Room for Improvement (a.k.a. “The Finale”)

“$128 billion in travel will be sold online in the United States in 2011. Also, 38% of travel revenue will be made online by 2011.” (JupiterResearch, 2006)

Even with an industry that is already so large, there is always room for improvement. To close up my blog at this point, I’d like to go through a brief SWOT analysis and then make some recommendations for improvement for the companies included in the online travel industry, mainly focusing on the “all-in-one” sites such as Expedia.com as well as airlines. Any input from readers is much appreciated…

Strengths: 1. Convenience. You can research and plan your trip from your own home – from your bed if you want to. No more calling travel agents and waiting for them to respond with information. 2. Information. The Internet provides an infinite amount of space in which people can add basically anything they want to, and so when it comes to finding information about trips, airlines, even the food at the hotels you are looking at, it is all at your fingertips. There is a wealth of information to be had for anyone with the time to search it all. 3. Deals. These online sites are able to offer better deals than normal because of their reduced costs in other places, such as staff and location. For the airlines, they save about $10-20 each time someone books a flight online. 4. Potential for Communities / Loyal Customers. The online world is filled with communities of all sorts, and the online travel industry has not been left out of the mix. One example is Travellerspoint, an international travelers’ community. Communities tend to lead to more loyal customers. Also, many of the airlines employ rewards programs which transfer easily onto online purchases. The “one-stop” travel sites have also started using rewards programs to encourage return customers. An example of this is Expedia’s “Thank-You Points”. 5. Unique Selling Propositions. This pertains to the smaller sites, such as Kayak, Priceline and Booking Buddy, who offer something a little out of the box. While the original concept of the bigger sites like Expedia was definitely unique, it has been reused so many times, leading us to our first weakness of the online travel industry.

Weaknesses: 1. Undifferentiated branding. One of the main problems I found between the bigger sites such as Expedia and Orbitz is a lack of brand equity. They all seemed to convey the same message and have the same goals, and it lead me to really think that there would be no good reason to use one over the other except better deals at the time, but no one site was even consistent for that. Because of this, these sites most likely have a hard time retaining customers, who can easily go somewhere else and find the same deal. 2. Buzz Marketing. As much as I think viral or buzz marketing can definitely be used to a company’s advantage, I think that it has actually done much more harm than good in the case of the online travel industry. There are many-a-site purely constructed around complaints for a certain site. (example: Expedianews.com) People most definitely tend to share bad news more than good, and a negative experience travels a long way. In the case of booking flights and hotels for places we’ve never been too, all it takes is one bad story to scare us away from using that site. Talk about bad press. 3. Fine Print. There are so many little details to be had that can easily mess up an entire trip, and they need to find a clearer way to convey them. This is actually a strength of some sites, such as JetBlue, who outlines all of their policies and solutions to “what-if” situations very clearly. 4. Poor Communication. This is probably the biggest weakness I’ve come across. In order for sites such as Expedia to function, they must have a strong communication network going with the airlines, hotels, car rental shops, restaurants, theaters and all other establishments which they book for. Because they actually seem to have a pretty strong disconnect, it evolves into many problems, especially when it comes to people trying to change reservations, cancel flights, or rearrange. This is truly where they seem to be losing their customers. If something happens with the airline, although it is not Expedia’s fault in most cases, they are the ones the consumer looks to because they booked through them, and Expedia needs to find a way to handle being that intermediary.

Opportunities (& Recommendations): 1. Establish better communication. Plain and simple. (Well, not really.) But in all seriousness, I truly think that if these sites that include flight booking, hotel reservations, car rentals and more really developed a better system of coordination and communication, they could relieve a lot of the problems they are having. Another way to deal with customer dissatisfaction is for these sites to operate like the airline sites, by giving their users a clear list of the solutions to the “what ifs”… such as “What if I need to cancel my flight at the last minute?” or “What if I want to change my check out date from the hotel?” When booking through the airline or the hotel directly, these problems are much easier to address. They are not so easy to deal with on sites like Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity, though. Develop that fine print into something easily understood by customers so they know exactly what they are getting into. People are going to complain no matter what, but at least we can try to reduce it. 2. Differentiate your brand! Priceline: no booking fees. Kayak: dynamic pricing forecasts. Booking Buddy: access to every travel site. Expedia… ? Orbitz… ? They all seem to offer the same benefits and same functions. They need to find something that sets them apart. This is an opportunity for them to step out into the light and reinvent themselves. If they have something unique added to their brand, even customers who have sworn them off may be likely to return. Perhaps a community blog for users with frequent responses from employees to form more of a community, or some other benefit such as a specialized rewards program, more so than the points program they all already offer. Anything that adds value to their brand to set them apart. 3. CRM, CRM, CRM. Develop better relationships with customers. Forget the constant flooding of e-mails. Just because someone booked a trip in March does not mean they need e-mails three times a week right after the trip – they will most likely not be going on another trip right away. Let them know you’re there every once in a while, but filling their in-boxes just turns them off. A blog is a great way to open communication between your company and your users, even if you don’t participate in it, but still respond to suggestions.

