INFLIGHT: CHINA SALES GROUP
China Sales Group reaps the benefits of improved supplier relationships
A new management structure is providing the perfect platform for China Sales Group to focus more on offering inflight services while continuing to sell onboard. TRBusiness tracks the performance of the company.
vendors and receive more support from them. “Our new professional team has
improved the whole operational structure and made the company more efficient.” With more airlines serving
international destinations from second and third tier Chinese cities, the potential of the inflight sector is there for all to see, emphasises Garreau. “The potential of the industry is
Left to right: Patrick Garreau, Director of Purchasing Services, China Inflight Services; James Zhang, CEO, China Sales Group; Michelle Xuyan, CEO Assistant, General Manager PRC, China Sales Group; and Johnson Cheung Yan, Senior Airline Account Manager, CSG.
T
he formation of China Inflight Services in September 2016, the product of a joint venture
between Inflight Sales Group (ISG) and China Sales Group (CSG), not only represented a win-win situation for both parties, but was arguably a boost for the entire Chinese duty free industry. CSG has more than 20 years’
experience in the market holding contracts with the likes of Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and Hainan Airlines. Along with ISG, it expected the
new China Inflight Services company to generate real growth in inflight sales revenue, benefitting airline customers as well as ISG and CSG. The two companies indicated at
the time that the new joint venture would streamline and improve procurement for both companies by synergising the marketing,
“Our new professional team has improved the whole operational structure and made the company more efficient.”
James Zhang, CEO, China Sales Group
48 TRBUSINESS
sourcing and logistics capabilities of the two entities. They also promised to pool their
expertise to deliver better services to brand owners and provide greater image enhancement for their brands and products thanks to increased training of airline crew and better inventory management. The aforementioned companies
are no strangers to working together. Until the end of 2013, ISG was supplying CSG like it had been for many years. But the expiration of the contract meant CSG started purchasing directly from suppliers worldwide. ISG Founder, Chairman and
CEO Jean-Marcel Rouff, along with the new CSG CEO at the time, James Zhang assumed the roles of Co-Chairmen, while Patrick Garreau became Director of Purchasing Services working on day-to-day operations. Speaking from a CSG perspective,
Zhang tells TRBusiness: “We have made excellent recent progress and one of the reasons for this is the new management team we have in place. “The key elements are that we now have better relationships with
very important, which is why we are working hard on the marketing front. “We want to improve the inflight
magazine which is our main method of passenger communication. The aim is to make it more fashionable so they can actually learn something.” Crew training is also vital,
according to Garreau. “We have a full-time trainer who communicates with crew on a daily basis. Weekly training sessions also take place in Beijing and second and third-tier cities with the help of vendors.”
Solid relationships If the inflight retail sector is to experience any sort of renaissance, companies and vendors must work together to ensure catalogues have tip-top product ranges. As previously alluded to, CSG is
clearly reaping the benefits of solid supplier relationships. “We definitely need the support
of brands to showcase new products and make inflight retail more attractive.
Air China is also part of the China Sales Group portfolio.
OCTOBER 2018
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186
