Another good example of product differentiation in the online travel industry, that was not mention in class, is Seatguru.com. The website, created in 2001 around the idea of providing information on what is the best seat to choose in any given flight, relies mostly on users review to gather its information. Much like the UMG model Tripadvisor has. No wonder, Seatguru was purchased last year by Tripadvisor (which, by the way, is part of Expedia) in what I believe is a smart move and I guess our last guest speaker would agree with me as it ties perfectly with his “third rule of success in the internet:” work with your complements!
Expedia with Hotels.com, Hotwire and Tripadvisor bets on covering a wide variety of customers targeting each of their businesses to different customer segments and so far it has worked for them.
On the last days rumors (see link below) have spread about a potential buyout by Google (who else?!). Travel seems a natural area for Google to land on as it expands its platform and Expedia could be a good fit for them. What remains a question is to what degree could Google extract more value from this lucrative industry to make sense of this deal. How would competitors of Expedia advertising on Google react to this buyout? Would pulling off advertising from Google be a smart move for the competition? Where else would they get that traffic?
http://www.feedthebull.com/content/google-acquisition-rumor-mill-working-overtime
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