We are in a constant state of hype emerging in the latest technologies and their severe impact on the travel industry. We all have witnessed the impact of excessive hype on our industry and as a result of the fallout. The issue is not the overhyping of coming up tech as every industry have to deal with this issue. The issue becomes a problem when the hype bursts and the sourpuss in the industry discounts the technology.

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Banishing the emerging tech because of over-hype can be threatening for any organization. Executives at Blackberry and Nokia banished the initial introduction of the iPhone ten years ago which is not at all practical for any business. History has shown it to be a blunder costing both of them billions of dollars. In the Travel Industry, the initial launch of the OTAs was banished by the offline community, with everyone believing that no one will prefer to buy travel online. Even now, many travel companies lack behind in an appropriate mobile strategy. It’s very essential to observe what has been happening in China and Southeast Asia, for instantly understanding how mobile is being used for booking today. Especially in countries where the laptop travel ecosystem never fully developed. In clear words, the travel companies who do not think of mobile as a booking channel now may be the Blackberries of tomorrow. 

There are some of these same travel industry sourpusses may announce that AI may have a minimal impact on the travel industry. We have seen aerated claims about AI in terms of digital assistants and voice, leading to dismiss these new technologies as not ready for prime-time. On Saturday Night Life the original cast was called the “Not Ready for Prime-time Players”. The show has now lasted 43 years and is still a major launching pad for comic superstars in TV and movies. The same is true of growing tech, “not ready for prime-time” does not have the meaning that tech will have no impact. 

What if many people slip the evolutionary nature of growing technology, during various keynotes. But now  AI is already part of the technological fabric of our lives. And is not gonna disappear soon for sure!!!

Technology guru Scott Klososky introduced the public to the Emerging Technology Hype Cycle. The Hype cycle is a chart that shows the somewhat predictable path that new technologies tend to tread, beginning with a steep climb up the Peak of Inflated Expectations, a near free-fall into the Trough of Disillusionment, a gentle resurrection onto the Slope of Enlightenment and then a comfortable life on the Plateau of Productivity.

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The Hype Cycle was created by Gartner, an information technology research and consulting group in Stamford, Conn. Gartner has taken the concept beyond general emerging technologies and offers more than 100 subcategories, ranging from cyber threats to telecommunications to life insurance.

We began with a significant issue in a sector that is already constructed on confidence, where powerful relationships exist and work well to handle complexities. The important question here is: Is there a role for blockchain? To get to the bottom of this, we analyzed as a beginning the suitability of the blockchain to handle on-board and travel content management for safe delivery and sale. We also looked at other prospective use cases in our industry for technology. 

If something is on the Peak of Inflated Expectations, it does not mean that it is an empty promise or mere puffery. Example: In 1996, a Microsoft executive told me that, due to his company’s superior understanding of the Internet, it would soon dominate travel and any other industry it chose to enter.  Likewise, the Trough of Disillusionment is not a grave. It’s just the period when the spotlight has moved on to those climbing the Peak of Inflated Expectations. Those in the Trough tend to be judged more on current performance rather than potential.

We are constantly hyped about evolving technologies and their effect on the travel industry. Over the past 23 years, as an analyst/consultant specializing in emerging tech, I have personally experienced the effect of excessive hype on our sector and the resulting consequences. The issue is not the over-hyping of emerging tech as this issue must be addressed by all sectors. The problem is when the hype bubble bursts and the industry’s naysayers discount the technology.

It can be hazardous for any organization to dismiss emerging tech due to over-hype. Blackberry and Nokia’s leadership rejected the iPhone’s original implementation 10 years ago as never practical for company. History has shown that this is a critical error that costs billions of dollars to these businesses. The offline community has rejected the original launch of the OTAs in our sector, with some believing that no one will ever purchase internet travel. Even today, many travel businesses are lacking a real mobile approach or simply repeating the “common knowledge” that mobile is seeking not to buy. One only has to observe what has been happening in China and throughout Southeast Asia, to comprehend rapidly that mobile is being used to book today, particularly in nations where the ecosystem of desktop/laptop travel has never fully evolved. In reality, the Blackberries of tomorrow maybe those travel firms that do not adopt mobile as a reservation channel today.

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But just because you have a mobile app, you can’t automatically assume that it’s efficient. There are certain features and elements that you need to include if you want to be successful. For those of you that just built a mobile commerce app or you’re in the process of building one, you’ve come to the right place if you need some guidance. Although you’ve had a mobile commerce app for a while, you’ll be able to still use this guide as a reference to make improvements.

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Sometimes a few new or updated features can make a massive difference. As an industry expert, I’ve identified which features are the most important.

Here are the 5 most common features that all successful mobile commerce applications have.  Learn from these examples and apply them to your own mobile application if you want to have the same success.

1 Lots of product images

Don’t just tell your customers what you’re selling. Show them!

In addition to having lots of pictures, you need to make sure that all of them are high in quality. Take the time and make sure all photos are taken by a professional, or at least taken by someone good with photography skills and decent equipment.

If the images are bad quality, it can cause people to be turned off and not want to buy whatever you are selling. Don’t forget the little things, like good lighting and things of that nature. In fact, being able to see pictures of products is the important factor for shoppers on smartphone and tablet devices. So they rely on these pictures to mimic this experience as much as possible.

2 A personalized shopping experience

One of the primary things that should happen when a user downloads your mobile commerce app is that they create a profile.

This is your chance to get as much information as possible about the customer. Ask them questions to learn information about their:

Location

Age

Gender

Ask their information that can help you personalize what they see on their app. Even if you don’t get this user information from their profile, you can track their browsing behavior and shopping history.

