"Sky Mall" Files For Bankruptcy

OzarkD9S · Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:08 pm

Full story here:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayi...all-files-for-bankruptcy/22213809/

An iconic mag for many flyers, I've flipped through it countless times. Never ordered anything. Not to get this thread moved to polls and preferences (please Mods, leave it in Civ-Av) but have any of you A-netters ever bought anything from them?

Cipango · Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:10 pm

Quoting OzarkD9S (Thread starter):
I've flipped through it countless times. Never ordered anything.

Same.

I've always wanted to try the hot dog toaster.

UALWN · Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:30 pm

Never. But I have laughed aloud many times seeing the absurd things they were trying to sell!

commavia · Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:41 pm

I'm sure SkyMall management can probably find a 10-foot-square dog pillow or calming Hobbit-shaped water fountain with which to comfort themselves during this difficult time.

hOMSaR · Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:41 pm

I'm honestly surprised they lasted this long. I've often wondered what the actual sales rate was on stuff like that.

In the days of onboard wifi, if you really wanted to shop in the air, just go to Amazon.com.

UltimateDelta · Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:46 pm

You mean the zombie statues weren't enough to save them??

Cipango · Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:59 pm

They are/were a good starter company though for new products and an outlet for "inventors".

That said some of their products were ridiculously bizarre. It always was a good read though.

EA CO AS · Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:01 pm

Great, NOW where am I going to get my towel-warming rack or replica of Harry Potter's wand?

Flaps · Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:04 pm

Damn. I loved flipping through that magazine. Never actually bought anything but I did seriously consider a couple of items of the years. I used to always bring home the new issue every month for my kids.

S75752 · Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:10 pm

How did the buying process for buying stuff from them even work?
I wonder if some of the issue with why they didn't sell much may be due to a problem with that.

cloudboy · Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:11 pm

Outside of a slight sense of vague amusement, I never saw any interest in Skymall. For that matter I never understood how they stayed in business even before - just another catalog sales company, but they never offered anything worth buying.

Maybe Kickstarter can offer some kind of replacement? They seem to have a lot of the same wacky ideas.

Brick · Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:12 pm

The only reason I have never ordered anything from the Sky Mall catalog is I assume your information will be sold to hundreds of 3rd party marketing companies. I can imagine the tons of junk mail, junk e-mail, and phone calls (the Do Not Call laws are not enforced) I would get after ordering the hot dog toaster I have always wanted.

[Edited 2015-01-23 09:14:19]

alasizon · Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:22 pm

They may have filed for bankruptcy protection but the magazines will remain, at least for now.

coolian2 · Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:25 pm

Honestly if I was rich enough I'd have purchased that thing cover-to-cover more than once.

stlgph · Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:35 pm

SkyMall's downfall appears to have come from its 2013 merger with Xhibit, which appears to be sucking away revenue from SkyMall. Xhibit went from $300K in valuation to $300M in two years. Uh...*hello*

SkyMall is estimated to have been doing quite well with roughly $130 million or so in revenue per year. The products pay SkyMall for placement. The read rate is above 75% on every flight SkyMall is available.

william · Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:36 pm

Sky all used to be my souvenirs from the flights I took as kid. About 10 years seems to be when went on the weird bent.

Cipango · Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:49 pm

Quoting william (Reply 15):

Sky all used to be my souvenirs from the flights I took as kid. About 10 years seems to be when went on the weird bent.

Welcome to A.net. A site designed for people who talk about things no one else but A.netters care about.

We've all been there, William!

jetwet1 · Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:06 pm

I never have, but I had to stop the wife from buying a couple of times.

aklrno · Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:07 pm

Quoting Cipango (Reply 6):

They are/were a good starter company though for new products and an outlet for "inventors".

That said some of their products were ridiculously bizarre. It always was a good read though.

I used to own a company whose main product was in Skymall for years. We didn't sell it directly, but we sold to a retailer who advertised in Skymall. It was a very successful campaign. The product needed some explaining. You wouldn't just see it on a shelf and buy one. Skymall readers had the time to read a couple of paragraphs.

We used other channels as well, but when people would ask me what the company makes I would ask them if they saw it in Skymall. Almost everyone said they did.

iahcsr · Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:11 pm

I have acquired a number of the more useful items sold there. Plus as an airline employee we get a rather good discount

bobnwa · Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:29 pm

Quoting aklrno (Reply 18):
I used to own a company whose main product was in Skymall for years

Care to tell us what the product was?

max999 · Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:40 pm

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! What am I going to use now for my in-flight entertainment!?!?!? The catalog is more entertaining than any other IFE out there. The weird products in the catalog were a constant source of great humor.

