THE GROWING traction of group-buying sites continues to be watched with close interest by the trade, and even online travel agents are feeling the heat.
Citing intense competition from deal sites as a threat to its business, Yatra.com co-founder and CEO, Dhruv Shringi, said the Indian OTA launched its own equivalent microsite, Steal-a-deal, two months ago.
“We don’t want the customer to have the perception that he can get a better deal elsewhere.
“We’re also in discussion with suppliers to make sure they don’t undercut us (when they sell to deal sites),” he said.
Shringi said Indian online players like Snapdeal.com were active in the short-break holiday market. Steal-a-deal publishes 20 to 30 deals a day, also providing an opportunity to manage distressed hotel inventory.
Not wanting to reveal specifics, Shringi would only let on that figures had “tripled month on month”.
He added that the OTA was also trying to grow its offline distribution network over the next 12 months. It currently has between 8,500 and 9,000 travel agent partners, and is working towards an initial target of 20,000.
Interestingly, pilots had been conducted with middle-class housewives, an untapped segment because of the social structure, he said.
“These are currently not travel agents, and we are trying to get them to be our affiliates.”
When asked if Yatra had plans to expand overseas, Shringi said the focus was still to serve the Indian mass market, riding on growth in tier-two and tier-three cities.
“Where there are physical barriers, people will take to online faster,” he said.
Shringi added that the grim economic outlook had not put a dampener on outbound bookings, though Indian inbound was starting to see a slowdown.
– Read more in ITB Asia 2011 Official Daily – Day 1 issue
