Marketing strategy for MakeMyTrip to 1> Position itself as one-stop store for all travel need 2> Increase the hotel booking conversion rate

2. Bets non air biz at Recession shocks of 2008 Market Improves
80% by ’12. 26/11 attack Increased ad spends
Claims largest bus
ticketing inventory
Trends that prevail
|Non air revenue streams | bus travel | train travel l ad revenues |
|alternative payment cash cards |
Lost by MMT to the
Tatas
Launched in India
Travelocity bought
Launches franchise out Travelguru
model for expansion Allows for renting
homes on holidays
Ties up with Dish TV
for DTH distribution
Started to target
wedding solutions
Ties up with Airtel
for DTH distribution Launches Official
Hatyachaar
marketing campaign
Chalbalchal.com
enters travel search
Launches bidding
website for travel Launched by Kingfisher,
Introduces chatbots for
Spicejet & Indigo
rail travel bookings
Duniyadekho.com
hindi travel portal

3. All in all 2009 wasn’t the best year for OTA’s
All in all 2009 wasn’t the best to get out of the global they tried
as they tried their best year for OTA’s as
their best to getand ventured into newer non and ventured into
slump out of the global slump air
newer non air businesses. In 2010 OTAs are 2010
businesses. As we look forward towards moving beyond just
ticketing sites and are looking at delivering holistic value be it
OTA’s would have to move beyond just
planning travel or holidays look itsdelivering wholistic
ticketing sites and for at users or even more.
value be it planning travel or holidays for its
users or even more.

4. OTA’s
increasing
influence
Top mobile internet usage stats
Internet penetration under 35 years of age
Target segments
Market MMT can take a
Size
bigger share of the
growing market by
keeping sight of 77 % of online shoppers use reviews & ratings for purchase decision
trends on mobile 86 % of respondents prefer a friend's / user recommendation over a
internet, consumer critic's/ experts review
behavior, consumer
High 63 % of all WOM is positive
generated media
margin and usage statistics 84% of online buyers have bought travel online
segments
Communications Content Commerce Search
2010 segment snapshot Increase in share of consumer
40 million internet subscribers generated media
20 million broadband
Communications Content Commerce Search
198 million debit+credit cards
584 million wireless subscribers
Skew in the Time Spent on the Web's 4 key activities

5. Internet penetration is growing
Search and social networking is big in mobile internet
Target segment is showing growth
More consumers are moving towards OTAs
BUT, why aren’t OTAs using consumer generated content to
grow and differentiate?
OPPORTUNITY SPOT

6. Preference for buying
airline tickets
Top visited sites
(million)
OTAs are majorly used as research,
comparison and information gathering
tools by online travellers
It is observed that travellers tend to speak
to the hotel desk or travel agent directly for
cross-checking offline rates before booking
hotels
OTA’s serve dual purpose of booking as well as
verification
Primary research
Principal segment buying air tickets – 24 to 35
First website they go to – MakeMyTrip.com (96%) MMT needs to
What they find missing in OTA’s ? leverage on its Promotions, discounts, deals etc. are the clear preferences for
Personalized recommendations/itineraries, real time chat lead in market online travel bookings
Suggestions based on interests, last mile connectivity, share and the
high brand
Cheaper fares than supplier websites, Forex/visa agents
recall that it
Places that they go to for accomodation?
has by giving
Hotels.com, tripadvisor, Lonely Planet, Internet search,
consumer an
Company tieups, OTAs for co-ordinates experience
What do you use OTAs for other than airline booking? he/she hasn’t
Holiday packages with pre-fixed budgets, hotels, ratings had before as
& reviews, understanding choices for travel well as not
Other use of Internet for booking? provided by
Movies, Plays, bus tickets, train tickets, concerts, hotels other OTAs

7. Price is numero uno in consumer mind
Frame of doubt existing in consumer’s mind if he or she is
getting the best deal is pushing consumer to search more
Trust tops the chart in consumer’s mind to make a purchase
decision and the consumer builds trust by COMPARISION
How does one combine best price, eliminate doubt and build
trust?
That’s the magic formula for CONVERSION