Based our analytics, you’ll be able to offer discounts on their favorite items or departments. Upsell and cross-sell your customers as well.

Send out coupons for items that they browsed for but didn’t actually purchase. You can send seasonal discounts based on their location. For example, send customers who live in Bangalore discounts on warm clothing during the winter months.

Consumers want a personalized shopping experience. It’s your job to give it to them. All of these personalization tips will help your mobile application to make more money.

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3 Easy navigation

Don’t make it too difficult for customers to find what they want on your app. Everything should be well organized by keywords and categories.

Realize that customers may not be searching for the exact titles of the products that you’re selling. So you’ve got to make sure that your search function is organized by tags keywords and other tags to ensure that the right products show up. If people have problems finding what they’re looking for or they’re getting empty search results, it’s not going to lead to conversions.

Customers will get frustrated and turn to your competitors for a better experience.

4 Social media integration

There are lots of ways in which can leverage social media to improve your mobile commerce app. For starters, you have new users to create an account on your mobile app buy logging into one of their social media profiles, such as Facebook.

This speeds up the onboarding process and makes it easier for your customers. Now they don’t have to take the time to create a new profile. All they need to do is log into an existing one.

But this is also great for you too. Now you have lots of information about each user based on their social media profile. This relates back to what we talked about earlier regarding personalization.

You know their likes and interests, so use that information to your advantage.

Let customers share products on their social media pages (facebook, instagram, etc,.) directly from your app’s platform. This is a good way for you to create brand exposure as well.

Give your customers a reason to do this, such as a discount off of their purchase if they share the product on one of their social profiles.

5 Smooth checkout process

Your checkout process should be fast and seamless.

Since your customers’ information will be saved to their app profile, you won’t need to ask them to fill out long forms every time. You can save their payment information as well. That way, they can just add items to their cart and checkout with just a few clicks.

The majority of consumers prefer using apps compared to a mobile website because mobile apps are faster and more convenient. Having their personal settings stored on the app also ranks high on the list of the most common responses.

You need to make sure that this is the case with your mobile commerce application. An easy checkout process will help reduce shopping cart abandonment rates. Have as little friction as possible to finalize the sale.

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travel agency software

These systems were still used by the Airlines themselves, however they were comparatively easy to operate. The first Central Reservation System (CRS) marked the beginning of complex yet easy to operate systems that enabled travel agents to make bookings on them. However, there was still a catch, these CRSs were able to manage only one airline booking, meaning that each airline had its own CRS. This drawback was soon resolved by GDSs (Global Distribution Systems). The first type of scheme that enabled various airlines to be integrated as well as permitted travel agents to book from them. They were also very sophisticated systems with more capacity to search for data and to book. With just one significant step remaining to be accomplished with the kind of reach and complexity that these GDSs offered travel businesses on their fingertips. The significant move was the capacity to enable clients to book their own travel without any interference from airline companies and hotels or travel agents. This necessity gave birth to online booking motors that not only permitted travelers to book directly, but also cut off additional costs and helped book and pay instantly!

Evolution of the Online Booking Engine

The online booking engines evolved and made the booking process simpler and simpler. They began making it easier for clients to define their reservation demands such as location or hotel name, travel date, number of rooms, hotel star ratings and reviews, city-to-city flights, Airlines flights, and much more. This gave clients the most flexibility and an Online Booking Engine’s true value is in the company regulations and procedures that package the material and provide the ability to shop and buy.

Users’ location

Online booking engines have grown to be able to determine the place of customers to offer more customized and targeted deals. This increased the conversion rates quickly as travel providers could now send push notifications to customers about near-by hotels at great rates as well as near-by sightseeing spots. Customers are more likely to book or change their booking at the last minute if they get the right deal. Travel businesses have noticed this impulsive nature of clients and have taken this chance to provide an even higher experience to acquire more faithful clients.

Personalization

Personalization continues for all travel companies the most profitable single strategy. While many travel businesses have realized its potential, a significant number of companies have not yet exploited this opportunity which puts them a lot behind their competitors. Personalization enables travel businesses to know the behavior and travel habits of a traveler and send extremely tailored deals and provides that boost a prospective customer’s tenfold opportunity to book from you.

Reviews

Online reservation engines have also discovered new methods to maintain clients connected to their websites. They started allowing customers to post reviews on their website itself thereby maintaining control over the purchase journey.

Peer-to-peer travelling

Peer-to-peer travel is a fresh business model that online booking engines have inculcated in their business plan, enabling them to offer clients the capacity to more thriftily explore destinations. OBEs have understood the advances in marketing, such as social media marketing and email marketing that are bound to bring in more customers than any other form of marketing.

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Travel Agent Software

Lifestyle changers

Maybe the internet’s latest advantage for travelers is not just planning and booking their travels, but also getting inspiration.  Besides families and friends from which most travelers are inspired; travelers have also begun to explore new destinations on their own, motivating others to do the same. This provides another chance for travel businesses to maintain track of such travelers with big numbers of supporters and partners to promote their services. Posting fresh and interesting travel thoughts not only enables travel businesses to get more company but also to appear as changes in lifestyle.

Travel meta search engines

After the birth of the online booking engine itself, perhaps the most notable advance was the birth of travel meta search engines that aggregate information from various internet travel suppliers and give the highest prices all in one location. A customer is no longer required to search for dozens of other locations before making his final acquisition. He can simply visit a travel meta search engine and key in his requirements and he will be presented with all the available options to choose and make bookings from.

Online booking engines have developed a long way, exploring more possibilities to develop continuously. What do you think about this article? We would like your ideas to be known. Please reach us by commenting in the comments section below and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Linkedin.

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