Qunar.com gets closer to English version launch
Published: 17 Aug 2005
From Eyefortravel.com correspondent in Shanghai
Travel search engine Qunar.com is set to spread its wings. Qunar.com Information Technology Co. Ltd, which had launched its Chinese language offering earlier this year, is planning to launch its Engli
Qunar.com was founded in early 2005 by three entrepreneurs - Fritz Demopoulos, Douglas Khoo, and CC Zhuang.
Demopoulas says, “We are growing our business rapidly. We have signed agreements with 14 out of 15 online travel agents in China. We have also signed deals with vendors. We have recently opened an office in Hong Kong (a month back). And we are launching an English version, which will meet the information needs of consumers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and other South East Asian countries. Our Chinese site meets the information needs of Chinese speakers. We are looking at launching such versions for Japan and Korea towards the latter part of this year. This is to be followed by South Asia especially in India.” Demopoulas says the first priority was China, followed by English speaking markets in Asia.
The company, which has worked on its proprietary technology, is looking to derive synergy for its operations. “We are looking at using our in-house technology, leverage our relationship within the industry especially the leading hotel chains and also airlines. Agents, too, have indicated interest in working with us as well. We will leverage our business development, sales and marketing, apart from technology,” said Demopoulas.
The company had earlier stated that Qunar.com searches over 300 Chinese-language travel web sites. These search results provide users with real-time pricing information and other descriptive details from more than 20 airlines and 10,000 hotels servicing mainland China.
On projections, Demopoulas said that he expects a shift from usage of major search engines such as Google and Baidu with shift in spending coming to companies like Qunar.com. “Then there is natural market growth. Cost per acquisition, we are optimistic about that. Every market has its own specifics and is bit different. For example, online travel agents in China are very happy to work with us. Strong vendors have already show interest as well.”
“For us, we have to work on small amount of localisation and product is going to be ready for individual models. Break-even is pretty early at this stage, but I feel as an industry we are very optimistic, this can be achieved within a short period of time. In fact, for all of us to break even it shouldn’t be difficult proposition. The bigger question is can we scale our operations? Can we take a large piece of market?”
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