Rolling back the years...
On 17 January 2012:
Who wins in emerging online travel markets? Locals do
If we look at online travel around the globe, we can see that the four key global emerging markets – Brazil, Russia, India and China – are showing substantially greater growth than the developed world.
Serge Faguet, co-founder of Russian online travel agency Ostrovok, argued that locally created and run businesses were the most likely to succeed in the emerging travel markets of Brazil, Russian, India and China.
Being local gave businesses "an overwhelming advantage", he said, not least apparent large pools of capital, global supply bases and experience of established and foreign players didn't necessarily count in the long run.
He may be right. Established players are increasingly choosing to partner with a local business, rather than build from the bottom up, in many markets.
It is perhaps why giants such as Priceline and Expedia have chosen to acquire or invest in businesses such as Agoda and Trivago respectively. Use the war-chests wisely, rather than opportunistically.
On 16 January 2011:
Four ways Groupon might work for travel businesses
Talking about Groupon gets people hot under the collar – and Stephen Joyce’s excellent post last week, with all the related comments, proved it once again.
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In the face of adversity and huge sceticism, one of our Nodes, Daniele Beccari, decided to take the opposing view on the rise of deal sites such as Groupon.
He argued that there were many reasons for businesses to use these sites, giving them access to new business at sometimes low costs, a chance to create viral buzz, shaking up the marketing strategy and opportunity to cross-sell.
Two years on and the daily deal sector hasn't turned out as many in the industry thought it would. Groupon has struggled, Travelzoo's Local Deals platform arguably has yet to reach its full potential, and countless similar sites have come and gone.
Indeed, some are almost basking in its relative demise.