Case Study: MakeMyTrip, India - An emerging market travel technology pioneer

July 11, 2014

Last updated: July 17, 2018

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on one such company that found success by implementing international technology locally.

It can be difficult for a new travel agency to win market share in a saturated market – but technology can make an enormous difference. Have a look at a case study compiled by Oxford Economics for our reportShaping the Future of Travel

MakeMyTrip is an example of a company that has been able to capitalise on local market knowledge and the application of international technology to quickly win enormous market share.

MakeMyTrip is an online travel company headquartered in Haryana, India. It provides an online “one-stop-shop” for travel products and services for the domestic Indian market. With customer focus and a commitment totechnological innovationat the centre of its business model, it has rapidly grown to dominate the Indian travel sector since it entered the market in 2005. Its new Route Planner application, launched in 2013, integrates data on domestic flights, buses, trains and cabs to offer unprecedented travel information to its users, providing exact connectivity options between any two Indian cities. The application sifts through 1 billion possible routes and over 20 billion possible schedules in seconds to offer optimum travel combinations. It offers ticket options for certain legs of the journey and information for the rest.

Central to the company’s success is its pioneering use ofmobile technologyas a platform for sales and service. Director Airlines and Agency Alliances Sanjeev Bhasin said the company invested in understanding the local market content and tastes and applied the very latest in technologies to the Indian market. It also timed its entry at the start of a boom in low cost air fares and mobile phone and internet usage. With a slew of popular marketing promotions over the years, MakeMyTrip has established strong brand recognition nationwide. It is the leader in online air-ticketing in India – 1 in 8 tickets booked online in India is through MakeMyTrip.com.

Its first mobile application was launched in 2012 - today it offers apps across iOS, Android and Windows platforms that enable booking of air travel, hotels, bus and train reservations as well as other geo-targeted travel services. The MakeMyTrip mobile app has received 2.4 million downloads to date. Mobile is a key growth channel - 20% of the site visitors are currently contributed by mobile and around 10-15% of domestic flights and nearly 25% of hotels are booked via mobile. Amongst mobile bookings, more than a quarter consist of new customers who have never before transacted with MakeMyTrip. The implication is that MakeMyTrip’s mobile technology has introduced these emerging customers to the travel market.

What do you think? Could other similar companies use MakeMyTrip as an example to find success in their respective markets?

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