors may also opt to scroll through the images using the arrow signs.
The same scrolling function can be used on the larger slideshow above, featuring retailers such as Bondi Bar, Sunglass Hut and Destiny Jewellers on bold and colourful banners.
Clicking the images directs users to individual retailer pages, where they can print or e-mail the various offers.
OTHER NOTEWORTHY FEATURES
FAQs: Although this section features only ten questions – not an extensive number – it covers a wide range, from LAGs and duty free allowances to Australian clothing sizes and airport advertising. Questions on banking and currency exchange facilities as well as the Tourist Refund Scheme are especially useful to first time travellers to Sydney Airport.
Currency converter: Featured in both the T1 and T2 pages, the currency converter is powered by Travelex at Sydney Airport. It lists 15 currencies which passengers can opt to buy online – a big plus.
E-Park Sydney Airport: Those driving to the airport can pre-book their parking online at bookabay.com – a time-saver for those in a rush.
Membership: Visitors can keep up to date with airport retailers’ latest offers and promotions – Frequent Flier points, special meal deals, competitions – by signing up for the Sydney Airport Shopping monthly e-newsletter.
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The site creates value for the airport’s retailers, allowing them to showcase their latest news and offers; here DFS Watches makes full use of this online platform, informing visitors of its price guarantees and services |
GENERAL OVERVIEW
Overall, Sydney Airport Shopping is one of the most web-inclined sites The Moodie Report has seen. From interactive maps and image slideshows to online offers and competitions and a virtual assistant, the site tries to harness the potential of the Internet to its highest level.
Retailers without their own websites would do well to make the best of their given pages here by promoting not just their merchandise but also their unique selling points. DFS Watches is doing just that, informing visitors of its price guarantees and services. It is a pity that not all retailers are making full use of the online platform, such as Astro Café, whose page consists of just the maps and a one-sentence description.
Website of the week scoring system explained:
Content: How wide is the range of items on offer? Are there good quality photos and product descriptions?
Pricing: Are product prices listed? For all products?
Navigation: How easy is the site to use?
Style/Design: How does the site look?
Supplementary information: On allowances, currencies, after-sales service, useful tips and so on.
Overall incentive to shop: This includes tone, promotions, offers, competitions and, importantly, pre-order.
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