A 4-in-1 e-commerce approach

A 4-in-1 e-commerce approach for airlines that does everything but the hoovering

Need an all-in-one travel booking solution for your customers which is highly flexible and scalable?

Digitisation and massive distribution costs are key to many problems confronting airlines today[1].

Challenges include the need to establish distribution channels and create dynamic digital retail operations to reduce the distribution bill and to offer a broad spectrum of travel services. As highlighted by Journey Mentor in our posts, legacy technology remains a significant and expensive hurdle.

Like smoking and drinking, even though you know it’s bad for you, the expensive attachment to these antiquated systems persists. They neither enhance operations, improve competitiveness nor fulfil modern customers’ expectations.

A lot of clicks, switches between sites and time spent are currently required from a customer or agent to book a single trip. The complexity and inefficiency of legacy platforms are a competitive brake on digital success. The cost and effort involved in setting up alternative direct distribution channels is in many cases prohibitive.

Journey Mentor changes this. We offer four different e-commerce portals for airlines within a single travel ecosystem that is highly flexible and scalable. This can increase revenue, reduce cost, open up additional sales and is easily managed.

• Consumer Booking Portal: a B2C website that allows an airline’s passengers to book any origin to any destination throughout the airline’s network and book ancillaries in a one-order environment.

• Agent Portal: a B2B website that does all the above but for an airline’s designated agents.

• Airline Business Portal: a website designed to service the airline’s regional representatives (GSAs), ticketing offices and call centres, and book ancillaries in a one-order environment.

• Holidays Portal: a consumer-facing website that can also be used B2C supporting in-bound and out-bound holidays to selections set by the airline.

Airlines can choose to adopt a 4-in-1 approach or pick and mix.

The benefits include:

• Easy management and admin by the airline

• Websites use common business rules, pricing/offers, traveller profiles and availability

• Effortlessly launch a B2B direct agency distribution channel, lowering GDS distribution costs.

• Revenues increase as additional sales outlets offered

• Available on desktop, laptop and tablet or an app on mobile device

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[1] Travel demand spike: Airlines’ ability to keep up | McKinsey