THE
big four will have to dramatically restructure the way they do business if they
are to survive into the next decade, according to on-line retailers.
While
the multiples will be able to make savings by closing shops, the huge costs of
owning aircraft and having committed beds threatens their very existence in the
long term.
This
grim prediction comes as the major on-line players claim to have won the
marketing battle to get consumers to book on the Internet.
“If
any of the traditionals had embraced the web, marketed it and committed to it,
then consumers would have happily transferred,” said Ebookers UK group managing
director Peter Liney. “But the problem they have now is that we are not small
any more. People’s first port of call isn’t First Choice or Lunn Poly on-line.
Those companies have lost the branding game.”
Lastminute.com
head of sales and marketing Andrew Windsor – formerly head of distribution at
Thomas Cook – said the multiples would have to face up to the difficult
‘intellectual’ challenge of how their businesses were structured. TUI UK had
made efforts to depackage with the launch of Thomsonfly.com, but only First
Choice – with its move towards specialist brands – had made any real effort to
restructure the way it did business.
First
Choice managing director UK and Ireland Dermot Blastland said it would not
reduce its number of shops, but they could become more integrated.
“More
people want to go on-line but it doesn’t mean people don’t want contact,” he
said.
Vertically-integrated
companies had assets such as brand strength, staff in resorts and strict health
and safety standards, he added.
“I think these on-line companies are just casting
aspersions on the quality of our staff. They want to talk their companies up.
They talk about the big companies as if they are run by dinosaurs. What are
they other than a bit of technology?”