Cleartrip pushes robust mobile strategy for better travel plans

 Online travel agency (OTA) major Cleartrip is keen to build its business on mobile, as it finds a lot of customers going for their handsets and making instantaneous travel plans.

Talking to DH, Cleartrip Chief Marketing Officer Subramanya Sharma said, “Mobile is a big focus area. It is our strength, with 75% of our traffic coming from customers accessing our mobile site or using our app.” Cleartrip put up its first website interface for mobile in 2010.

 “It was seen that while a lot of our customers do go online, they are mostly visitors. We do have sizeable chunk of this visitor-base that uses our platform. Hence, we wanted to improve our transactional interface. Between 2010 and 2011, we launched our full-fledged m-site, subsequently integrating it with many offerings such as Expressway, which allows users to store their credit card that comes in handy while traveling and booking tickets, as also Quickies, which aids in last-minute hotel bookings. Our mobile app, which was developed in 2012, has been gaining traction ever since,” Sharma said.

On a cumulative basis, till date, the app has seen 14 million downloads, besides roughly 10 million people visiting the site each month. Referring to how the company has an edge over the competition to develop its app, Sharma claimed, “Culturally, we had an advantage. We were equipped to design content with any constraints. For instance, we have no advertisements on our website. Because of that even our mobile interface could be made more seamless. We realised that if we wanted to make it big in mobile, people must use our app. We looked at interesting features to be added to the app.”

Wanting to make the most of its mobile leadership position, the company recently rolled out a new offering — Cleartrip Local. “We understand that travel is a need-based product. On an average, travel purchase behaviour in India shows one trip in six months.  We felt, why not reduce a trip duration from two days to few hours, allowing locals to take breaks and experience leisure in their own cities itself. Hence, Cleartrip Local was born,” he said.

Local involves a host of activities for individuals and families, under verticals — Adventure, Outdoor, Indoor, Tours, Wellness, Workshops, Eatout, Events, and Fitness — which can all be enjoyed by users across over 50 cities, and is payable on the platform. “Local is contributing 10% to our margines. Now the aim is to get more personalisation elements, with more focus on location. This would also help in brand recall, and also cross-selling,” he said.

Cleartrip has invested $75 million through four rounds of funding till date, and is growing at a CAGR of 65-70%.