Travel retail e-commerce platform SKYdeals is taking its shoppertainment expertise beyond the aircraft cabin. After five years testing and refining its platform with Air France, Lufthansa Group, Etihad Airways, and La Compagnie, where it is g rowing its presence on U.S.-bound routes, SKYdeals now offers its platform to the entire travel retail ecosystem: airports, cruise lines, lounges, and rail operators, including in the Americas.
SKYdeals was built on the insight that passengers don’t need to shop. They need to be entertained. Make shopping the entertainment, and everything changes, says the company.
Since 2019, SKYdeals focused exclusively on inflight retail, collaborating with leading carriers. It is now adapting its philosophy beyond aviation, Julien Sivan, CEO and Co-founder of SKYdeals tells, TMI.
Many of the lessons that SKYdeals has learned working in aviation, it sees applying just as well in other travel channels.
SKYdeals transforms idle travel time into engaged shopping moments by activating five psychological levers:
Exclusivity: Deals are only valid during your journey. Not before. Not after. Like a private sale that starts when you board and ends when you land. This creates a unique window where shopping becomes a privilege, not an option.
Contextual discovery: Offers appear and disappear based on where you are right now. In-flight, FlyOver Deals unlock as you cross countries. At airports, deals change as you move through terminals. On cruise ships, each port brings new surprises. Always fresh, always fleeting.
Time pressure: Flash sales with countdown timers create urgency. Whether it’s 2 hours left on a flight, 45 minutes before boarding, or the last evening at sea, limited time drives action.
Social dynamics: Group Buying turns strangers into shopping partners. The social environment of a cruise ship or an airport lounge amplifies this mechanic naturally.
Gamification: Live Auctions transform shopping into entertainment. A captain’s dinner at sea, a long-haul flight, a rainy layover: the right moment turns bidding into an event.
“Each collaboration brought different passengers, routes, and cultural contexts. Each refined our shoppertainment approach. The consistent result: when shopping becomes genuinely entertaining, conversion rates multiply,” says Sivan.
Part of LVMH’s La Maison des Startups, SKYdeals partners with 90+ premium brands.
As a web-based platform, it requires no hardware and can be deployed in 3-5 weeks.
The company now offers two paths for travel retail partners:
SKYdeals Platform: A turnkey e-commerce engine with shoppertainment built-in. Enterprise scale, marketplace-ready, white-label, deployed in weeks.
Digital Services: Strategic consulting and custom development for operators who want to integrate shoppertainment into existing systems.
“We spent five years mastering the most challenging environment in travel retail: aircraft cabins with limited bandwidth and short time windows. Now we’re ready to apply those insights everywhere travelers wait. We’re not a retailer. We’re not a marketplace. We’re the technology that powers your retail strategy,” says Sivan.
For more information, go to Website: www.skydeals.shop or LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/skydeals
