Tradebytes

Cox and Kings optimistic about selling FIT holidays online

To launch rewards programme for partners

Chetan Kapoor - Mumbai

Ashutosh Mehere VP FIT & Projects, Cox and Kings

After launching its much-awaited online distribution channel, veteran travel company Cox and Kings expects to sell holidays on a large scale through that medium. Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Ashutosh Mehere, vice president, FIT and Projects, Cox and Kings said, "There is no website in the world that sells FIT packages on a large scale and our goal is to have complete customisation for the FITs. We have witnessed that the bottom level of the pyramid keeps on buying the same products over and over again. We want to automate this level of the pyramid until we get more customers and cut the back-end process."

Mehere believes that while the company enjoys a strong support of the trade, the online initiative will further add value to its product offerings. He mentioned, "As we expand through our offices and franchisees, we want to take all our existing resources and fully leverage on the website wherein we would have higher productivity and reduce the operational costs. We are also very keen on launching a rewards programme for our partners' contribution to our business."

On the B2C front, the website will position itself as an advisor as the FITs have the habit of doing hours of research. "We want to take all our business online and segment by interests and create a value proposition around it for the customers, which has not been done as yet. Also, we are splitting and training our call centre staff into various specialisations so that when the customer calls, he is directed to the relevant department to get all the answers unlike the other OTAs," Mehere informed.

Even more, its initial booking engine launch with MSN India was due to the profile of the customers, and the company is eyeing other popular websites and have similar engines. In addition, Cox and Kings is also doing joint promotions with tourism boards on the same.