8. Finding low fares
Security
Ease of use
Booking flexibility
Sorting options
Speed of the website
Useful and relevant content
Ability to book all travel services in one transaction
Design and presentation of the website
Online railway bookings is becoming the preferred segment in online travel
Emergence of corporate travel packages
Growing Trend for “niche Tourism” Among Young People
(rural tourism, medical tourism, sports tourism, gay tourism and wedding tourism)
Rising international travel
OTAs looking for offline counters leveraging on their brand value
Emerging travel information portals backed by OTAs
OTAs serving as a preferred search tool for checking fares and ticket availability
Hotels are preferring International OTAs
Growth coming primarily from Low cost carriers
exclusive travel concierge,
Offers like getting one Single search option Consumers can book
exclusive offers on car 9 airlines sell cheap
nights stay free while provides users with train journeys with no service
rentals e.g. Yatra Barclay tickets on their own sites
booking for one night fares, schedules and charge
Card
availability simultaneously
12 Indian travel sites
Discounts for consumers Cars can be rented for self
Discount offers and cash compare cheapest tickets
staying more than one Registered users can save driven or chauffeur driven
back in collaboration with availability
day on remaining days their searches Eg. Ezeego, Arzoo
the Banks

9. OTAs are chasing everything to differentiate and woo consumer
Very little opportunity on flight prices as they come from
common GDS source
OTAs are converging towards offering solutions for all modes of
travel, BUT in SILOS
One bad experience, OTA loses the customer forever to a
competitor OTA
Solution to stay on TOP?
Deliver a new experience to consumer that exceeds
preconceived expectations of consumer and not offered by
competitor

10. Internal
Positive
Negative
External

11. Low investments
required in
High infrastructure
Price and non
Medium/ price competition Moderate
Discounts High Low switching
related to High costs. No Collective
volume bargaining power
Creating community to drive loyalty
Sophisticated Loyalty schemes
Improvements in targeting of marketing initiatives High
By initiating tie up with corporate houses and
providing customized services for travel/hotel Many providers
bookings Small and Big
Price
Lowest in
the OTA ClearTrip
industry
TravelGuru EzeeGo1
Place Yatra
Proposition Offline
Online
Travelocity
Value for Product iXigo
money Mobileheld
End to end
consumer MakeMyTrip is perceived as
driven
different from the other sites
choices
MakeMyTrip
Packaging Promotion
Dynamic Discounts
Customized Best deals
Incentives Convenience

12. Now that we know where MakeMyTrip.com is positioned with
respect to its competitors, it’s time to go back to the consumer
segments to propose our solution

13. Mostly Business class traveler Mostly domestic travelers Both holiday trips and business travels
International and domestic flier Advance booking of tickets Mostly domestic flights
Advance and last minute booking Extensive web search Last minute booking of tickets
Less extensive web search No preference for any airline Minimal web search
Preference for premium airlines Less importance to travel No airline preference
Travel duration very important duration and time Travel duration very important
First class traveler Economic class travelers Economic class travelers
Medium Price sensitivity High price sensitivity Zero price sensitivity
Associated with corporate houses
Internet hours : 2 to 10 hours Internet hours : >10 hours Internet hours : All ranges
Annual income < 5 lacs Annual income >10 lacs Annual income: All ranges
Single/Married/with kids Married/with kids Mostly single
Age groups less than 30 Age groups more than 30 Age groups less than 30
Low cost airlines All kinds of airlines All kinds of airlines

14. Recommendations – Economic traveler – (Biggest segment)

15. Connect the Dots – Merge the divide
A holiday from Hyderabad to Sri Lanka value chain (tickets to Sri lanka are cheaper from Chennai)
Current
MakeMyTrip
Solution

16. Uses data from MMT and goes to parent website to book Chennai – Colombo flight to avoid service charges
What the
Consumer
does?
Goes to redbus.in or irctc.com to book a bus/train from hyderabad to chennai
Calls DotCabs for a rate of 250 Rs to reach the bus station
Consumer is able to reach Colombo at Rs 4743 Vs Rs 8836 (proposed by MakeMyTrip)
MakeMyTrip loses out on conversion despite providing Air, Bus , Train and Cab solutions
MakeMyTrip positioning of lowest prices and best deals takes a hit in the consumer’s mind

