MakeMyTrip initiates m-commerce platform for travelers in India

Published: 18 Feb 2008

In what is being described as the first of its kind development in India, online travel company MakeMyTrip.com is powering m-commerce platform for travelers, allowing them to search, book, pay and even receive their ticket on their mobile phones at no additional cost.

Sachin Bhatia, CMO and Co-Founder, MakeMyTrip.com, said the launch positions MakeMyTrip as the first travel company to offer a true MCommerce platform for travelers in India.

"It is our biggest mobile initiative so far and strengthens the existing channels of access that we offer. Our mobile booking facility is now accessible to the user-base of 60 million Airtel subscribers. This development is also a triumph for our R&D division since the WAP application has been designed indigenously," said Bhatia.

The company stated that it has launched the only mobile travel product that works Anywhere, Anytime and does not require a GPRS subscription.

MakeMyTrip has partnered with mChek to offer MakeMyTrip AnyMobile service. Customers only need to send "MakeMyTrip" as SMS to 543219. The instructional menu appears on the screen allowing customers to search, book and pay for their flight tickets through their handsets. Thus the entire transaction is completed on the mobile phone.

mChek is an SMS-based, secure payment system that provides access to domestic flight booking services on MakeMyTrip and does not require a PC or Laptop, and works on all handsets makes. This mobile payment system links users' credit cards to their mobile numbers through a one-time registration.

Sanjay Swamy, CEO of mChek, said, "Searching and purchasing tickets on the go, using even the simplest of mobile phones is a landmark for mobile commerce."

Airtel GPRS subscribers can log onto the MakeMyTrip WAP site through Airtel Live - an in-built application which provides Airtel customers one-click access to MakeMyTrip services. Currently, domestic airtickets booking facility is provided over the mobile phone using credit card payment mode. PNR details are sent to the customer through email / SMS.

MakeMyTrip on Airtel Live can be accessed globally by Airtel Live users through Airtel's own GPRS network and their extensive roaming tie-ups.

Over the past year, MakeMyTrip entered into a tie-up with Nokia to bring its services to users on the mobile platform. The Nokia N-Series has a pre-built MakeMyTrip JAVA application providing flight bookings solution on the go.

Comments

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nomis said on 19 Feb 08:

I think m-commerce for travel will become a reality in 2008 but there are plenty of issues still to overcome in order for mobile to become a mass market sales channel. Consumer fears over security and data protection should not be under-estimated.

Greenroom said on 19 Feb 08:

But SMS is hardly a commerce platform. Will we ever see actual "m" transactions?

Till then I dont see the industry really jumping at this.

nomis said on 19 Feb 08:

Yes, well done MMT. Due to the high propensity of mobile WAP access (as opposed to broadband access) in India, this makes a logical distribution platform for Indian travel companies to exploit. MMT's decision to launch a WAP site will be because this is what the majority of Indian users will be able to access from their handsets.

Indian travel companies so far seem to be outclassing their European and US counterparts in their use of the mobile channel. Will 2008 finally represent the year of mobile distribution in more mature online travel markets? There is a lot of chat in the press about this currently, but will it come to anything?

Alexander said on 18 Feb 08:

MakeMyTrip.com is to be commended for taking this big step forward. The travel industry has been talking about mobile applications for more than a decade, but there have been a number of false starts that pushed back other potential mobile commerce launches in travel and tourism. But, it seems logical that the best way to reach a mobile customer is with a mobile device.

I was surprised to see that MakeMyTrip will include a WAP application. I haven't followed m-commerce closely for the past two years, so I am unaware of recent advancements. But, WAP has been tried in the past and was found to be insufficiently robust. If the developers in India have solved the limitations of WAP, they should receive a big round of applause -- and maybe even a pay raise.

My hunch is that the SMS part of this service will be up and running, and successful long before the WAP.

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