Amadeus Insights
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Merchandising
In terms of merchandising, 81% of Online Travel Agencies said it was either ‘important’ or ‘very important’ for them to be able to effectively merchandise airline products. The top reasons given by the sample were ‘gaining access to more airline content’ (cited by 58%), ‘need to be a one-stop-shop’ (50%) and ‘to keep up with options available on airline websites’ (47%).
To better merchandise, slightly more than half of Online Travel Agencies cite the need to ‘access rich content like expanded descriptions or images to better sell the product’ as essential, while upselling to a ‘better rate’ or ‘better fare’ was only deemed important by a fifth of Online Travel Agencies.
At the same time, 86% of Online Travel Agencies said they ‘frequently’ or ‘all the time’ suggest additional add-ons to their customers, like hotels, car, rail, insurance or transfers. Online Travel Agencies work to do this as part of ambitions to ‘service a full end-to-end trip for their customers’ (67%) and because they ‘need to be a one-stop-shop to meet traveler needs’ (49%). Finally, driving revenue was the most influential driver for suggesting add-ons for 49% of Online Travel Agencies.
Travelers increasingly expect end-to-end experiences, and Online Travel Agencies see merchandising as a key to meeting that demand.
“We want to ensure our customers can provide the perfect end-to-end experience...”
Peter Altman
VP, Mobility and Travel Protection, Hospitality, Amadeus
When it comes to how technology can help with selling products ‘beyond air’ Online Travel Agencies highlighted:
Create real-time packages based on traveler need
Gain more transparency over what you are selling
Better control content you are selling
Access better rate competitiveness
Payment reconciliation
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