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A Case Study on MakeMyTrip’s Rise to Riches- Redefining the OTA Landscape

Nothing can surpass the comfort of planning a trip from your home. You can compare the prices to get the best out of the deal. The online travel agency (OTA) industry is complicated and highly competitive. Loyalty is a rarity in this vertical. Customers choose you over a competitor, even just for a few dollars less. In this crowded market, MakeMyTrip is India’s leading online travel agency, with nearly eight million visitors to their site every month. Since 2000, MakeMyTrip has been helping millions of Indians book railway tickets, airline tickets, bus tickets, reserve hotel rooms, and buy holiday packages.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, by Deepak Kalra, MakeMyTrip is one of the most popular and dependable Indian travel companies. It helps the people of India avail of online travel services, including airline ticketing, domestic and international holiday packages, hotel reservations, railway reservations, and bus tickets.

MakeMyTrip also has numerous international offices in New York, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Phuket, Bangkok, and Dubai.

MakeMyTrip- Company Highlights:

MakeMyTrip was founded to ” empower the traveler with easy and instant travel bookings, providing comprehensive choices.” Launched initially in the US market to cater to the overseas Indian community and their US-to-India travel needs, MakeMyTrip expanded to offer online flight bookings to travelers in India while adding holiday packages and hotel bookings to its services. MakeMyTrip is a super app for travel. In 2011, MakeMyTrip launched its mobile app to boost further the convenience offered to customers.  Over the years, the multi-award-winning company has become renowned for its reliability, transparency, and customer-first ethos, making it the first choice of millions of Indians to book travel online.

Market Overview:

Statista indicates that the travel and tourism sector is expanding favorably. Forecasts for 2023 indicate a solid and promising future with a significant US $19.86 billion revenue. The projected yearly growth rate between 2023 and 2027 is an outstanding Compound yearly Growth Rate (CAGR) of almost 12.18%, with a projected value of US $31.45 billion by 2027. These figures highlight the industry’s strength and point to a continuing upward trend, indicating tremendous potential for consistent growth and many opportunities in the Travel and Tourism sector going forward.

Business Model of MakeMyTrip:

MMT has helped people book online tickets since 2000. In addition to travel tickets, MMT is improving and enhancing the whole process of making travel arrangements, including hotels, tour guides, restaurants, travel packages, etc. This has significantly helped MMT expand its empire and become a well-known brand name in the travel industry.

• B2C Services:

MakeMyTrip offers a user-friendly platform on which customers can book various travel-related services, such as flight tickets, bus tickets, hotel accommodations, holiday packages, and vehicle rentals. Customers can access these services through MakeMyTrip’s website, mobile app, or physical stores.

• MyBiz:

MakeMyTrip also caters to the corporate travel sector through its MyBiz platform. MyBiz provides businesses with tools and features to manage their employees’ travel and accommodation needs. It offers centralized payment processing, expense management, and reporting solutions to streamline corporate travel operations.

Also Read: What Is the Marketing Strategy of Amul, India’s Most Loved Brand?

Revenue Model of MMT:

Commission and Markup:

MakeMyTrip earns revenue through commissions and markups on bookings made through its platform. When customers book flights, hotels, or other travel services, MakeMyTrip charges a commission or markup fee on the transaction value.

Advertisement and Promotion:

MakeMyTrip leverages its platform’s reach and customer base to generate revenue through advertising and promotional activities. The company partners with travel-related businesses and service providers who pay for advertising space or promotional placements on MakeMyTrip’s website and app.

Value-Added Services:

Through partnerships with third-party vendors, MakeMyTrip offers additional services like visa processing, travel insurance, and other travel-related products. The company earns revenue by receiving a share of the fees or premiums for these value-added services.

MyBiz Subscription:

In the case of MyBiz, MakeMyTrip generates revenue through subscription fees paid by businesses for accessing and using the platform’s corporate travel management tools and features.

