Q: What investment opportunities do you see in the Internet market in Russia?Ī: Many aspects of life in Russia could be improved to become more efficient and customer-friendly. Repeat travelers are more and more willing to travel off the beaten path, rent a car, pick a hotel because its rooms are comfortable and not because it serves free alcohol, etc. There's a growing trend of people wanting to travel on their own terms: picking their flights, accommodations and activities. Higher visibility of local attractions will encourage more people to plan their weekend getaways in other towns and cities. We're strong believers in domestic tourism. Online presence and being listed in one or more tour guide marketplaces will solve the distribution challenge for small local players. We expect to see a fast-growing number of individual tour guides and personalized tours. Getting legislation up to speed with the new e-commerce realities is essential, and travel can drive this. Travel is one of the largest e-commerce segments, with the largest average check size. Hotel discovery in Russia is a huge black hole at the moment, with more than half (if you believe the opinionated market players) of hotels not having an online presence. * Hotels and other accommodations providers, with improved distribution and ability to get noticed. * Travel agencies, with broad geographic distribution and no need for physical presence in corner shops. * Airlines, with streamlined distribution and direct contact with customers. It puts lots of control into the hands of consumers. Q: How does travel in Russia benefit from moving online?Ī: The Internet is the big equalizer for businesses. Now it's time to add extra value to the customer experience and ensure that most smartphone users have the Aviasales brand in their pockets. We've already established our iOS and Android mobile apps well in the market. Mobile is a big thing for us because it's the fastest-growing search and booking channel. Some would argue that most travel markets have stagnated, but we have a couple of tricks up our sleeve that we're looking to try. We are launching some of our features in other markets under our English-language brand, JetRadar. This will allow independent or business travelers - two of our key customer segments - to supplement their cheap airfares with reasonably priced hotel rooms. Q: What are your company plans for 2013 and beyond?Ī: We're working on extending our services by adding our own hotel search. Aviasales' marketing, relationship with customers and presence on social networks are all made by Russians for Russians. We go to great lengths to ensure that there is no price shock when customers get to a booking page on an agency's website. This means that we insist on displaying the full ticket price on our website, including taxes and various surcharges, something our competitors claim to do but don't always live up to. Q: How do you manage to beat global travel search sites in Russia?Ī: As I've said before, we put our customers first. We've totally sorted out the work-life dilemma for most of the employees. Our offices overlook the Andaman Sea, and our colleagues surf in the mornings and hit bars in the evenings. On top of that, we have a fantastic place to work. All our staffers travel abroad at least quarterly, and they routinely find themselves in our customers' shoes since they only use our site to find the best fares. We've put the customer first, which is reflected in the huge customer following in Russia, as well as the unusual fact that we've been able to grow without a cent of venture capital. We also offer travel sites and blogs with effective instruments to monetize their traffic via our affiliate program.Ī: We've been growing 200 percent year on year for the past three years and expect to grow at this pace even further. We connect to dozens of online travel agencies and airlines to find the lowest fares in any direction. At least 7 percent of all online flight bookings originate on . It's main office is in Thailand, while it maintains an office of two to three employees in Moscow.Ī: We're the largest flight search engine in Russia. I spoke with CEO Max Kraynov, the man behind the largest travel search site in Russia, about why local Internet brands can beat global ones here. The growth opportunities in Russian online travel are massive. and Germany, more than half of individual and business travel is booked online. However, it will account for less than 20 percent of the total travel market in the country. This year, the online travel market is expected to reach $10 billion. One of its high-growth areas is online travel. The Russian online population exceeds 60 million, making it the largest Internet market in Europe.
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