Google Enters Retail Business, Ties Up With Airbuy For Services In 6 Indian Airports

Tech giant Google is making a foray into airport retail with a tie up with travel industry engagement platform Airbuy to make its services available across six airports in India.

Flyers can now use Google Pay at Airbuy app to book lounges and F&B.  

Founded in 2019 by a group of classmates at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Airbuy aims to increase airport revenues and enhance the overall passenger’s shopping experience through advanced Machine Learning capabilities.

The six Indian airports where Google’s services will be available are Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Goa and Nagpur, said Ellen Choi, product head at Airbuy adding that Delhi will also be included soon. 

“The Google-Airbuy tie-up covers 30 F&B outlets and 3 lounges all operated by Travel Food Services. It will in the next 12 months also get into other partnerships to enable online shopping retail outlets in domestic terminals and duty-free outlets in international terminals,” said Jasjit Makola, one of the founders of Airbuy.

He further added that this product is the need of the hour as the pandemic is forcing consumers to have a contactless experience.

Google-Airbuy is eyeing the international market too as they plan to launch in Singapore after India.  

“Airbuy provides order ahead services for travellers at airports and serves as a queue busting facility when people are short on time and prefer to collect their order in the shortest possible time. Yes, it is the first of its kind implementation on Google Pay,” Pulkit Trivedi, director-strategic partnerships, Google Pay told ET. 

In February this year, Google Pay and Phone Pe were the most downloaded digital payments platforms. While Google Pay stood at the first spot, PhonePe was at a comfortable second,

The estimates that were based on data collected in February 2020 showcase that Google Pay recorded 15.6 Mn install, almost a 2x year-on-year (YoY) hike. Out of this, almost 83.6 % of the downloads, amounting to around 13.04 Mn downloads, came from India.

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