Threats: 1. Each other. Competition is their biggest threat. Because of the undifferentiated brands, it is so easy to use one site over another. Price is the biggest factor – people want the lowest price, regardless. And so there has to be something else that makes you different and adds a large enough benefit to attract customers, even if your price isn’t the lowest. Otherwise there is nothing stopping them from shopping around. 2. Downturns in economy. Especially pertaining to the airline / travel industry, changes in the economy such as the war and terrorism can have a negative effect on peoples’ perception of airlines or wants to travel. We saw this with September 11th, which they have most definitely recovered from substantially. This is not something they can control, but something that definitely has a bit of control over the entire travel industry.

In summary, I think they really need to take a look at their communication with the companies they provide booking for, they need to develop better relationships with customers in order to encourage loyalty to their sites, and they need to find something to set themselves apart from others. Even the airlines, which you wouldn’t think would be much different, have aspects about them that make travelers dedicated to one airline over the other.

Well, it’s been fun. Perhaps I will revisit someday. (Next week, maybe? haha)

Summary of Success (in the Online Travel Industry)

Throughout the quarter, I have not only researched many different sites, but I have also had many great examples of successful (or not-so-successful) online travel sites from classmates and the comments that I’ve been lucky to receive directly on my blog. While my original intention was to research the entire online travel industry, this proved to be much too grand of a task, and I, without meaning to, ended up focusing mainly on integrated travel sites such as Expedia, Travelocity and a lot of smaller names, as well as the online airline industry. And in these categories, I did learn a lot.

To summarize some success stories, I’d like to hand it to the little guys. Perhaps it’s because they haven’t been around as long or don’t dominate the market quite like the “Big 3″, but the more unknown sites such as Kayak.com and BookingBuddy.com seem to be held in higher regards in many consumers’ minds. This may be because they have had less opportunities to “mess up” or have customers with negative experiences. But one reason I think these sites may actually be more successful is because they aren’t so generalized and have a unique selling proposition that adds value to their site. Sites such as Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia are not very differentiated, and because they are so similar, most consumers don’t remain loyal to one, but feel free to move between them.

Success Story #1 for the Very Little Guy: Booking Buddy recognizes the vast amount of channels available, and tries to solve the problem of channel conflict by offering access and integrating them all on their site. I found this site very useful in finding cheap airline tickets to Italy for this summer. When you reach their homepage, they have a chart like most of the other sites in which you input information – departure location, date, arrival location, date, and certain preferences. But the next step is awesome, because they provide icons from 10 different travel sites, such as Expedia, Kayak, Hotwire, Priceline and more, as well as a drop down menu of sites that don’t have icons. When you click on a specific icon, it sends the site your information and you are given ticket options immediately. This is great – Booking Buddy essentially provides an easy way to reach every site by visiting only one and inputting your information only once, which is a huge convenience when we are looking to save both money and time. I wouldn’t say Booking Buddy is in direct competition with the larger sites because they basically provide a link between the consumer and the travel sites, but they do provide access to sites that people might not otherwise check if they only know of Expedia’s site, which ultimately provides more competition.

