Video may have killed the radio star, but the Internet killed SkyMall.
At least that’s what the in-flight catalog’s parent company, Xhibit Corp, says is the reason behind filing for bankruptcy for the catalog known as the Hammacher Schlemmer of the skies.
The company filed for Chapter 11 because fliers now bring their own tablets and smartphones on board, loaded with content to read, watch and play, making SkyMall moot. according to the Wall Street Journal.
But all hope is not lost. Xhibit is looking for a buyer.
“We are extremely disappointed in this result and are hopeful that SkyMall and the iconic ‘SkyMall’ brand find a home to continue to operate as SkyMall has for the last 25 years,” Scott Wiley, the company’s acting CEO, said in a statement.
It’s an unfortunate end for something that really had a large captive audience. According to this 2013 Atlantic article: “Every year, 650 million passengers have the opportunity to peruse through SkyMall on their flight. According to a survey commissioned by the company, over 70% of passengers read SkyMall on every flight.” That’s a lot of eyeballs.
As GeekWire contributor Frank Catalano joked: “I bet by removing all the SkyMall catalogs from the seat backs, airlines could get another row of seats in each plane.”
Honestly, selling to people on planes is a brilliant idea yet to be grasped by the digital age. Imagine working with retail partners to put digital content in the seat-back screens, allowing them to shop as they fly? Passengers are bored, probably knocked back a few drinks and are bound to make spur-of-the-moment, compulsive choices — it’s the perfect audience yet to be harnessed. Poor Wi-Fi is still the challenge here, but once that’s solved? Sky’s the limit.
So maybe investing in a digital version of SkyMall wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all?
