Questions : THE INITIAL LAUNCHING ZONE

➢ Is Benelux a good starting point for launching his website? Are his restrictions to these countries arguable?

I think Benelux can be a good point, give the point that new technologies are very well implemented in those countries. However, I'm not sure the panel will be representative, because those countries are very small compared to France or Germany for instance.

If I where the site's owner, I'll start by Germany because it's way larger and people are quite receptive to new opportunities.

The real problem is the non-representiveness of Benelux (no offense for
our friends coming from these countries). The results obtained there
will not be necessary the same in other places in Europe

I don't agree: there is a lot of demand for low cost flights everywhere in Europe, so why would a low cost flights search engine be more successful in a place than another?

The other real problem of the Benelux customers'target: when e-trip decided to enter in that type of market, the company should have considered the language's culture. In the exhibit 1, you can see that the website is available is Dutch, German and English or , 90% of the population living in Brussels (capital of Europe) speak French. Instead of their mother's tongue, all those people have to choose another language which can be really inconfortable and can lead to confusions.

Yann_Gerardi wrote:I don't agree: there is a lot of demand for low cost flights everywhere in Europe, so why would a low cost flights search engine be more successful in a place than another?

Being successful or not isn't the problem. We're talking about testing website. So we need a representative panel of people. That's the major issue of Benelux (as Florent said, no offence !)

You've got a point there ! I think the issue with the launching zone has also to do with the extension of the website (.nl) Indeed, when looking from France, you will not see this website among the first commercial links.

Benelux has a 27 millions population...Do you really think it is not enough, specially when we consider that Holland has one of the highest internet penetration rate of Europe?

Yann_Gerardi wrote:Benelux has a 27 millions population...Do you really think it is not enough, specially when we consider that Holland has one of the highest internet penetration rate of Europe?

27 millions population which are splitted in 3 countries

And in my opinion, behaviors are quite different between those three countries

Well, I agree with Vincent. The European Union has 500 million inhabitants, however it would be easier to predict the behavior of the USA with their 380 million inhabitants.

A few good arguments against BENELUX were already mentioned, such as
the language of the website and representativeness of the Benelux
countries. How about etrips chances to be successful in these markets.
I am assuming that if the people from Benelux search for cheap flights,
they mainly want to fly from their home countries. However, if etrips
focus lies on no frills airlines, then due to the lack of options in
these countries would mean they cannot prove their concept of finding
lowest prices as easily. The only big airport is Amsterdam and that restricts the potential for etrips to really make a difference.

I think it is not a bad idea at all to begin in Benelux.
Benelux is indeed well developed. When looking on the internet for cheap tickets, everybody is looking for some safe flights at the same time.
seeing .nl on the website, some customers may feel more confident than if it was frome other less developed countries (even if some companies of those countries may be way safer than some in developed countries).
But i agree with Yan at the same time, i do not think that the lanching zone does not really matter...

I assume that one of the reason they decided to begin with Benelux was the fact that Har Adir and his team actually operate in Holland. Moreover, considering that the Etrip project emanated from Fly Open Sky Ltd.'s previous experience in servicing unviersity students (presumably in Holland) it only makes sense that they start with the market they are most familiar with - obviously that is where they noticed the demand for cheap flights and the gap on the supplying side. Starting with other, maybe bigger countries like France or Germany would mean working with a market they aren't as familiar with and therefore could have more problems attracting users and anticipating their needs.

I think that the fact that the website was not available in french is a big mistake in terms of strategy; given that Etrip was launched in Benelux; for instance, in Belgium a lot of people speak french and as a french native speaker, I naturally prefer to shop online using websites available in french ( above all when I have to pay a lot of money, such as for an airline ticket or when I book a hotel for my holydays)

What is your point of view (especially for those who come from Belgium?)

I agree with Chloé, it is always easier to express yourself in your mother tongue. Moreover, according to eurostat, german, french and english are the 3 most spoken languages in the EU (15 members). Dutch is only spoken by 2%, so it might not be necessary to launch the site in that language.

Source: http://www.promotics.net/ticktack/survey/eustats.htm

I think that Naomi has right. e-trip began with a customers' target that the CEO already knows. In Benelux market, the company has probably more information about the competitors than in other markets. If they have all the competitive advantage from the Benelux competitors, the company can after build its own competitive advantage according to other and make a real differentiation. In the french or german markets, they maybe will face same competitors with the same competitive advantage than e-trip.

chloé_laluc wrote:I think that the fact that the website was not available in french is a big mistake in terms of strategy; given that Etrip was launched in Benelux; for instance, in Belgium a lot of people speak french and as a french native speaker, I naturally prefer to shop online using websites available in french ( above all when I have to pay a lot of money, such as for an airline ticket or when I book a hotel for my holydays)

What is your point of view (especially for those who come from Belgium?)

Yep, I agree with you girls, as a Belgian french native speaker I feel more comfortable with french than with dutch or english eventhough it's still not a real problem when it's about booking a flight. But yes, he wanted to launch his concept in the BeNeLux so it's a big mistake not having translated the site in French because it's one of the official languages in Belgium. It seems like he didn't know much about the market he wanted to reach... Furthermore it would have been a positive point in case he wanted to expand to other countries such as France, for instance, in order to make French people closer to the brand.

Moreover, the only contact phone number is a dutch one so if you can just speak french, first you won't feel comfortable with the website and then if you want to make a call to get some more information (as the site is not available in French) I'm not sure you will have someone answering in French... So was he really targeting benelux or just dutch and german speaking people from the benelux?

I think the target was just dutch and german people from the Benelux. If he had studied in Holland, I'm sure that he knows that Belgium people speak french also. That's why maybe he puts english as a language too. Belgian french people will not feel disadvantaged

I think the major concern may not be where the best country to conduct this business is. If Etrip chooses the right market segmentation and have a promising business model, it would be successful in many countries becasue there is always a demand for a better price. Furthermore, I suggest that Etrip should localize the website and hire some local employees to fully understand what the customers in centain area really need.

ya, but you will never implement a start up and reach immediately a worldwide demand. The national customers' target and segmentation is the first priority I think and then, after buidling a strong brand equity in your country, we can maybe reach an European demand or a worldwide demand.
But to answer your question, Outsourcing or Offshoring?

kathia Morano wrote:ya, but you will never implement a start up and reach immediately a worldwide demand. The national customers' target and segmentation is the first priority I think and then, after buidling a strong brand equity in your country, we can maybe reach an European demand or a worldwide demand.
But to answer your question, Outsourcing or Offshoring?

What withhold you from starting in different countries? Why is the national customers the first priority? For an internet based search engine for flight tickets, it doesn't require too much effort and it doesn't cost too much to launch in different contries, right?

Chi Fai_Cheng wrote:

kathia Morano wrote:ya, but you will never implement a start up and reach immediately a worldwide demand. The national customers' target and segmentation is the first priority I think and then, after buidling a strong brand equity in your country, we can maybe reach an European demand or a worldwide demand.
But to answer your question, Outsourcing or Offshoring?

What withhold you from starting in different countries? Why is the national customers the first priority? For an internet based search engine for flight tickets, it doesn't require too much effort and it doesn't cost too much to launch in different contries, right?

I think you missed the point there. In fact, the website extension was .nl so to be viewed by the inhabitants of Benelux. If you want to be reachable by French people, it is best you give your site the extension .fr (and so on and so forth...). And unfortunately, it can be expensive if domain sharks already bought the extension you want. Please refer to the "intellectual property" topic.