Success Story #2 for the Somewhat Little Guy: Kayak also provides a unique selling proposition that attracts people to their site over others. It functions much like Booking Buddy, in that it searches all of the other sites for the lowest prices, but it does this on its own without you choosing specific sites. But the most prominent feature is that Kayak.com recognizes the importance of dynamic pricing as I mentioned in my last blog, in the online travel industry, and how the rapidly changing prices can affect a consumers trip from minute to minute. Because of this, they provide a function that keeps track of the changes in price each day. Also, when searching for a particular flight, with the results comes a dynamic pricing chart that includes past price history for a particular flight, as well as a forecast for the change in price in the coming days or months. This can be extremely useful to people who travel often. It is hard shopping especially for flights, because we may find what we think is a good deal and we don’t want to miss out, when really the next day it might be cheaper. Having a chart with a past history of prices and a forecast can not only help us according to their predictions, but it can help us make our own predictions. Of course, with dynamic pricing, there is never a certain answer of where it is going to go, and we just have to hope for the best.

The online travel industry is somewhat dominated by these “one-stop shop” sites now-a-days, especially for the vacation traveler looking for the best deals. But, I still want to give props to the airlines who have opened channels online quite successfully. With these sites, the main concerns are most definitely security and customer service. We are often dropping hundreds of dollars on these sites, and would like to know that A. our information and money are secure, and B. we are going to receive as much help and guidance as we need along the way. By providing considerably clear security guidelines as well as promises of customer service, I think airlines’ sites such as JetBlue’s or American Airlines’ have definitely been successful, especially when concerned with loyal customers to those brands. (Success Story #1 for the Big Guys)

As a large portion of the travel industry moves online, there are many things that contribute to its success (or failure). I will take a look at these in my next post, the finale to this blog.

Dynamic Pricing

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think “traveling” and “dynamic pricing”? Anyone who has used the Internet to book travel trips before and has knowledge of the vast amount of sites out there would still think of only one: Priceline.

Priceline embodies the concept of dynamic pricing, and has built their entire company off of it. In this age where there are about eleventy-billion travel sites out there, with big names like Expedia, Priceline had to do something to set it apart. I’ve never personally used the site, but it’s basically works on a “name-your-own-price” basis. The company has deals with certain airlines that allows them to give incredibly cheap flights for customers.
While I think this is a great concept to build off of, it seems like a method most suitable only for those travelers who are very flexible. If you aren’t flexible, and have specific days / times or any other preferences in your traveling, Priceline’s prices seem to be no different than any others. And by flexible, it means you’re willing to fly at odd hours, end up on the RedEye flight, arrive on a different day as planned, etc. According to one traveler, by giving Priceline your “flexibility”, you’re taking a bunch of risks with your trip, and the details aren’t confirmed until after your credit card has been charged.

While I think this is a great idea, I honestly don’t really know how effective it is. I bid on a couple different flights, both domestic and international, and while it gave me the price I bid at, which was considerably lower than what the price of the flight should have been, the total price ended up skyrocketing with taxes and fees, not to mention the $24.95 charge they tacked on for the delivery of the ticket to my mailbox. (Have they not caught on to the e-ticket phenomenon?)

Priceline has been a rather “small player” in the home market, but has been expanding considerably in both Europe and Asia. As of right now, I think they’re being held back in our market mainly because most of the travel sites are using dynamic pricing as well. While they don’t allow you to specifically name your price, they still search for the cheapest flights when you put in your specifications, and offer you options galore. The entire online travel industry kind of operates on the dynamic pricing concept. This is why we can get flights cheaper far in advance, and also manage to get them cheap the day of, because the companies adjust their prices according to their demand and supply of seats. Because they have to pay to put that plane in the air anyway, they want to fill those seats, and because of the immediacy of the Internet, they can afford to continuously change their prices to do so.

All in all, while Priceline takes dynamic pricing to an even higher level, I believe the entire industry is practicing this concept anyway, and thrives off of it. Even while Priceline has taken steps to set itself even further apart, such as the “no booking fees” policy they’ve recently introduced, they still may not be making the cut.

(But, then again, even William Shatner advocates using Priceline. To quote him, “You know my nemesis. He goes by the name of Full Price”. haha)

Travel Channels

Distribution, or place, is often the most overlooked part of the marketing mix, at least in any class I’ve taken. But after reading and researching this week, I’ve found that distribution plays an equally important part of the mix as any of the other elements. No matter how great a product it is, how low the price or how many coupons or other promotions I have, if there isn’t a convenient means of me getting the product, everything else is a waste. Place is the icing on the cake.

The Internet adds opportunities that never would have been feasible before. With an expanding list of satellite retail sites off of brick-and-mortar stores, purely online sites, auction sites such as eBay, resellers such as Amazon and everything other kind of site imaginable, there are more ways than ever for companies to distribute their products, and more opportunities for convenience for the consumer.

