STA Travel may introduce a roaming agency to travel around the UK following the success of its Boxpark container unit store in central London.
Marketing director Laurence Bresh said the roaming store could reach customers in areas where the chain does not currently have a presence.
He said that while there were no immediate plans to open more shops, the roaming agency idea would give STA room to grow.
“We’re looking at a container, similar to Boxpark, or a vehicle of some kind,” he said.
“It’s in the very early stages and it’s something we are looking at. We already cover a lot of the country with 50 stores, but this would give us a chance to go farther. We could have it on a university campus for a couple of days or at a music festival.”
Bresh said the unit could also serve as a trial in some areas, allowing STA to assess if there was a suitable client base for future stores.
“We currently have only one store in Wales, but we could use this to see if we should start thinking about more bricks-and-mortar stores there,” he said.
The Boxpark store in Shoreditch, London, opened last August for a planned 12 months; however, Bresh said its success in attracting students and young professionals meant it could stay open indefinitely.
This year STA is focusing on introducing its new look and branding as part of a six-figure-sum investment. Bresh said another focus was building on its multi-channel approach across its stores, online and, recently added, mobile channels.
Currently 40%-45% of STA’s online searches are conducted on mobile and Bresh soon expects that to rise to 50%. He said the launch of STA’s mobile app next month would contribute to that growth.