R Smiley Terminals introduced in select airport retail locations.
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA – Paradies Lagardere expands its efforts focused on improving the customer experience by adding 100 more HappyOrNot Smiley Terminals to select airport locations.
Operating more than 850 stores and restaurants in 98 airports, Paradies Lagardere’s goal is to create memorable and positive shopping and dining experiences for today’s travelers. HappyOrNot Smiley Terminals were originally piloted in retail locations in Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airports, both located in South Florida.
Taking only seconds, passengers rated their experience at check out or upon exiting by selecting 1 of 4 Smiley buttons (very happy, happy, sad, very sad) to represent their satisfaction level. With the HappyOrNot innovative data collection and reporting system, Paradies Lagardere’s team members were able to receive this feedback in near real-time and work quickly to correct any negative perceptions. “Paradies Lagardere is committed to giving our customers first-class customer service. The airport experience is part of a traveler’s journey, and one that should be enjoyable and convenient,” shares Gregg Paradies, president and CEO. “Data points collected from the Smiley Terminals allows us to monitor our customer satisfaction levels according to time of day, day of the week and in multiple locations. We’re able to pinpoint specific areas of concern and are able to address them immediately.”
Within weeks after rollout, Paradies Lagardere executives were able to experience first-hand the immediate effects of collecting instant feedback and setting up service decline email notifications. "We had a short, but significant weather event that caused many flight delays in the gates near one of our stores," described Paul Draeger, regional vice president, Operations, Paradies Lagardere. “The delays resulted in traffic 2.5x higher than normal for that store. While our store team was working hard to help customers, the HappyOrNot real-time alerts helped leadership quickly recognize an opportunity, and take immediate steps to deploy additional staff from other stores to improve the customer experience and capture sales.”
With the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reporting that 4 billion air travelers will fly this year and that number expected to double by 2036, this expanded partnership between Paradies Lagardere and HappyOrNot will begin to set the bar for overall traveler experience performance.
HappyOrNot was founded by Heikki Vaananen and Ville Levaniemi. The company has more than 4,000 clients in 117 countries. Clients include Microsoft, McDonald’s, London’s Heathrow Airport, LinkedIn, IKEA and Levi’s Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers. HappyOrNot is considered the global leader in instant customer and employee satisfaction reporting. HappyOrNot assists companies in improving customer experience, relationships and engagement across all business sectors.
Paradies Lagardere, the travel retail and restaurateur leader in North America, operates more than 850 stores and restaurants in 90 airports. The company specializes in three airport concessions areas: Travel Essentials, Specialty Retail and Food and Beverage, and has expertise in international, national and local brands. Paradies Lagardere’s commitment to exceptional customer service, superior design and award-winning store and restaurant operations and management has earned the company numerous accolades from the travel industry, including being named Best Airport Retailer for 23 consecutive years by Airport Experience News magazine (formerly Airport Revenue News magazine). Paradies Lagardere’s headquarters is in Atlanta, Ga., with an office in Toronto, Ontario.
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