Year-on-Year Revenue of MMT 

MMT’s primary concern is to save its users as much time and effort as possible. To achieve that, MMT provides customers with great holiday packages and arrangements for hotels, cabs, and travel guides in just a few clicks. Not just in India, MakeMyTrip provides an e-marketplace available worldwide for a wide range of audiences, as online travel businesses have significantly increased during the last few decades.

Its dynamic pricing model differentiates MMT from its competitors. Dynamic pricing refers to offering the same product at various price points in response to shifting market dynamics. MMT uses data to develop a dynamic pricing model to meet users’ needs and provide a customized experience to each client.

One of MakeMyTrip’s top priorities is making the user experience seamless and highly relevant. This means presenting the user with the correct information at the right time and with maximum discounts. Whether it’s a vacation or a business trip, most agree that booking travel requires much planning. Planning and booking preference varies with the destination, regional circumstances, and many other reasons. MakeMyTrip considers customer preferences and searches and uses their travel booking history to resolve this.

Products & Services Offered:

Hassle-free Booking for all

• Flights and Hotels –

MakeMyTrip provides flight tickets for both domestic and international travel. There are over 13,000 hotels and guest houses in India that can be searched for and compared online on the website, ranging from luxury to budget accommodation. MMT now offers access to more than 1,84,000 hotels and customized holiday packages for both domestic and international destinations.

• Bus and Rail Tickets—

MakeMyTrip offers online rail tickets featuring return tickets with a single payment option, flexible search, and updates on ticket availability. It also offers the bus tickets across different categories, such as Volvo, Deluxe, Semi-Deluxe, and Sleeper Vehicles.

• Car and Taxi Rentals -

This feature is provided with holiday package bookings.

• Mobile Solutions—

In 2012, MMT launched a travel mobile app for services like booking flights and buses, hotel reservations, and holiday packages. It also caters to the other post-purchase requirements like generating e-tickets, making cancellations, tracking the status of refunds, and sending other travel alerts.

Competitor Analysis :

MakeMyTrip faces competition from several essential travel and online booking players. Some of its main competitors include:

• Yatra:

Yatra is an Indian online travel company that offers various travel-related services, including flight and hotel bookings, holiday packages, and more.

• Booking.com:

Booking.com is another global online travel agency that permits users to book accommodations, flights, car rentals, and other travel services.

• Cleartrip:

Cleartrip is an Indian online travel company that provides flight, hotel, and train booking services, as well as activities and experiences.

• Expedia:

Expedia is a well-known global online travel company that offers an extensive variety of travel services, including the flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation packages.

• Travelguru:

Travelguru is an Indian online travel company specializing in hotel bookings, holiday packages, and other travel-related services.

• Easemytrip:

Easemytrip is an Indian online travel company that offers services for booking flights, hotel reservations, holiday packages, and more.

• OYO:

OYO is a hospitality company that operates a budget hotels and accommodations network. While not a direct competitor in booking services, OYO competes with MakeMyTrip in the hotel segment.

These competitors operate in a similar space, offering customers various travel-related services and solutions. MakeMyTrip competes with them regarding market share, customer acquisition, service quality, and technological innovations.

Also Read: Zepto Marketing Strategy – Everything About the 10-Minutes Grocery Delivery App

4 Ps- Product, Price, Place, Promotion:

• PRODUCT –

MakeMyTrip Limited sells its products under five broad categories, each of which serves as a separate product line. It sells in different destinations within India and Internationally. It sells highly differentiated products, with various features offered to customers that competitors don’t offer. Its products are perceived of higher quality, so customers are willing to pay more for them.

• PRICE—

MakeMyTrip Limited sells its products at a higher price than its competitors. This is because it offers higher features, and the high price compensates for these. It also uses product-bundle pricing, where products are bundled and sold at lower prices than the total of individual items. It has fixed the prices of the final products. Channel members, retailers, and the wholesalers buy the product at a much lower price and earn through their own margins.

