In the past two days, the OTA blind box battle has begun.
Since the same Cheng Yilong successfully launched out of the circle, the blind ticket box has suddenly become popular, replacing “Flying as you wish” as the most popular product. How can Ctrip, Qunar and Fliggy miss this wave of opportunities and launch their own blind box products one after another.
Ticket blind box, train ticket blind box, hotel blind box, 999 yuan, 98 yuan, 88 yuan, 66 yuan…The price is different, and the gameplay is also diverse. History is always surprisingly similar. This unprecedented scene is hard not to remind people of the price wars of major OTAs many years ago. It also reflects from the side that after the epidemic, OTAs’ desire for a full recovery in the travel market is increasing.
So, is the “blind box” of the price of cabbage really hopeful to take on the important task of “recovering blood”? After the epidemic, what kind of variables will the OTAs usher in in the new round of competition?
Big OTA blind box competition
How popular is the ticket blind box? It can be seen from the actions of major OTA platforms scrambling to launch blind box products.
On April 3, 2021, the “Ticket Destination Blind Box” campaign launched by Tongcheng Travel attracted more than 10 million users to participate in panic buying. The volume of Douyin and Xiaohongshu topics related to “Ticket Blind Box” exceeded 100 million. Detonated the Qingming Festival holiday tourist market.
In the upsurge of blind ticket boxes, Tong Cheng Yilong can be said to have seized the opportunity. Taking advantage of this enthusiasm, it launched a new round of “ticket blind box” event. The event started at 10 o’clock on April 22 and will last until April 26.
How can other major OTAs be willing to show weakness, before the arrival of the 22nd, have their own blind box products online.
On April 19, Ctrip launched the hotel blind box priced at 699 yuan and 999 yuan respectively. It also announced that it will launch a ticket blind box with a price of 99 yuan (excluding airport construction fees) on the 22nd; on April 20, Fliggy A blind ticket box for 66 yuan was launched. Consumers participating in the event can get a blind ticket box for random destinations across the country for an ultra-low price of 66 yuan after getting help from their friends. On April 21st, Qunar launched a ticket blind box for 88 yuan and a blind train ticket box for 66 yuan at the same time…
What are the highlights of travel blind boxes that look the same? What are the logic and purpose of each company’s products? Is the discount so large, is it really purely dependent on subsidies from your own company? In response to these issues that everyone is most concerned about, LvjieMedia interviewed the heads of each department.
The relevant person in charge of Tongcheng Travel pointed out that the upgrade of the second-generation blind box is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
First of all, the number of participation in the event and qualifications have been upgraded. Starting from the second phase of the blind box on April 22, users will have new qualifications for each phase of the blind box event. Even if they have participated in the previous events, they can still participate in the new event.
Secondly, on the basis of the WeChat mini program activity, in the second phase of the blind box event, we added the event entrance of the Tongcheng Travel APP, allowing users to have one opportunity to open the blind box on the mini program and the APP. Not only that, we have also added more blind box sessions, hoping that users can choose the right time to visit according to their own time, and it will be easier to buy blind box products.
Finally, how to always attract young users in the design of blind box products has always been a question that Tongcheng Travel is constantly thinking about. We will also refer to some offline blind box gameplay, such as setting hidden models.
“If you want to say the difference between the same journey blind box and other homes, it is that we can directly buy it without the help of friends, and the newly added round-trip ticket, business class, double travel and other hidden games are also very great for young people. Attractive.”
In contrast, the price of the ticket blind box launched by Feizhu is even lower, at only 66 yuan. What’s even more rare is that, in addition to solo participation, the ticket blind box of Fliggy can also be used as a team. Correspondingly, the ticket blind box drawn is also a double ticket for the same route. This is for netizens who yearn for the unknown but are afraid of loneliness. A more balanced choice.
“Some of the post-00s and post-90s are actually very random when choosing tourist destinations. They will not have to do a long strategy like before. They want to go to some less popular destinations to avoid the crowds. Based on their needs and curiosity, we launched this blind box product.” Li Chen, vice president of Flying Pig, said, “As for the pricing of this type of product, I think it is only symbolic, because it The value of the ticket is much higher than 66 yuan. And the help of friends is only a symbolic threshold for participation.”