[Edited 2015-01-23 10:42:31]

petera380 · Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:42 pm

I wonder what Korean Air will do with their A380's that have the Sky Mall at the back on the main deck?

jetmatt777 · Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:47 pm

Quoting Alasizon (Reply 12):

That's not true. We have been instructed to remove all magazines at the earliest possible time. Including turn flights with long enough ground time.

EIDL · Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:51 pm

Quoting petera380 (Reply 22):
I wonder what Korean Air will do with their A380's that have the Sky Mall at the back on the main deck?

I suspect that they're not related to the US catalogue... plenty of airports have "Sky Mall" airside shops also.

I always wondered would the robotic grill cleaner be any good on my fairly small gas grill out in the garden, never willing to spend the money to check!

N1120A · Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:55 pm

I considered a few things from SkyMall - mostly travel-related stuff. Never got anything.

Quoting UALWN (Reply 2):

Never. But I have laughed aloud many times seeing the absurd things they were trying to sell!

Me too.

Quoting commavia (Reply 3):

I'm sure SkyMall management can probably find a 10-foot-square dog pillow or calming Hobbit-shaped water fountain with which to comfort themselves during this difficult time.

Quoting HOmSaR (Reply 4):

I'm honestly surprised they lasted this long. I've often wondered what the actual sales rate was on stuff like that.

They actually did very well for a long time. Despite their ubiquity in the airline market in North America, they weren't actually a big company. Ran pretty lean.

Quoting S75752 (Reply 9):
How did the buying process for buying stuff from them even work?
I wonder if some of the issue with why they didn't sell much may be due to a problem with that.

Mail order, phone order and, later, online.

alitis · Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:57 pm

my favorite, pet stroller.........

lpdal · Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:57 pm

I've only been gifted a single product from Sky Mall, the personalized Aviator Wallboard. I don't think you could get it anywhere else, even after extensive searching. Makes a great greeter in my room's entryway.

LPDAL's Photostream on Flickr - Photo Sharing

That said, SkyMall is largely a reseller (do they manufacture any of their "SkyMall Exclusives" in house?) and not a direct manufacturer, so any products inside can likely be found elsewhere for much cheaper.

Edit: Added catalog shots. Enjoy.

-LPDAL

[Edited 2015-01-23 11:10:13]

TVNWZ · Fri Jan 23, 2015 7:10 pm

Quoting Brick (Reply 11):
The only reason I have never ordered anything from the Sky Mall catalog is I assume your information will be sold to hundreds of 3rd party marketing companies. I can imagine the tons of junk mail, junk e-mail, and phone calls (the Do Not Call laws are not enforced) I would get after ordering the hot dog toaster I have always wanted.

Bought several things from SkyMall. Go ahead and get the hot dog toaster. Never got any junk mail or junk e-mail.

alasizon · Fri Jan 23, 2015 7:22 pm

Quoting jetmatt777 (Reply 23):
Quoting Alasizon (Reply 12):

That's not true. We have been instructed to remove all magazines at the earliest possible time. Including turn flights with long enough ground time.

I'm curious, where do you work? At PHX for US, we haven't gotten that direction yet.

Yflyer · Fri Jan 23, 2015 7:36 pm

I've never actually bought anything from the catalog during a flight, but I did buy a pair of lawn aerating sandals from skymall.com several years ago. I was planning on buying something like that anyway as my lawn is too small to warrant buying a full-sized aerator, and I wanted to earn some airline miles for my purchase so I could generate just enough activity on one of my accounts to keep my miles from expiring. Sky Mall wasn't the absolute best deal, but it was the cheapest option for which I could earn miles and it was only a dollar or two more.

jetmatt777 · Fri Jan 23, 2015 7:59 pm

Quoting Alasizon (Reply 29):

UA.

They have sent out a bulletin yesterday with immediate compliance.

iahcsr · Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:09 pm

I gather this is Chapter 7, ceased business... Not 11 reorganization

TVNWZ · Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:37 pm

No, Chapter 11 for the parent company. But, contracts are up--or coming up--at several airlines. For practical purposes it appears the catelogue was going to be on the way out anyway. This is the result.

frostyj · Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:43 pm

No. I've looked at their magazine but never ordered. I don't think they'd deliver to here.

Birdwatching · Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:46 pm

I've always wondered where on the plane they store all the stuff. Also, how many of each item do they store in the inventory. For example if somebody buys the wireless dog leash before I do, do they have a second one. Some of the items are quite big and heavy (like the cast resin Easter Island statue). I guess the smaller items are in carts in the galleys but are those larger items in the bulk cargo hold?

