Everyone knows，The expansion of the middle class and the rise of online travel booking provide huge growth opportunities for the Indian tourism industry。

But not everyone knows how to make a profit after starting a business in India。Facing huge growth opportunities，Fierce price war among local companies to increase the number of customers。The result of this vicious competition is，The operating profits of many domestic and international players have been greatly affected。

MakeMyTrip, India’s largest online travel company with a market capitalization of US$2.4 billion, is one of the most typical representative companies。

MakeMyTrip’s recent financial report shows，Company lost $62 million in second quarter of fiscal 2018 ended September 30，This loss figure increased by 57% compared with the same period last year。

This news deeply worries investors，As of the close on the day the financial report was released (November 1)，Investors sold off MakeMyTrip shares，The company’s market value shrank by 9%。

Company pointed out，The loss in this quarter is not much different 188bet app from the loss of US.2 million in the previous quarter，The expenses involved are mainly related to the acquisition of competitor Ibibo earlier this year。

Nevertheless，The Gurgaon, India-based company’s growth remains strong。188bet app download

The competition in the local market is extremely fierce

Provide air tickets、Hotel、MakeMyTrip, an online booking platform for bus and train tickets and other products, faces competitive pressure from multiple rivals。First，four、Five-star hotel booking under Priceline this summer.The inventory quantity and marketing investment on the com platform are increasing。On the third quarter earnings call，MakeMyTrip executive said，Booking.com obviously gradually increased its emphasis on the Indian market in the third quarter。

In the budget accommodation market，MakeMyTrip faces competitive pressure from OYO Rooms, a budget hotel booking platform invested by SoftBank, etc.，Company executive said，These competitors increased their investment in pricing and marketing in the third quarter。

MakeMyTrip website search results no longer display OYO stock products，Switched to support its own brand product GoStays。However，its competitor Booking.com still displays OYO’s stock products。

In terms of air ticket booking，MakeMyTrip’s biggest local competitor is Yatra，Cleartrip is another competing booking platform that offers discounted online travel products。

Merger and acquisition of Ibibo ends price war

Since October last year，MakeMyTrip has taken a series of measures to deal with the common problem in the industry of declining profits from discount sales，For example:Merger and acquisition of other enterprises、Making external investments、Vigorously promote loyalty program、Increase technology investment and increase product categories that competitors lack, etc.。

January this year，MakeMyTrip merges with Ibibo, India’s largest hotel booking website，188bet Online Sports Betting and Casino This website also provides air tickets、Travel products such as buses and car rentals。

After the completion of the merger and acquisition transaction of two major online travel companies，The price war in the Indian online travel market has come to an end。However，This merger has also caused the company to maintain a loss-making state in the recent period。

This summer，MakeMyTrip gets 3.USD 300 million financing。After the financing is completed，South African multinational Internet and media giant Naspers and Chinese Internet giant Tencent have become the two largest shareholders，The two hold a total of 43% equity in MakeMyTrip。Also，Chinese travel giant Ctrip holds 11% stake in MakeMyTrip，The two parties have also established a business cooperation relationship。

MakeMyTrip’s next goal is to increase user loyalty。What you need to pay attention to when vigorously promoting your brand，The homogeneity phenomenon in the Indian tourism consumer market is not particularly serious。MakeMyTrip can continue to appeal to all travelers while targeting heavy travelers who are not particularly price sensitive，Create brand differentiation，Finally achieved profitability。

July this year，The company abolished the old membership reward program，In its place is a new two-part rewards program。MMT Black Loyalty Reward Program refers to，After the consumption amount on the platform reaches a certain amount，Travelers get some redeemable coupons，These vouchers can be used to book other products on the MakeMyTrip website in the future。There are currently 7.30,000 people have joined the loyalty program。

Otherwise，The company also launched the MMT Double Black reward program，After paying a fee of US$20-25, consumers can enjoy membership benefits such as waived cancellation fees under certain conditions。As of now，About 1.60,000 people have joined this beta reward program。

MakeMyTrip 188bet online sports betting founder and CEO Deep Kalra said: "We want to work hard to achieve dual goals，On the one hand, accelerate the growth of each segment business；On the other hand, achieving high-quality growth in some luxury areas。Our strategy has not changed in general。”

On the product side，The company now enables users to book multiple room types in the same transaction，This has solved to a large extent the problem of accommodation for group tours and family tours in India。

Also，MakeMyTrip has added e-ticketing functionality to three of its brands，Users can receive air tickets and boarding passes through the mobile APP。

The company claims，MakeMyTrip is the first travel company in the world to allow users to receive e-tickets through the messaging application platform WhatsApp。There are currently about 200 million WhatsApp users in India，After recent steps to get more traffic from users using mobile devices，WhatsApp is becoming a lower-cost customer acquisition channel in India than Google and Facebook。

In terms of technology investment，The company has invested in artificial intelligence，Try to use automatic replies to replace some of the problems often encountered by human customer service。MakeMyTrip also renovated the external network where suppliers upload hotel inventory information，This move can help hotels better formulate distribution strategies。

Also，The company has also created a new technology platform to operate bus ticketing。Just a few months ago，MakeMyTrip starts using Travelport technology platform to handle some booking processes。

Given that businesses are more loyal than some leisure travelers、Not so sensitive to price，MakeMyTrip has also begun to launch corporate business travel services，Try diversified layout。Over the past few months，The company launches a system tool to help companies book travel itineraries on its platform，Most of them are small and medium-sized 188bet app download enterprises。Company name，Currently, 2,000 companies have registered to use this tool。

Future growth prospects are not optimistic

MakeMyTrip’s costs increased in the most recent quarter，But the company hopes to reduce costs in the long run。

In fact，The increase in the company’s marketing costs was mainly caused by incentives provided to paying users for recommending others to download the MakeMyTrip App and book travel products。However，Company executive said，This approach also improves the company’s marketing efficiency。

MakeMyTrip will face many difficulties and challenges in the future。The income gap between various classes in India is huge；A series of regulatory and investment policies recently introduced by the government are not conducive to the steady growth of the Indian economy，This makes consumer behavior patterns difficult to predict。

Some actions by foreign investors have made the entire Indian market more complicated。In the past year，A majority stake in rival Yatra was acquired by Terrapin 3, a company specializing in acquisitions，Terrapin3 has received strong support from Australian investment bank Macquarie Group。

Expedia has not determined its strategy to enter the Indian market so far this year，So its competitiveness in India is relatively weak，But Expedia is in Japan、Malaysia and Singapore have greater influence。

Priceline through its Agoda brand，In Vietnam、Thailand and other Southeast Asian markets have strong influence。Also，Priceline also holds about 9% of Ctrip’s shares。

Ctrip has no plans to further strengthen its business partnership with MakeMyTrip。However，On this earnings call，MakeMyTrip executives haven’t talked much about their relationship。

However，Indonesian travel company Traveloka is in a stage of rapid growth，It is also strongly supported by the global OTA giant Expedia，It should be taken seriously by MakeMyTrip。

*This article is written 188bet Online Sports Betting and Casino by Li Haiqiang, an analyst at Yihui，Compiled from Skift，Original title:《MakeMyTrip Takes Steps to Escape Becoming a Price-War Casualty》.