THE online travel industry is bracing itself for an influx of supermarket brands to the sector.
Tesco has been selling travel online at Tesco.com for more than three years through its white-label arrangement with Lastminute.com. Tesco.com has more than 2.7 million regular visitors.
Advantage director of development Ken McLeod fears the other major supermarket chains will soon follow suit as new dynamic packaging technology has broken down the sector’s barriers of entry.
Travel technology consultant Genesys senior partner Paul Richer agreed “travel is an obvious product for the supermarkets to sell” but doesn’t think the industry should fear a supermarket invasion.
“More and more of the supermarkets are selling on the web and travel and financial services are an obvious extension,” he said.
However, Richer believes that, to be successful, supermarkets will have to use major online travel firms’ technology and replicate the partnership arrangement of Lastminute.com and Tesco.com.
“I cannot see the supermarkets setting up their own travel firms – as they do not have the expertise or experience, the barrier to entry is still there,” he said. “It’s not a threat to the industry, but another distribution outlet.”
In association with Travel Weekly’s sister paper