Wide range of Packages

• PLACE –

MakeMyTrip sells its product through two marketing channels. The foremost is where it sells directly to its customers through the online website. The second is where it sells to the wholesalers, who then sell to retailers located all over the country, and these then to its customers. Its products are present in over 500 retailers throughout the country. It follows an intensive marketing strategy to include its products in as many retailers as possible. This ensures that all its products are available to customers in different parts of the country easily.

• PROMOTION-

MakeMyTrip Limited uses multiple media channels to promote its products. It uses traditional media, which includes advertisements on television and radio, which is beneficial due to its extensive reach. It also uses online and social media advertising, which has over a hundred thousand likes or customers following these pages and is exposed to frequent content uploaded by MMT. It undergoes various sales promotions and participates in trade exhibitions and events annually. It uses a percentage of sales method to determine the promotions budget for the year.

MMT’s Marketing Strategies:

MMT has become a household name for travel planning and ticket booking. The primary goal of MMT’s marketing strategy is to stay relevant, promote local tourism, and continue to promote safe travel through various online or offline channels.

• Innovative Campaigns:

When the pandemic hit the world, MMT quickly realized that gaining people’s trust and giving back their lost confidence would take time. In 2020, when the government of India shut down international travel, MMT saw it as an excellent opportunity to promote and boost local tourism.

However, regarding domestic tourism, people know only a few popular destinations. And nobody talks about India’s hidden gems. MMT realized that it needed someone to talk about its local tourism more than ever. With the help of travel and lifestyle influencers, MMT launched a campaign that urged travelers to explore unseen India. Top influencers took over MMT’s Instagram handle and discussed the hidden gems one should visit in their state.

MMT’s FB reel

• Social Media Marketing:

After India faced the deadly 2nd wave, a sense of normalcy and optimism returned, and travel was undoubtedly one of the many life experiences that people couldn’t wait to immerse themselves in once again. With 170k+ followers on Instagram, MMT strives to spread the A to Z about travel destinations with the aid of many influencers. MMT uses Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to showcase the beauty of India and increase its social media engagement.

Attractive campaigns

• Inspiration from Bollywood:

To draw actual Indian attention, nothing works better than Bollywood! MMT uses popular references from Bollywood to tie in its social media marketing. MakeMyTrip has unveiled a compelling new campaign with ambassadors Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh to draw in new consumers. The campaign aims to draw attention to the platform’s distinct value propositions by showcasing its comprehensive room-specific data. MakeMyTrip seeks to present a personalized and all-inclusive travel experience, making it the go-to platform for both luxury and functionality, from the appeal of seaside accommodations to valuable facilities.

MMT’s brand ambassadors ine one of its campaigns 

• Meme Play:

What is better than promoting a company’s product with a little sarcasm, irony, and humor? MMT uses meme marketing to maximize brand awareness and promote the key brand narrative.

Praiseworthy Memes

• CSR Initiatives

The company also paid attention to the environment and issues of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It believes in operating as a sustainable business enterprise with a view to serving society. It reflects how strategic human resource management can be implemented to create business sustainability with people as the drivers of organizational goals in a dynamic and challenging business environment.

Social Awareness Campaigns 

MakeMyTrip – Partnerships:

Throughout its journey, MakeMyTrip has engaged in several significant partnerships and collaborations with various brands. Here are some notable collaborations in recent years:

• Partnership with the Ministry of Civil Aviation:

MakeMyTrip joined hands with the Ministry of Civil Aviation to support the promotion of regional air connectivity through the UDAN scheme. The company will power UDAN flights on the AIRSewa portal, market them on its platform, and contribute to increasing visibility and product discovery.

• Collaboration with IndiGo:

MakeMyTrip partnered with IndiGo, a leading Indian airline, to launch exclusive charter flights between Mumbai and Phuket, Thailand. As part of the deal, MakeMyTrip offers comprehensive services, including airport transfers, early check-in and check-out, certificate of entry assistance, and access to premium properties.

• Strategic Partnership with AmazonPay:

MakeMyTrip entered into a strategic partnership with AmazonPay, Amazon’s digital payment platform. This collaboration enables MakeMyTrip and Redbus to offer all-inclusive travel services to Amazon customers, enhancing convenience and seamless payment options.

