Online retail major Flipkart has signed up a deal with travel portal MakeMyTrip Limited to sell travel services on its platform. With this Flipkart will be foraying into the online travel aggregator space, which is one of the most visited and surfed categories online.
As part of the deal, Flipkart will promote MakeMyTrip, alongwith its brands Goibibo and RedBus. All the portals will get access to the customer base of Flipkart. To start with, Flipkart will first showcase domestic flights. The services will go live in the next few days, while other segments, like hotel rooms, holiday packages, bus bookings will be introduced gradually, the company said in a statement.
"The partnership will help us reach out to a wider consumer base and help us open up the online travel market in a significant way," MakeMyTrip founder and Group CEO Deep Kalra said, who is also on the board of Flipkart.
A Google India-BCG report has recently said the travel market (both offline and online) has the potential to grow to a $48 bn industry in the next three years. Another report by IBEF report has stated that the online travel space alone will account for 40 to 50 per cent of the total transactions by 2020.
Flipkart going everywhereFlipkart has been adding new services to its bouquet, like travel booking, food delivery, movie ticketing and others. The aim is to get the customers coming back on its platform to increase "user stickiness".
Flipkart has launched Supermart in an attempt to tap the online grocery segment. The Bangalore-based e-tailer is also trying to rope in online food delivery app Swiggy, hyperlocal services firm UrbanClap, furniture retailer UrbanLadder and startups in insurance and wealth management sectors.