ONLINE BOOKING HAS THE TIMECOME The day has come when the Indiantravelers can criss-cross the globe
Question:
ONLINE BOOKING – HAS THE TIMECOME
The day has come when the Indiantravelers can criss-cross the globe with just a few clicks. Takinge-commerce and information technology services a step further, theIndian travel industry is composing itself to usher in the era ofe-ticketing.
On-line booking involves pursuing ofavailable information on travel websites and then making areservation. However, if you are not the kind who prefers aparticular airline, then you can check out travel sites, whichcollate flights details of all airlines, and are the apt place tobook or bid for air tickets. Travel portals, such as,travelguru.com, arzoo.com, yatra.com, indiatimes.com, rediff.com,makemytrip.com, and cleartrip.com, would provide you all details offlights along with their fares in an ascending order, i.e. thelowest priced, ticket is featured first, on its web page.
The number of consumers who booktravel tickets online is growing. But a switch from offlineenvironment to online environment creates certain doubts in theminds of consumers. Such doubts have been termed as perceived risksin literature.
Also, the Internet revolution hasbrought about significant changes in market transparency, definedas the availability and accessibility of information to marketparticipants. For example, air travelers can use online travelagencies to browse through hundreds of travel offers to theirdestination, compared to typically few offers from a traditionaltravel agent or airline prior to the Internet era.
Generally, market transparency seemsto benefit consumers because they are able to better discern theproduct that best fits their needs at a better price. However,there still is a large percentage of population who get theirtickets booked through the traditional queuing system
The advent of e-ticket booking overthe past couple of years has led to the mushrooming of onlinetravel agencies. These online service providers have in fact comeup with a wide variety of services for faster and more convenientmode of ticket booking. They offer a host of services starting frombooking something as mundane as a train or flight ticket tosomething as exotic as a holiday. They offer various packages whichhave the entire itinerary for the proposed holiday. They even offera convenient pick-up and drop service. With such a range ofservices being offered at your fingertips, expectations are thatmore and more number of travelers would start using such easy, fastand convenient services as compared to the conventional bookingprocess across a reservation counter. Yet, we still observe longqueues at the various reservation counters. And, we also know thatthere are a number of people who use the online services availableto book their travel than through traditional travel bookingcounters.
Srininandan Rao, CEO of Ghoom.com, atravel portal that has been in existence for the past three yearswondered whether he can look at a bigger customer base for histravel booking business or look at an alternative e-business.
Q. Read thecase “online booking – has the time come” given below and answerthe following questions.
- What is the kind of research study that you can undertake forMr. Rao?
- Formulate the research problem and the objectives of yourstudy.
- Suggest an alternative research approach that you cantake?
Develop a working hypothesis for your study.
Strategic Management An Integrated Approach
ISBN: 978-1111825843
10th edition
Authors: Charles W. L. Hill, Gareth R. Jones