The relevant person in charge of Qunar told LvjieMedia, “In fact, we launched the student blind box as early as last week. The blind box products launched this time are aimed at a wider range of people. Although the purchase of blind boxes requires 3 friends help, but the more friends you help, the more routes you can open, and you can open up to 10 routes. In addition, in terms of travel time, the blind box of the go where ticket does not have too many restrictions, May 31 Previously, the date was optional, and you could redeem it with a ticket!”
If there is still room for fluctuations in the price of air tickets, there is still a question mark about the strength of the discount. Then, the 66 yuan train ticket blind box can be described as a real subsidy, and the relevant person in charge of Qunar also admitted to the new travel industry: “The biggest purpose of launching this event is to pull new.” It can be seen that in order to seize the young people’s market, Where to go can be described as the “blood capital”.
In contrast, Ctrip’s hotel blind box products are unique and can help many travel users solve their accommodation needs. However, its price of 699/999 yuan seems to lack “sincerity.”
In this regard, Xie Xiaoqing, a senior researcher at the Ctrip Research Institute, said, “Unlike the trendy blind boxes with’obvious gambling’, the Ctrip Travel Blind Box focuses on inspiring travel inspiration and at the same time has sufficient quality in the product.”
In her opinion, the blind box products launched by Ctrip this time are diverse and highly selectable. This time, the blind box includes two types of products such as hotel and air tickets; the price is divided into three types: classic, petty-bourgeois, and hidden. Price level; in terms of travel time, it is divided into two optional time periods: “Happy May Day” and “Staggered Traveling”; although it is a blind box, users still have a certain choice.
In addition, high-quality products are also the bottom line that Ctrip has always insisted on. During the preparation period of the event, Ctrip first selected the most popular tourist cities during the long vacation in the past two years to determine the destination range; secondly, according to Ctrip The historical evaluation, scoring, star rating and other dimensions of the hotel have targeted a number of high-quality hotels in the region. After opening the City Blind Box, Ctrip users can continue to purchase other travel products on the relevant May 1st promotion page to customize a more complete quality trip for themselves.
Behind the blind box, the OTA competition landscape is also changing
OTAs want to take advantage of the enthusiasm of blind boxes. After all, “blind boxes” have become one of the fastest-growing industries and are favored by young people. So, is it possible that blind box products that rely on subsidies will develop in a normal way?
Xie Xiaoqing pointed out, “Blind boxes may become a normalized product: On the one hand, the growing proportion of young users in travel users is a new trend, which requires innovation in the marketing of tourism products. In recent years, With the hot “out of the circle” of blind boxes, various types of blind boxes have seized the market heights, harvesting a large wave of young consumers’ hearts. This also shows that blind box products can capture the consumer interest of young people and satisfy their pursuit of novelty and novelty. Face the unknown psychology. On the other hand, under the well-informed Internet environment, what users lack is not travel information and travel choices, but travel inspiration. As a product with random uncertainty, blind boxes can be used to a certain extent Inspiring and influencing users’ travel arrangements in order to achieve high-quality travel.”
Li Chen said, “Although both blind boxes and Xpress fly products use marketing methods to help the tourism market recover, as airlines recover from the epidemic, many new routes are preparing to resume production and marketing. There must still be demands, and there will be more and more. So I think this kind of marketing method is long-term. As for the blind box and free flying forms, they may be ever-changing, but in general they are all to meet the needs of users.”
Not to mention the length of the life cycle of the travel blind box, there is a trend that has become obvious, that is, the popularity of the “ticket blind box” has given the OTA industry a new “traffic competition” idea. In the post-epidemic era, the competitive landscape of the OTA industry is also changing.
On the one hand, the mainstream consumer groups in the tourism industry have changed. The post-90s, represented by Generation Z, have become a new force that cannot be ignored in tourism consumption. On the other hand, the popular tourist areas have changed. The sinking market represented by third- and fourth-tier cities has gradually become a “hot spot” in the post-epidemic era.
At first glance, the revenue of 66 yuan and 88 yuan brought by blind box products is just a fraction. In fact, the incremental space behind it may become the “key” for OTA players to catch up. After all, in the future OTA battle, it is far from enough to fight for price.
(Text: Li Chuwei, New Travel World)
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