Asked about the changes made in travel market by Travelocity, Jeffrey Glueck puts it into three stages. Stage 1: from the first foundation of the company as the first online travel company till their establishment in this industry and the popularity earned among the customers. First stage is about tools and prices, he says. Tools being the Internet for searching flights and the convenience earned by that. Unlike before, when the customers had to go some travel agencies to arrange flights, which would only be in service certain hours a day, now Travelocity changed the direction of the market. People can access any traveling info by internet 24/7 and by a lower prices than traditional traveling companies. The second stage is about "brand affinity and being customer's champion". Now, Travelocity got brand name/reputation among the customers (intangible resources) and have earned their trust. The third stage was about relevance and experience. They not only provided flight information, but also, planned out the whole journey for the customers by their wishes, including where to eat, what culture programs to visit and many more.
I think, Travelocity had a great first mover advantage by completely conquering the market at first and earning much popularity among the customers by that. Although there wre many competitors later as Expedia, or TripAdvisor, by regular innovations and improvements, it succesfully beats the competition. Everytime they come up with new things, like this time the costumer review/community function that provides the travleres opportunity to share their experiences with others so that later onews get even smarter at traveling. In this kind of competitive market, with relatively low entry and exit barriers, Travelocity is doing pretty good I think.
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4 comments:
Yes, Travelocity has been very innovative from the very beginning, giving the customers exactly what they need and want before they even know themselves what they want. They have always been one step ahead of their competitors which shows on either great skill or great luck, either way this strategy of always moving forward is probably what earns them there market share.
Travelocity started their company with analyzed strategy. Selling fligte ticket was a niche market in those time. Strategy of Travelocity worked in the nicihe market and they know what customers want in travel. Tervelocity also knew how to keep customer in their company.
i agree that it looks like travelocity is doing very good and are very innovative. However, i beleive that becaus of their strong brandname their position is very hard to take by the competition. Even if a compeditor would add some new feature that travelocity didn't think of yet, travelocity can easily and with great speed, more or less adopt this new feature and will still come out on top, even if they weren't first.
The market entry barrier is low in the internet, but, as we discussed in the class, the importance of trusted brand/reputation is becoming more important. So, everyone now has a better opportunity to start a business, but, it means it's easier to start, but, to keep up to the success, still, entrepreneur will need to sustain their trust over a long period.
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