BUT before every company rushes to add an extra distribution channel, I think the most important thing that they have to be is organized. If they don’t have the resources and the organization to add extra distribution channels, they may be in danger of spreading themselves too thin. In this case, the extra distribution channel may, instead of adding a convenience, actually have negative effects. If a customer has a bad experience online, it may cause them to abandon the original brick and mortar store, or never use the original channel again.

In the case of the travel industry, I believe most of the problems I’ve encountered with it have been a result of channel conflict. When people are angry or unsatisfied with their experience with sites such as Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz, it is often due to problems with flights, hotels and other parts of the vacation that require communication with other companies. Because these sites have such an apparent disconnect with say, the airlines, they are seeing many problems. On the other hand, airlines themselves have opened up a viable channel online through which people can search for and book flights, and have seen great success – because companies such as JetBlue and American Airlines were already well-established companies who had the resources and organization to offer multiple channels.

Mixed-mode strategies in which there are multiple channels integrated can be beneficial to not only the consumer, but the company as well, as it helps them cut out the middle man and cut costs. As I read in an article entitled “Steering the Customer to the Right Channel”, airlines save about $10-$20 on each booking of a ticket online. (Of course, this all gets more than balanced out in the fact that people can usually find the tickets anywhere from $50-$100 cheaper online.) But offering the online channel also cuts out our friendly neighborhood travel agent (disintermediation), as I’ve mentioned before. Perhaps this is why the software discussed in my last post would be great for travel agencies to incorporate in their planning of trips – it integrates them with the online channel of distribution.

Another way in which the travel industry has seen an opening of different channels was mentioned in the same article. The self-service kiosks available at the airport check-in are an added convenience for travelers who don’t want to wait in such long lines at the check-in counter. This not only saves the consumer time, but it also saves the company money because they can eliminate staffing at the counter.

Each company has opportunities to offer alternative channels to their consumers. Of course, I don’t think they should take advantage of it until the timing is right and the company has the resources and potential to make it work with their original distribution channel. The online travel industry is an added channel for people traveling, and in some cases is very successful, and in some not so much.

Good News for Online Travel Industry CRM

In response to a comment left on my last post, in which Mr. Joe Mazzarella mentioned a new program he is marketing to travel agencies and other travel businesses, I decided to check it out and get a feel for what it’s all about.

As he mentioned, the overall concept of the program is to bring professionals within the travel industry close to the traveler, in order to better suit their needs and fulfill their wishes. The product, called OpenTravel CRM is free to travel agencies / businesses, and after taking a look at it, it seems like a great opportunity for them to build their CRM skills and improve customer relations.

OpenTravelCRM comes with applications to aid in campaign management by storing information in profiles for travelers so that marketing campaigns can be created easily and marketed to the right people. It also seems to provide a rich opportunity for a company to set up social networking, or a strong community, by providing tools for interactive blogging, instant messaging, forums and even interactive mapping. The program helps in flexible reservations and booking, and in creating customer itineraries. Besides the obvious benefits to aiding in building customer relationships and loyalty, the program also helps the online travel industry out internally by supplying aid in supplier and commission management and bank office and reporting. Besides these applications, OpenTravelCRM will also help these companies market their products by helping them get their name out into the marketplace with e-mails, websites, flight info, and more.

Overall, I believe these are things that the online travel industry should be doing in the first place to guarantee their success, but in the recent weeks I’ve seen that they obviously need some improvement. OpenTravelCRM seems to know the aspects of CRM that need to be displayed by a company, and offer travel agencies and other travel businesses the opportunity to have them for free. Of course, CRM wholly depends on the company and the effort they choose to put into it, but the ideas this free online application provides should be taken into consideration by each online company hoping to maintain long term customers.

I must say, until I actually try the site, it’s hard for me to vouch for it, but at the same time, just exploring their website has impressed me. Not only are they looking to better the online travel industry and holding their hand along the way, but they even have free information sessions and classes to help them get started with the program, as well as learn about other marketing tools, such as blogs. I think this program would be excellent for use by a smaller company, or one just starting up, to really get to know their marketplace and get out there. As for the big sites, such as Expedia, I’m not sure how they would incorporate this into their already designed business plan, but they should definitely consider making some changes, and OpenTravelCRM can provide some great tips.

