Distribution Strategies

By EFT Correspondent in Mumbai"Customer trusts the agents and wants to deal with them. Face to face interaction and personalised response is the key. However, technology can play a vital role in our ability to serve the channel partners better."

Published: 26 Nov 2008

By EFT Correspondent in Mumbai

"Customer trusts the agents and wants to deal with them. Face to face interaction and personalised response is the key. However, technology can play a vital role in our ability to serve the channel partners better."

This emphatic statement came from an established traditional player during EyeforTravel's Travel Distribution Summit in India last year.

A year later, looking at a player like Cox&Kings, traditional intermediaries especially established ones have taken rapid strides in strengthening their online presence. Such players are looking at offering hybrid and seamless customer experience across online and offline presence.

Last year, around the same time, Cox&Kings had shared that the emphasis is on the convergence of the media –videos, images, blogs and reviews to offer a real-time experience.

According to Urrshila Kerkar, CEO, Cox&Kings, a speaker during the inaugural session of EyeforTravel's Travel Distribution Summit India 2008, being held in Mumbai, many components are already live on the Cox & Kings site e.g. video, microsites, images. The convergence and integration of all media is currently under progress and should be seen on the website in the coming months.

"We see this information as content that will enhance user experience and enable him to decide his choice of holiday / service needed. We are building a simple consumer friendly flow that will enable content driven sales online," said Kerkar.

On online being an enabler and enhancer of customer experience and not a replacement for offline interactions, she said, "I believe the argument arises because you still emphasis the difference between OTA and traditional agencies. I believe we are the cutting edge as there is no such division in our mind and the online/offline are all integrated."

"We see online as a distribution platform. It is part and parcel of our core business. Internally our staff also works online. As a company we are moving towards a single application (a customised travel ERP application) that will enable any point of sale to sell / cross sell any travel service as per the client's requirement. The client has an option of doing it himself by going online and using the website. The same user interface will be available across the Points of Sale as the core booking engine and application will be the same across POS," said Kerkar.

In terms of intermediaries business in India, for her part, Kerkar last year had herself referred to the fact that most OTAs are adding offline channels as an alternative mode of distribution. "As we see in the long run the brick and mortar companies will either develop their own internet strategy or may buy online players in India or international OTAs may buy out Indian online players," she had said. But there hasn't been any consolidation (at least officially) among top four OTAs in India. Plus, there are two global players in Expedia and Travelocity.

On how this has sort of defied the general opinion, especially with consolidation yet to take place, Kerkar said, "Many brick and mortar companies have their Internet / online distribution strategies in place and are working on the same. Some of them have already implemented online distribution channels. There were couple of consolidations that were to take place but did not materialise. Apart from valuation differences, the reason for consolidation not happening is given today's economic climate, most venture capitalists will have to safeguard their own position, so it's doubtful that there will be any consolidation in the near future."

Ritesh Gupta
EyeforTravel.com