Ryanair profits from being nicer
Written by Simon Clatworthy
I wrote recently about the turn-around at Ryanair (link), in which they have systematically been improving the customer experience. Well, it seems that this is bearing fruit. The recent investor communication from Ryanair shows it contributing to consensus-beating third quarter net profits of €49m and a full-year profits upgrade.
As reported in the Financial Times (link), Ryanair has had :
6 percentage point increase in seats filled to 88 per cent. A growing band of gentleman business travellers are raising their hats to your stewardesses.
And that is before the recent fuel price drop.
Although it is difficult to categorically link the two things, it does seem that improving the customer experience also improves the bottom line. This is something I often get asked about, particularly if Zappos (a stand-out experience retailer) actually made a profit before being bought up (the answer is here). Usually, I don’t have many figures to hand, but this is a nice one to have in the back pocket.