Travel Communities & CRM

Because traveling is a hobby that many people enjoy, as well as a part of work that some people may not enjoy so much, it is talked about a lot.

While communities have a wide varieties of uses, they can be used in the online travel industry for people to talk about experiences, share advice, make recommendations about trips and more. After looking around, I found one very interesting community that appealed to me (maybe because of my desire to be an international traveler), called Travellerspoint.  It is a well constructed community that is easy to join and includes forums, blogs, travel guides and photography.  There is a lot to check out on the site and many places in which those interested could easily get involved.  It also seems truly run and owned by the community members, with very little mediation.

The benefits of having communities in the online travel industry include easy word of mouth marketing for companies, which of course can be good or bad, they can help build awareness for newer brands, and can even increase customer support, because not only can companies take part in the communities and add input, but members can support other members by offering advice.

CRM is an important aspect of the travel industry, because without travellers, there would be no industry, so their happiness is obviously a dominant issue.  In the research I’ve done so far, this is where I’ve actually seen the greatest problems.  The reason, in my opinion, that many people choose to go straight through an airline instead of using the sites that could provide so many benefits and convenience, such as Expedia, is because they can have better customer service by going straight to the airline.

Airlines are doing a great job in building customer relationships, through reward programs, interactive websites with questions and answers, guidelines as to what the customer receives if something goes wrong, such as an overbooked plane, off-line support and more.  If Expedia, Travelocity and the other major one-stop shop sites want to keep customers instead of losing them, they need to step up their CRM and find a better way to keep their customer in mind, because in most instances, one bad experience is enough for them to lose a slew of customers.  In many cases, this means connecting with the airlines and hotels that they are providing information for, so that in the event of a problem, they can better handle it.

Are you song?

One particular airline has somehow been brought up in every marketing, advertising, and mass communications class I’ve taken so far.  Today, I decided to really look into it and find out why.

Song was not a traditional airline.  It’s target market was professional women, but what man wouldn’t enjoy flying on a plane with leather seats, extra leg room, and his very own TV with free satellite cable?  In the marketing video we watched in class today for Song, they were facing financial troubles and knew they had to market song as “something different and unique”.  So they had people in bright green bodysuits walk down the streets of big cities advertising for the airline, they set up a concept store in the Soho district of NYC, they had airy commercials that were both corny and reminiscent at the same time, and they continuously asked the question: Are you song?  (are you fun, vivacious, have that child inside of you…)

Song simply didn’t survive because she was just a baby and her concept was just too good for others not to steal.  Competing with the same geographic region as JetBlue, JetBlue basically copied many of Song’s ideas to improve their airlines, and were able to do so successfully because they were already established and financially sound.  Slowly, the 48 Boeing 757 planes that WERE Song were transitioned back into the Delta lineup.  My favorite quote from one fellow blogger (a man, even): “Without going on a limb I would say that my worst Song flight was much, much better than my best Delta flight.”

While they were not an Internet-based company, I decided to bring this airline up because I believe they were truly consumer-centric.  They employed excellent customer relationship management by creating a diverse and enjoyable customer experience.  The heart of the idea for their company came from the want to satisfy customers, and each part of their plane was a step in keeping the customer happy.  Maybe other companies should take a lesson from Song.  In that respect, at least.

Straight to the Big Guys

A lot of complaints I’ve read about the “one-stop shop”, or all-in-one sites such as Travelocity, all end in the same way: they swear off these sites and say they will forever go straight through the airline from now on.  Interested in this, I looked into the airline sites to see how they communicate with customers, and what makes them seem more reliable.

The three I looked at are American Airlines, United Airlines and JetBlue.  They are all set up quite similarly.  Looking farther into the site, I think they did well by adding in their “Customer Commitment” (AA and UA) and “Customer Bill of Rights” (JB).  They also lay out their guidelines for cancelled flights, delayed departures, overbookings, and other possible places where things could go wrong.  Good pre-crisis management.

After looking through the sites, I can completely understand why people would trust them more.  Overall, they are just more reassuring.  They all seem truly committed toward their customers, and it’s nice to know they have back up plans if my plane is cancelled or delayed.  They all also have rewards programs.  American Airlines has AAdvantage, United has MileagePlus, and JetBlue has True Blue.  This is a good indication that they want your loyalty, and are willing to reward you for being a repeat customer.  And, if you’re interested, they all offer deals with hotels, car rentals and other aspects of your trip.