17. 1 Experience Value for Money
Make the consumer choose Experience Vs Value (Economic traveler identified by Value choice)
2 Seek start position
e.g ISB, GachiBowli
Seek end position
Kandy, Sri Lanka
3 Integrate travel solutions and build trip schedule in the order of connectivity and cost priority
Chennai Flight Colombo
MMT
Captures
What Bus/Train/flight entire value
MakeMyTrip Hyderabad Chennai
Choice + options chain
should do?
ISB, Gachibowli Hyderabad bus station/train station
Cab Providers
/airport depending on previous choice
Net Sum Price

18. Integrating search solutions is a great start to improve
conversion and visitation
We have attacked the best price problem
Hotel bookings will follow suit once consumers perceive MMT to
be churning out the best price and options
Now how do we attack “eliminate doubt” and “build trust”?

19. Bring in the consumer to the value proposition
Two way business model is missing
with the consumer
Consumer is forced to make
choices from existing options
?
Bring the consumer as part of the value chain to promote end to end value based journey booking
The concept is based on location based services driven by user based content influencing other users to
take a particular service.
User is incentivized to provide content through the form of discount vouchers or free accommodation stays

20. Local Transport
Source Destination
Accomodation
Fully tapped segment – MMT Airline
Online booking transactions
Growing segment – Not fully tapped
Holiday/Air travel value chain Experiences
Open Itineraries

21. For the consumer, By the consumer, To the consumer

22. Rich media content of places visited
Supplier contacts for transport
New hotel suppliers/Budget acco
Local Experiences
Local transport information
Drivers for consumer generated Content
MMT mobile solution Serviceable
“Propose” option between any two nodes in
the itinerary built by MMT (or)
GPS
Serviceable Vs Informative
Informative
“Informative” info gets built into MMT itinerary but not charged
“Serviceable” info signifies a MMT tie up and hence charged.
Check In
Consumer activates information “check in” to the MakeMytrip
system under appropriate category
Validation
MMT validates the entered data and passes/blocks the data entered
Go Live
Validated data goes live. Consumer getS a next trip discount/check
in points redeemable against next booking

23. Case in point – Source : Chennai Destination : Bangalore
Budget Traveller
User User
User
Best Fares contributed contributed
contributed
for Flights transport hotel
experiences
choices suppliers
Kingfisher Cab from B block Hotel Janaki Trek to Nandi Hills
KT-732,KT-733 entrance of airport Budget 1250 rs
350 rs Koramangala 650 rs (Serviceable)
(Informative) * * (Serviceable)
Travel Value Chain
•User books an entire journey, places more credibility on user driven choices and content
•MakeMyTrip evolves with receiving data pertaining to each segment as well as servicing choices to each segment
•MMT makes money from the supplier side for serviceable data and is able to bridge its offerings with informative data
•Over time, MMT evolves to become a social network within an online travel site promoting a community based
offering
•Best contributors are rewarded and consumers over time witness the quality of their journey choices as the data matures
•MMT will be able to increase its conversion rate in categories other than airline travel and will be able to give its
suppliers a boost by user generated content
•With MMT’s foray into railway/bus bookings, they can add offerings for rural tourism, green tourism and rustic experiences

24. Small incentives is enough to woo this segment to generate
content and source suppliers
• Recency in ratings of hotels/cabs/flights/buses builds
credibility and trust
• Recency in rich content from users pushes up choice of a
certain service and would help in MMT supplier consolidation

25. Internal External
Brand Vision Brand Promise
Emotional Connection
Brand to connect with consumer who
Brand to Commitement seek the best in value or in experiences
Fixed
become the
leading choice
to customers – A
price you can’t
1 and achieving the same through the
same people who seek
for “journey” beat, An
between any 2 experience you Relevant
co-ordinates can’t forget
Differentiation
User interface, choice matrix,
5 2 Value
Brand Delivery
Brand Positioning
We want to be
Information drivers, travel
community, rich media content,
Drivers Convenience, Multitude of
choices, user generated
information that wont be
Will fulfil perceived as a Sophisticated loyalty schemes charged and ensuring every
commitment choice brand for traveler gets the bang for the
by integrating anything, buck
Variable
travel solutions
and populating
user generated
anywhere related
to travel,
experiences and
Awareness
Approach will primarily be in the
4 3 Accesibility
Increasing offline outlets to bring
online space to tap in the
content for holidays. Our consumer behavior of search
in person interaction to the
suppliers and competitive consumer thereby contributing
,social networking and gaming.
to increased trust and
information advantage will be Viral campaigns on the lines of
relationship over the years
regarding local pricing, choices, “beat this journey at a lower
price” and treasure hunt will
experiences value and
keep consumers perceiving MMT
community as different from other OTAs