Soren

frostyj · Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:47 pm

Quoting Birdwatching (Reply 35):

I've wondered that too. Even on Ryanair when they have the wee catalog with the food, I have to wonder do they have all of that food onboard?

ipodguy7 · Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:53 pm

Quoting Birdwatching (Reply 35):

I've always wondered where on the plane they store all the stuff. Also, how many of each item do they store in the inventory. For example if somebody buys the wireless dog leash before I do, do they have a second one. Some of the items are quite big and heavy (like the cast resin Easter Island statue). I guess the smaller items are in carts in the galleys but are those larger items in the bulk cargo hold?

AFAIK there carry no inventory on the flight. You are thinking of duty-free which is completely different. SkyMall is just a magazine that gives you a phone number/website to place your order. Duty-free would have some items on board sold by the company (flight attendants).

ChazPilot · Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:54 pm

Quoting TVNWZ (Reply 28):
Go ahead and get the hot dog toaster

Yeah, keep a look out for the coming liquidation sales!

747d10 · Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:19 pm

Quoting LPDAL (Reply 27):

LPDAL, thanks for posting that page from the magazine. The mounted squirrel head! OMG....I remember laughing at that for hours during my 7 hour IFE-free flight from ATL to ANC last June. It provided all the entertainment that I needed. I'm laughing at it all over again now.

ozark1 · Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:25 pm

I just burst out laughing. The headline on the story from AP is "GARDEN GNOME FANS FRET...SKYMALL HAS FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY"!!

aklrno · Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:40 pm

Quoting bobnwa (Reply 20):

Quoting aklrno (Reply 18):
I used to own a company whose main product was in Skymall for years

Care to tell us what the product was?

It was a recirculating drinking fountain for pets. We had a special deal with the retailer to make sure we were always in the lower right corner of a right side page. That's the best spot in a catalog.

In answer to some other comments Skymall sold nothing themselves. It was an advertising only magazine where mail order retailers paid for one or more pages for their own merchandise. You bought from those mail order companies. There was no way those merchants would have shared your info with the other advertisers. They were competitors!

As our products got to be better known they could easily be sold off of store shelves, but that Skymall visibility was a big help in the beginning.

Max Q · Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:44 pm

Quoting commavia (Reply 3):
I'm sure SkyMall management can probably find a 10-foot-square dog pillow or calming Hobbit-shaped water fountain with which to comfort themselves during this difficult time.

That's pretty damn funny

EIDL · Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:22 pm

Quoting Birdwatching (Reply 35):
I've always wondered where on the plane they store all the stuff. Also, how many of each item do they store in the inventory. For example if somebody buys the wireless dog leash before I do, do they have a second one. Some of the items are quite big and heavy (like the cast resin Easter Island statue). I guess the smaller items are in carts in the galleys but are those larger items in the bulk cargo hold?

Not one single item is on the plane - its not like the airline sales catalogue. Its all mail-order.

enilria · Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:30 pm

I have a game I play with whoever I'm traveling with.

"Find the most ridiculous thing in Skymall"

The Garden Yeti is now ineligible as it is now ruled an Evergreen Emeritus.

777ord · Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:37 pm

I sure will miss the excitement of seeing the "NEWEST" technology every time a new issue came out. lol

Sad to see them go. Sometimes the descriptions were comical.

N1120A · Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:50 pm

Quoting aklrno (Reply 42):
It was a recirculating drinking fountain for pets.

Oh, THAT. I always thought that looked cool.

falstaff · Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:52 pm

Quoting OzarkD9S (Thread starter):
A-netters ever bought anything from them?

I bought a "Wonder Winder" extension cord storage device that I have in my garage. It is a dandy device and I use it all the time. I liked it so much a I ordered more to give as gifts and everyone that I bought one for still uses it. I also ordered my Ping Pong ball gun from Sky Mall. I am not sure why I ordered that, but I was drunk and it seemed like a good idea.

My mother got me paper towel rack with USB ports in in from Sky Mall not too long ago.

Wingtips56 · Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:10 pm

Quoting ozark1 (Reply 41):
It was a recirculating drinking fountain for pets.

Oh my cats love theirs! But I shopped online for it, not through SkyMall. To me, the catalog was just for entertainment purposes. I can't imagine wanting or needing most of the stuff that was in it, and the prices on the few useful items were insane. But fun to look through and snicker. I've sat next to other folks looking through the catalog, pointing out things to their significant-other and both having a good laugh.

SaschaYHZ · Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:15 pm

Ahhh nuts, no sumo wrestler coffee table for me

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