Trust is a large issue when it comes to the online travel industry because there is so much that can go wrong, and there really is no such thing as a “little” mistake.  Any little blip can be enough to ruin someone’s entire vacation.  I think the main problem with the sites such as Expedia and Orbitz is that there seems to be somewhat of a disconnect still.  The deals can’t be beat, but I’d rather pay more and know that my trip is going to go as planned.

For now, I’ll stick with my traditional airlines, thank you.

Spread the Word

Marketing communications seems like somewhat of an endless discussion, because there are so many ways and opportunities for marketers to get products out there. My most recent favorite is viral, or buzz marketing, 1. because I love the names for it and 2. because it’s such a common-sense concept that can truly be used to your advantage.

In the travel industry, I’ve noticed that the most prevalent marketing communication they employ is, like many others, e-mail marketing. After planning a trip through Expedia just once, my mom receives e-mails daily now. While I think that e-mail marketing does have the potential to be successful, I find that it can also be completely useless, and even harmful. Now that my mom isn’t looking into buying a trip, the e-mails are just a bother. On the other hand though, when she goes to plan her next trip and is on the lookout for special offers and deals, the e-mails will prove to be helpful and possibly even lead to a sale.

In the case of the online travel industry and sites such as Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz, I find that word-of-mouth, or viral marketing, is actually more damaging to these companies. Because people tend to talk about bad experiences twice as much as they pass on their good experiences, viral marketing can be especially damaging in any company such as these, where there is no such thing as a “little mistake” or an “okay experience”. Usually it was either great or it completely sucked, and so far I’ve heard much more of the latter.

HotWire.com, another travel industry much like the “Big Three” I’ve been relying on as examples, hosts a blog on its site. I think this is a great idea, except that it is almost too obviously written by an advocate/employee of the company. While we all want to hear the good, it’s the opinions coming from our friends and fellow travelers that we trust. Perhaps the blog should be open for everyone to comment on. And while they will be sure to get complaints, A. they can be in control of what posts stay on it and B. they can take the opportunity to refute the negative and possibly change their ways / offer suggestions or support. At this point, everyone I know that has had a bad experience with one of these sites has sincerely banned using all of them. Personally, I think some better marketing communications in the area of customer service would help them greatly.

While I check around and see what else is going on in the area of marketing communications, does anyone have any suggestions for how these sites could have bettered your trip / helped resolve your complaints?

More soon…

Travel Branding Online

Creating a brand has always been a very important concept when it comes to product development / promotions in a company. With the advent of the Internet and companies turning over to the Internet or extending themselves onto the Internet, online branding has, of course, become an issue.

In the travel industry online, I mentioned the “Big Three” in my last post, those being Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity. Why do these three stand out to me and many other online-travel consumers? Because they have a strong brand name that has become more well known over the years than the other smaller companies that may not have a prominent image for consumers to connect with their name. Personally, I have to say that while these three do often stand out in my mind, I don’t feel that they have very personalized brand images. In fact, I don’t find much of a difference in using one over the other, although I’m sure that more experienced travelers that use these sites often would have stronger opinions. In my mind, though, I find that they all share a consistent brand image: that they are all a place to go to plan a hassle-free vacation with the cheapest prices and most convenient deals.

So why, then, do I feel that branding online is still important in the travel category? I think that branding is the key to a smaller company, or a starter company’s success. For example, Priceline.com barged into the market with a UNIQUE brand identity: choose your own price. This site includes all the other services that the “Big Three” does, but adds something unique that essentially becomes its brand. I think what Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia are missing comes in the augmented product. They are basically offering the same core service, but Priceline adds to that by adding something to the augmented product that makes the whole site itself stand out. Mix this with a good website and customer service, and you’ve got yourself some significant brand equity.

The following site supplements what I’m talking about. I really believe that branding online is important for all product or service companies that are either strictly online or have online counterparts. This article zeroes in on the travel company in particular.

http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1125427.php

“This research proves travel searchers are becoming more brand fickle – spending a large amount of time researching their desired purchase, and considering offers from competing brands.” — Even the Big Three, who all have consistent, strong brands, may lose to a smaller company with a unique value proposition that gives its brand more equity and worth.