26. This brand positioning will keep MMT well poised to be the one
stop for all travel related solutions and ride the wave of this
growing OTA segment while leveraging all its existing strengths
and customer aquisitions

27. Possible value ad mechanisms

28. Brand your experience
Consumers are
Carpooling Group booking
motivated to contribute
Passengers booking a discounts
when personal branding
flight/hotel can be given Passengers can opt for
is activated.
an option to opt for a being part of a pool for
carpool availing group discounts
Any new experiences
on hotel bookings.
that MakeMyTrip can
•Booking facilitated by Thereby people who
service and is
MMT book on MMT for the
contributed by a user
•Connection between same day/hotel can
will be branded with a
passengers travelling avail appropriate
name according to
and reaching around discounts as being part
consumer’s choice
the same time of a group.
before it goes up for
facilitated by MMT
bookings.
•Value add will drive up Will help in conversion
cab bookings and full from mere searches to
MMT can drive content
journey bookings actual bookings
and non travel sales in
this segment

29. Sample Marketing campaigns

30. Have you found a cheaper way than us to
connect two places?
Let us know and get your trip FREE*
We shall take your WORD for it

31. Do you have an
experience that we
don’t offer?
Be the first and
accumulate
200 Rs for your next
MMT booking

32. Exhausted searching for the best deal?
Log on to MakeMyTrip.com & Rejuvenate!

35. References
1. comSCORE data passport report H1 ‘10 and H2 ’10
2. Euromonitor International : Country Market Insight - June 2010 – Travel and Tourism – India
3. EBSCO report on MakeMyTrip VIKALPA • VOLUME 35 • NO 1 • JANUARY - MARCH 2010
4. comSCORE Online Travel Trends In India Travel Distribution Summit – India 2010
5. A perceptual mapping of online travel agencies and preference attributes - Dong Jin Kima, Woo Gon Kima, Jin Soo Hanb
6. Responsible tourism management: The missing link between business owners’ attitudes and behaviour in the Cape Town tourism industry
Nicole Frey, Richard George* School of Management Studies, University of Cape Town (UCT), Rondebosch, Cape Town 7701, South Africa
7. PWC : Hospitality Directions Europe Edition*Issue 14 November 2006: How to maintain success in the online travel space
8. ResearchOnIndia : Online Travel Industry : August 2010 : 3 parts
9. A Case Study on MakeMyTrip Mobile Travel Solution & breaking the Mcommerce Inertia
10. Tripping along:Deep Kalra (PGP '92),makemytrip.com
11. Travel 2.0:The future of travelling:Whitepaper
12. LiveMint:Future course of Marketing and Advertising
13. Sachin Bhatia on Social Networks: Vertical Social Networks, the future of online travel distribution
14. WebCredible:Online travel sector usability report
15. Marketing Research in Online Travel Agency Space Faculty Contributor : N. B. Kanagal,Associate Professor,IIM B
16. Rockey Nebhwani , 2009, "Indian Railways - Epicenter of Indian Online Travel Industry Revolution",
February 2, http://www.infosysblogs.com/multi-channel-retailing/2009/02/indian_railways_epicenter_of_i.html.
17. IANS, 2009, "Indians Prefer Online Travel Portals to Plan Holidays", Aug 29,
http://tech2.in.com/india/news/internet/indians-prefer-online-travel-portals-to-plan-holidays/85072/0.
18. Marion Arathoon and P.R.Sanjai, 2008, "Online travel portals most prone to fraud", Jun 11,
http://www.livemint.com/2008/06/10235627/Online-travel-portals-most-pro.html.