I recently bought a baseball cap from United's website shop that had a legacy United Tulip embroidered on the front. I got it and I really love it, well made and I have a great "something" with the tulip on it.

Aside from that I did browse the shop and I was surprised to see so much UA branded merchandise. I was surprised because unlike LH who has always had a large array of high-end Lufthansa branded items, I didn't think United had the cache to sell United branded merchandise from United airplane models, lots of clothing, travel stuff, back packs to little tech items, even water bottles.

I then went to look at AA's Delta's shop to see their merchandise.

So, my question is; selling AA, Delta, (JetBlue/Southwest, etc) a real revenue stream or is it sort of "must do" because everyone else does?

I don't like the post merger United logo enough to sport it on a fleece top or water bottle, Lufthansa or Singapore (or PanAm or VARIG if they were around) maybe, so I was just very curious if these items really sell?

I would have thought that the main reason for selling these items is promotional.

When you go out with your UA baseball cap you will be a walking promotional billboard. And instead of UA having to buy the advertising space you paid for it! So even if you only put it on indoors UA are still some cents in!

That's a very American thing. Aer Lingus, Iberia, British Airways, and many others don't quite have shops like the US carriers do. Like vv701 said, it's most likely more promotional than anything. Sure, they may make a profit off of those products, but they're mainly for employees/family of employees.

Not sure if this is still the case, but my recollection is that - at least in the past - AA's merchandise store (online and physical) effectively served as the primary revenue source for AA's C.R. Smith Museum museum near DFW and the airline's headquarters.

I assume the vast majority of revenue at these shops comes from employees, perhaps followed by a small contingent of enthusiasts and some particularly loyal frequent fliers.

It's also something that is easy to outsource. Licence the brand to a third party and let them run the website sales side; maybe alongside multiple other brands so they get economies of scale. The airline just passes the order through for picking and shipment.

British Airways used to have Travel Shops in many British cities. They used to sell model aircraft, mugs, pens etc. However they closed years ago. I noticed the other week that BA don't really sell many BA branded products on board any more. VS years ago used to sell t-shirts, caps, pens, model aircraft, teddy bears etc on board. They had lots of VS branded products. Not sure if they still do, I haven't flown them for a few years.

I get the fact that when I wear that hat it is an "ad"- and one I paid $20 bucks for. I am actually in the ad business and making and giving away wearable and other merchandise branded for promotional reasons is a no brainer. Some brands, say Jack Daniels or maybe even Coca-Cola I get. But UA, DL or AA doesn't really say anything cool about you because just dropping an airline logo (other than PanAm, ala: Marc Jacobs) just is nerdy IMHO!

I got my "United tulip" hat because it is cool looking as is the old Saul Bass symbol, frankly I was shocked they were selling it!

Yes, no inventory to manage, it's all 3rd party. But I am really curious how much revenue they (and others) could possibly rake in a year by selling a plastic weekend bag or water bottle with the UNITED logo so unimaginatively placed on it.

I've always wondered how these stores survived the BK filings of the majors.

Channex757 wrote:

It's also something that is easy to outsource. Licence the brand to a third party and let them run the website sales side; maybe alongside multiple other brands so they get economies of scale. The airline just passes the order through for picking and shipment.

Exactly. Usually a company like Zorch will manage it wholly, taking a percentage of each sale.

vv701 wrote:

I would have thought that the main reason for selling these items is promotional.

Wait, free advertising and they can make some money? That sounds like a horrible idea... /s

hispanola wrote:

That's a very American thing. Aer Lingus, Iberia, British Airways, and many others don't quite have shops like the US carriers do.

I don't think that's the case at all. LH has the most extensively branded shops that I'm aware of. The Lufthansa Worldshop is in multiple locations with a massive selection. Their catalog is huge, including luggage that costs well over $1,000 and bars made from converted drink trolleys for well over $5,000. BA used to have a large branded selection of their own, and many Asian airlines like SQ, CX, and others still do.

No US airline goes to anywhere near the extent that LH does. I'm not aware of any US airline which still has publicly accessible physical shops outside of corporate offices -- they're all online with relatively bland selections (nothing like the trendy offerings from LH), and are intended mainly for employees, as they're not advertised on airline websites or in magazines. LH and others actively advertise their branded apparel, but I'm not aware of any US airline which currently advertises in any capacity outside of a limited selection. I recall visiting the US Airways shop on the ground floor of their Tempe headquarters, but due to lack of advertisement, the public wasn't even aware of its existence. I don't even think it was listed on Google. I think it may have even been called an employee shop, the just didn't enforce any restrictions.

Boeing has a larger corporate branding presence than any US airline ever has, and they're down to less than a half dozen public stores these days. They used to be in over a dozen cities and were specifically geared towards the public. Heck, the FAA store on the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in OKC has a better branded selection plenty of airlines.

Don't get me wrong, from an enthusiast's perspective I wish US airlines would follow LH's lead. But I think by saying that corporately branded stuff is a very American thing is giving us way too much credit. Maybe we used to have a lot of that stuff, but unless you really poke around Google, it's not easy finding airline kitsch. Until just a few years ago, UA's online store didn't even look like it was actually run by UA!

Yes, I have always looked at all the Lufthansa merchandise that you can either buy with money or points. Many, many items are well branded, as they actually designed to look very Lufthansa, not just a logo slapped onto something. UNITED does have a "MileageShop" at Newark that mostly sells UNBRANDED items that you can purchase with miles, but they do include some cheaper things with a UNITED logo on them. The most featured UNITED item are model aircraft, and some very nice and expensive versions of 777's and 787's.

I always "assumed" that German's are remarkably PROUD of Lufthansa and the average person would actually proudly wear or carry Lufthansa gear. United on the other hand, not so much I would think. While I love my "tulip" baseball, I really do not think I would want to parade down 5th Ave in a parka with the current UNITED logo on it. And frankly, nor Delta or AA or any other US airline. On the UA shop website, the guy wearing the graphic T-shirts is a friend of mine...makes me chuckle even more.

Also, it's not FREE advertising for the airline, given that you pay money for this stuff, you are actually buying the media for them!