Internet Retailing

Items tagged with 'travel'

German discounters begin the move online

Lidl has opened a non-food online operation in Germany and has international plans for it, while Aldi is launching a UK version of its discount travel site in the new year

Research into how search drives travel purchases

Beyond hype, a consortium of Yahoo!, Media Metrix and Media Contacts, has analysed the purchasing behaviour of search-acquired visitors on travel sites over a three-month period. Their research shows nearly 10m transactions from 7.5m customers. Their research included nearly 8000 interviews and the conclusion are intuitive and hitherto difficult to quantify...

Travel terror - food for thought for retailers

Hitwise have released the statistics for key travel terms following the terror alerts which blighted the UK's travel arrangements in August. A key learning point is that those whose booking systems and businesses are online get the majority of the traffic. A blinding flash of the obvious, of course, but it's a timely reminder - with the Christmas peak approaching - that as more and more of our business is transacted online that we need to plan for peak surges far in excess of historical precedent.

YouTravel.com - new online hotels booking service

Arguably there's little appetite for yet another online travel company - a quick search on Google gives so many returns that you'll need a holiday after the first 1,000 sites - but YouTravel.com will specialise in hotels only and (unlike so many 'skinned' sites) will have direct relationships with the hotels. Will this give both better margins and a better customer experience?

Is it worth paying for search?

The share of referrals from search engines to retail websites is greater than six months ago, according to competitive intelligence company Hitwise. Highlighting the importance of being high up in the search rankings, the study of the search market also shows that Google and Yahoo! have increased their market share over the same time period.

Will misleading prices be cut?

The advertised price isn't always what the consumer pays and is one of the reasons why certain comparison shopping sites show the 'including delivery price'. Some cut-price travel companies though take things one step further and the Trading Standards Institute is urging the Office of Fair Trading to look into cheap internet pricing.

Three quarters of holidays researched or booked online

The latest study of holiday booking habits has shown that only 7% of internet users research and book holidays from high street travel agents - no great surprise there. What is odd though is that while a beach holiday is the most common type of holiday booked online, activity holidays are more popular on the high street.

All change at Opodo

Online travel company Opodo is restructuring and putting 90 jobs at risk across its European operation.

Cruise Thomas Cook boosts marketing activity

As travel sites move higher up the visitor rankings online, Cruise Thomas Cook has appointed online marketing agency Harvest Digital to help drive traffic to its site. Behavioural advertising, paid search, including demographic search targeting, and an affiliate marketing campaign will all be used.

Travel sees more change with EasyPackages

More changes are underway in the travel industry as Easyjet starts selling package holidays and Ryanair links up with Expedia to sell hotel rooms on its site.

ATG offers advice for travel sites

According to research organisation Forrester, the British spend more on travel websites than any other e-commerce sites, with over a third of all money spent online going on flights and holidays. Jaap Favier, research director of consumer markets at Forrester has predicted that spending on travel websites will continue to increase by around 133 per cent over the next five years. With such an increase in demand, will travel websites be able to cope? Ian Davis, director of OnDemand at ATG gives online travel sites some advice (and it's just as relevant for other retail sectors).

WAYN named top 100 European start up

The social networking travel site WAYN.com has been named as one of the most promising private ventures in the EU. Its recent US$11m funding by venture capitalist ECP means that it also has a strong team pushing it forward - Brent Hoberman, former founder and CEO of lastminute.com, travel experts David Soskin and Hugo Burge from Cheapflights and Andrew Critchlow and Andy Phillips form Active Hotels.

Tvtrip.com launches video-clip hotel search tool

Following on from travel review sites such as tripadvisor, four former managers from Expedia Europe have launched a hotel search site which includes video clips. Tvtrip.com gives travellers a real-life view of the exterior, facilities and rooms at the 1500 hotels listed in 25 European destinations, before going on to book their hotel with one of the partners.

Travellers booking by phone more likely to recommend service

Holiday makers are more likely to make recommendations to friends and colleagues if their holiday was booked over the telephone, according to a study the customer insight specialist The Listening Company. Travel agencies came in second and recommendations for bookings made over the internet a distant third. The research also reveals the nation's perfect holiday and the booking habits and preferences of UK consumers in 2007.

Travel sites receive most click-throughs

In July 2007 Britons clicked on over 1.3 billion search results (over 29,000 every minute) with multi-category travel sector (containing brands such as Lastminute.com, Expedia and Thomson) receiving the most of these click-throughs, 41.6 million = 4.7% of all click-throughs.