NEO IDEAS AND INNOVATION 1. BEST PRACTICES IN AIRLINES WEBSITES
More trips, less money The travel industry has radically changed during the last 10 years. The economic context, the technological evolution and the customer s profile have advanced in such a way that they have completely changed how we travel, in general, and how we purchase those trips, in particular. Suppliers must adapt to this new market in order to become competitive. Between 2004 and 2007, the travel industry evidenced a significant growth, mainly favoured by the economic prosperity. As an indicator, it is enough to look at how the commercial flight passenger volume has grown. 30% more travellers 2001 > 1,640 million passengers 2009 > 2,178 million passengers Evolución del número de pasajeros de vuelos comerciales 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009E 2010E Passengers* 1888 2022 2124 2281 2271 2178 2276 Crec. (%) 14.9 7.0 5.9 5.9 0.8-4.1 4.5 Source: IATA. *in millions. Within this growth, the so-called low-cost companies gained special prominence so much so that, nowadays, two of the three most important companies per passenger volume at international flights worldwide are lowcost companies: Ryanair and Easyjet. Between 2001 and 2008, Ryanair and EasyJet experienced an average annual growth of their passenger number of 30% and 33% respectively, against the 5% of the industry group. Airline ranking per passenger number at international flights Ryanair 57,647 Lufthansa 42,151 Easyjet 35,417 AirFrance 32,508 British Airways 29,054 NEO E-BUSINESS TRAVEL BENCHMARKING EXECUTIVE RESUMEN EJECUTIVO SUMMARY
A different customer requires a different strategy This market evolution has been closely related to a change in the customer s profile. The customer is getting more and more heterogeneous, dynamic and informed; therefore, it becomes difficult to increase customer loyalty. Companies (airlines and consolidators) need to make a constant effort to adapt themselves to new demands, high competitiveness and new information tendencies. All that within a common nexus: Internet.
Internet, the new main sales channel During the last years, a transformation within the trip sales channel has been taking place. Internet is every day gaining prominence as a sales channel and, in the USA, it has already taken up almost 60% of the purchases. Percentage of online-gained income upon the total income amount for the travel industry USA Europe Asia-Pacífic 2006 49% 23% 9% 2007 52% 27% 11% 2008 51% 33% 14% 2009E 56% 37% 18% 2010E 59% 43% 21% Source: http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/world-overview/91-onlinetravel-market?start=1 In Europe, on the other hand, Internet has almost doubled its market share regarding trip purchases and it will soon become the principal channel through which purchases can be performed, as well. The online channel for airlines and consolidators has already become part of the lives of millions of travellers all over the world. They use Internet from the moment they begin thinking about travelling, as they can have access to wide and documented destination and service offerings, up to the moment of coming back home, when they wish to share their experiences with their friends and relatives. For this reason, the Web has become one of the main sources of competitive advantages for airlines, travel agencies and consolidators. It is a source for saving costs and improving productivity, but, above all, it is a tool for distinguishing oneself. 60% of the trip purchases are carried out through Internet
How should travel portals be? The changes in the end consumer s needs and purchase habits frequently advance at a higher pace than the service and functionality offering provided by travel portals. Therefore, which are the contents, functionalities and designs that e-business portals for airlines and consolidators must display? 2005 Changes within the e-business Model. S Bringing fees closer... Fee alerts, best price search engines, favourite destinations follow-up, everything is taken into consideration so that the user counts with fees and destinations at his/her fingertips. In 2005, we used to say... How does a user turn into an online customer? + + @ +... and everything for the trip... Multi-product sales for the whole trip, customer loyalty programs with point redemption calculators and practical information are at the traveller s service to satisfy all his/her needs.... advantages of online means... Call requests, chatting with call centre representatives, guided tours, service and product multimedia demos, surveys together with usability techniques contribute to a satisfactory user experience.... and guarantees of a significant company. Press kits, image files, adverts, videoconferences, virtual tours and online merchandising products contribute to build the company s strong corporate image.
