About Super Retail Group
Super Retail Group is one of Australia and New Zealand’s largest retail groups, supporting 1,900+ travellers across multiple brands and locations. With an annual travel spend of around AU$12 million, including $4 million on air travel alone, the organisation runs a high-volume corporate travel programme where cost control, efficiency, and policy compliance are daily essentials.
As a procurement-led business, Super Retail Group has a keen focus on extracting maximum value from supplier agreements while maintaining low risk and tight governance. Air travel is a key lever in that equation.
The challenges
Before New Distribution Capability (NDC), the air program faced familiar limitations. Despite a strong preferred airline agreement, the business had limited access to Qantas’ full commercial content. NDC-exclusive fares and bundles were out of reach, making it harder to compare true value across fare options. Ancillary costs crept up, content was fragmented, and booking decisions were slower than necessary.
The customer wanted to:
- Reduce the total cost of air travel through access to Qantas NDC fares
- Improve value for money by increasing fare transparency
- Strengthen airline programme outcomes without adding risk or complexity
- Improve booking and servicing to lower manual handling costs
- Maintain policy compliance and data visibility
Our approach
FCM worked with Super Retail Group and Qantas to bring NDC into the air programme as part of a broader programme optimisation strategy.
The first step was getting the foundations right. FCM assessed NDC readiness, pinpointed where the biggest gains could be made, and shaped a Qantas NDC strategy that aligned with procurement, finance, and policy requirements.
From there, Qantas NDC was rolled out, with FCM managing end-to-end implementation and stakeholder coordination. Testing, validating, and a controlled go-live kept things steady whilst arrangers and travellers were supported with training and guidance throughout. Adoption was backed up by ongoing monitoring and fine-tuning, ensuring NDC was used effectively from day one and that value could be realised quickly.
Outcomes
Access to Qantas NDC-exclusive fares and bundles helped reduce average ticket prices by 6%, generating an estimated $142k in annual air savings.
NDC content now makes up 73% of Qantas bookings, lifting preferred airline share by 9%, and improving return on the airline agreement. Bundled fares brought better transparency, which meant fewer surprise add-ons later.
Out-of-policy and lost-savings bookings fell by 12%, while alternate carrier bookings reduced by 3%.
Operationally, things just became easier. Online adoption now sits at a cool 78%, with fewer manual touchpoints, and there has been a 3% drop in changes and reissues. Automation through credit-on-hold workflows delivered an additional $52k in value, without adding extra work for the team. Policy compliance held strong at 80%, data integrity was maintained, and the relationship with Qantas deepened.
Travellers benefited too. Clearer fare inclusions, more access to seats and ancillaries, and consistent servicing during disruptions.
Super Retail Group chose FCM for their alternative know-how and commercially focused approach to corporate travel.