• Collaboration with Hopper:

MakeMyTrip collaborated with Hopper, an AI-based travel booking app, to provide customers with personalized and flexible bookings. This partnership aims to help users save money while offering tailored travel options.

Success Factors of MakeMyTrip:

The success of MakeMyTrip can be attributed to various factors, including:

• Strong Brand Image:

MakeMyTrip has established itself as a trustedworthy brand in the online travel industry. The company’s strong brand image and reputation have helped it to attract and retain customers.

• User-friendly Platform:

MakeMyTrip’s user-friendly website and mobile app have made it easy for customers to compare the prices and make bookings. The platform is designed to provide a seamless booking experience, and making it a preferred choice for customers. For instance, customers can also choose their language while booking.

Ease of access with different language options

• Wide Range of Services:

MakeMyTrip offers a comprehensive range of travel services, including flights, trains, buses, hotels, and holiday packages. This has helped the company cater to its customers’ diverse needs and stay ahead of its competitors.

• Strategic Partnerships:

MakeMyTrip has formed intelligent strategic partnerships with various suppliers, including airlines, hotels, and car rental companies, which enable it to offer competitive prices and a range of services to its customers.

• Focus on Customer Experience:

MakeMyTrip focuses on providing customers with a personalized and customer-centric experience. The company offers various features, such as trip ideas, trip assistance, and trip money, to help customers travel.

Also Read: Tropicana Re-Branding Failure: A Detailed Case Study

Make My Trip Strategies for a Competitive Edge:

Make My Trip employs various strategies to maintain its competitive edge in the market.

• User-friendly Interface:

Make My Trip’s platform is designed with a user-friendly interface, enabling customers to search, compare, and book travel services easily.

• Price Comparison:

Make My Trip’s algorithms analyze various factors, such as price, availability, customer reviews, and ratings, to provide its customers with the best possible travel options.

Easy comparisons for hotel bookings

• Partnerships:

Make My Trip has partnered with various airlines, hotels, bus and train operators, and car rental companies to provide a comprehensive range of travel options to its customers.

• Marketing and Promotions:

Make My Trip invests heavily in marketing and promotions to increase its brand visibility and attract new customers. The company offers its potential customers various discounts and deals, which helps drive sales and revenue.

• Customer Service:

Make My Trip strongly emphasizes customer service, offering 24/7 support to its customers. Their customer service team is skilled to handle various queries and issues, ensuring a smooth and hassle-free customer experience.

Technology:

Make My Trip invests in cutting-edge technology to stay ahead of competitors. The company employs the artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to personalize its services and offer a seamless experience to its customers.

In Conclusion:

Traditional travel agencies are also providing services through online portals to increase their customer base. MMT is one of the first portals in this category, and it has been very successful despite its disadvantages and shortcomings because it keeps working on customer relations and knows the preferences of its target market.

Remembering that customer satisfaction can be disrupted due to the most minor and insignificant issues is essential. Thus, a service provider should remember that all glitches in the portal should be cleared to avoid such situations and provide complete customer satisfaction.  Technology-oriented applications play a significant role in the day-to-day activities of the young generation. Online travel portals have a vast area for development with tremendous opportunities to create a large customer base and expand their sales and services. The companies will also upgrade their portals regularly with a user-friendly approach to save time and impress the clients to avail of their services.

MakeMyTrip’s business model is a testament to its ability to adapt to the ever-evolving realm of the travel industry. By offering a comprehensive suite of services, investing in technology, and engaging users through strategic marketing, MakeMyTrip has become a household name in travel planning. As the industry continues to evolve, MakeMyTrip remains at the forefront, shaping how people explore and experience the world.

In an ever-evolving digital landscape, MakeMyTrip continues to innovate and stay ahead of the curve. With cutting-edge technology, personalized recommendations, and a relentless pursuit of customer satisfaction, the company remains a driving force in shaping the future of online travel services. As the world embraces the concept of seamless digital experiences, MakeMyTrip stands firm as a beacon of convenience and reliability.