TODAY New columns of the travel e-business model With the changes regarding the traveller s information and consumption habits, it has become necessary to make improvements on and develop technological tools that take advantage of the new opportunities generated to promote and enhance new functionalities that help to ensure customer loyalty. Nowadays, we say: How do you attract the online user? + + + Bringing information closer to him...... offering new tools...... that allow an integral management of the travel...... where the customer and his/her experiences are the centre of the process. Boost SEO Currently, 40-50 % of a travel portal traffic derives from generalist search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing,...) It is necessary to boost the content indexability : Create contents for search engines Create contents to be found. Global purchase Offering solutions that cover all the traveller s needs (transfers, planning, theatre tickets, baggage shipping, plane tickets, preferred seats, cheap hotel in the centre of town, precharged cards through abroad payment,...) Boosting Cross-selling, Upselling and Upgrading techniques in order to offer a model that allows generating higher incomes, increasing the user s satisfaction. Broadening the methods of payment adjusted to the customer, exceeding the credit card limits. New booking tools Offering booking tools that are suitable and customized to customer s needs. Among the new booking tools, we can find: Search by budget, experiences, multi-journeys, near airports, events, destination offerings, flexible dates,... The customer at the design core Placing the user as starting point for any development. The implementation of usability techniques and accessible content allows: Simplifying processes to the maximum. Offering greater functionality in a simple and intuitive way. 100% online transactions Offering all transactions online: Automating modification, change and cancellation operations. Fostering self-management: seat selection, menus, excess baggage and special baggage billing, billing requests,... And at the same time, security is guaranteed at Web operations. By means of security measures that protects the user and fights against fraud. Socializing Including the customer by means of a 2.0 Web model, where he/she: Requests information (reads opinions, comments, blogs,...) Is the creator (shares images, videos, experiences,...) As a result of this model: A customer exercises his/her influence upon other customers. The customer is my social network.
Evolution tendencies of the future e- Business Everything seems to show that the mobile solution will gain greater prominence. The current model counts with mobile solutions that complete the services and functionalities implemented at the Web channel. In the future, mobile services shall be one of the columns on which most of the processes will rest, setting exclusive services for this channel, among which we can find: geopositioning, increased reality, virtual customer loyalty cards, mobile marketing. The mobile phone shall turn into a device through which all operations can be performed, exceeding the current terminal restrictions and converging to the presentation that the Web currently supports. Meanwhile, it is necessary to adapt the traditional processes and contents to this new channel, to offer the same functionality level at the Web and the mobile phone. The social networks and the customer loyalty programs will be used in real time. Relationships will count with high mobility content. Offerings and promotions will be accessed to through the mobile phone. Nowadays, travel documents (e-ticket) have already become paper-less and the billing and passenger-boarding processes are in course of being transformed. The future tendency is that the remaining products and services acquire the possibility of counting with a mobile digital support: Purchases, discounts, tourist service bonus. Source: Indra, e-business Travel Benchmarking observatory
Internet, the new main sales chanel Due to this fast evolution of the industry, we think these are critical times for companies. Airlines and consolidators must unavoidably undertake the development of an online trade strategy according to the new market demands. Companies must assess if their portals are appropriate for the new tendencies in terms of purchase-booking processes, mobility, means of payment, customer service, self-service, practical information, customer loyalty programs, customization, etc. In 2010, Indra has published the e-business Travel Benchmarking Observatory, in which it analyzes the online functionalities of the industry e-business portals and offers a perspective of the current situation of the best online channel practices regarding flight and trip sales. This study is guaranteed by Indra s deep knowledge of the industry, its strong experience in developing Web portals and its significant references all over the world. If you wish to receive a copy of Indra s e-business Travel Benchmarking observatory study, you can request it at the following e-mail address: infobenchmarking@indra.es Over 240 functionalities 4 months of elaboration Over 1,000 hours 12,900 visited pages 24 Webs and 2,000 screenshots Please, send us your comments to: infobenchmarking@indra.es