The New Epteca Marketplace Ecosystem Brings Together Travel Companies, Suppliers of Goods and Services and Travellers
Zug, Switzerland (PRWEB UK) 11 March 2015 -- The travel ecosystem seems destined for a fundamental shift, given the connectivity blooming among buyers, suppliers, travellers and travel companies working together to differentiate their services for an enhanced customer experience. Global studies provide a wake-up call to travel industry players (airlines, travel agencies and hotels), showing that third party ancillary sales will grow ten times faster than general sales in travel.
By collectively building a marketplace ecosystem, the industry creates new revenue opportunities and reshapes how travellers are served relevant items for purchase in all the different phases of their travel experience.
Here are the key elements that define a successful ancillary merchandising and selling strategy focused on the traveller.
MATCHING SUPPLY AND DEMAND: Epteca marketplace ecosystem
Technology is increasing to the point where a travel businesses will need to be a cohesive experience for customers or they will go somewhere else.The travel marketplace ecosystem serves an interconnected community made up the three main players representing strategic supply and demand opportunities.
Travellers:
There are over 1 billion travellers annually and 79% want to be offered relevant 3rd party ancillaries by their travel supplier after the booking.
Travel Industry - Tour Operators, Hotels, Airlines, OTA’s and Travel Agencies:
Merchandising represents an audience with a need and intent with a significant opportunity to drive up revenues with 3rd party ancillaries designed to solve problems and add value to the customers’ journey.
Brands and Suppliers:
Thousands of fragmented offerings, vendors and brands who need the right opportunity to reach qualified customers, at the right time and with a high motivation and intent to buy.
OMNI-CHANNEL ENGAGEMENT
The terms “omni-channel” and “multi-channel” are used to express the way that business operates within channels online and off. People expect a consistent, positive experience from a business at every touchpoint and a positive experience no matter which channel they access — that’s the expectation of today’s travel customer.
This means reaching the travellers with relevant information and relevant purchasable items, on multiple devices (mobile phone, tablet, personal computer) and at the right time and in the right context. The modern consumer’s engagement with digital is absolutely transformative from a retail perspective with a perpetual ‘connection’ means the consumer is, in some sense, always ‘on’ and always ‘shopping’.
SHIFTING TO A RETAIL MINDSET
To take advantage of the profitable opportunity ($300 per person average spending of 3rd party ancillaries related to a trip), it’s imperative to have comprehensive merchandising strategy that considers the impacts of timing, technique, channel, service and price.
Once a customer has booked a holiday, their journey has just begun. This is the stage at which you need to not only impress the customer with the quality of your service, but also follow-up with them to build a connection, make them feel important to you, and ensure that you engage them with only the information, products and services that they value and need.
Using customer data effectively is the key to delivering more insightful, targeted merchandising promotions that will dramatically increase profits by creating a personalised trip and positive brand experience.
GOING FROM SELLING TO FULFILLING NEEDS
Epteca has developed the “Marketplace Ecosystem” where travel companies and product vendors now have the capability to offer purchasable products and services that are relevant to each person’s trip. Epteca helps companies sell the right product to the right customer at the right time that addresses their specific trip needs.
Like a friendly concierge who only has the travellers’ needs in mind, Epteca’s revolutionary ‘smart selling’ marketplace platform generates incremental revenue and personalises service through offering relevant ancillaries to make customers feel appreciated throughout the post booking and pre-travel experience. This includes travel related merchandise and services that customers need, want and wish for in relation to their trip.
Acting as a GDS for ancillary offerings, Epteca curates hundreds of fragmented 3rd party offerings from countless product and service categories. The sophisticated algorithms match the context and intent to predict traveller need based on factors like location, destination, preferences and much more. Epteca’s communications function more like a practical checklist of relevant reminders than a sales pitch. The fully automated service adds value to every step of the customers’ journey and helps travel providers reach new revenue streams with existing bookings.
To learn more please visit http://www.epteca.com.
About Epteca
Hundreds of travel companies and merchants worldwide put their trust in our Epteca to sell more products, and make more money. It’s what we do. Epteca’s mantra is: ridding the world of irrelevant content by putting each additional offering into the right context for each customer. By curating merchandise and services for travellers, the innovative platform brings together and contextualizes in one marketplace what is now highly fragmented offerings from many different vendors. The unique technology, processes and experienced team are ensuring the relevance of every ancillary offering. Epteca delivers “the right ancillary offering, presented to the right customer, at the right place and the right time” to sell more stuff - guaranteed.
Bojan Jokic, Epteca, http://www.epteca.com, +41 415014306, [email protected]
Share this article