The Traveler’s Path to Purchase - Amazon Web...

The Traveler’s Path to Purchase Understanding the Relationship Between Destination Marketing Organizations and Online Travel Agencies

Qualifications for Inclusion in Segment: In order to be included in the analysis, consumers had to have met both of the following criteria: • Booked a vacation package at one of the following online travel agencies (OTAs) between October 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013 • Visited a destination marketing organization (DMO) website during the 45 days leading up to the time of booking

DMO Site List: • Using a variety of online and offline resources, Compete compiled a list of nearly 1,000 Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) websites, promoting

leisure destinations at the city, region, state and national level

Methodology: • Compete segmented and evaluated the actions of OTA package bookers who visited a known Destination Marketing Organization website at some point

during the 45 days prior to booking. Specifically, Compete evaluated the frequency and timing of category and site-specific visitation, same-session cross visitation, billboard effect of DMO visitation, and sample paths to purchase.

• The results were evaluated to understand consumer usage of different sites and site categories throughout the vacation package shopping cycle.

2

Study Details

Study Details Qualifications for Inclusion in Segment: In order to be included in the analysis, UK consumers had to have met the following criteria: • Booked a vacation package at one of the following OTAs or Travel Agents between August 1, 2013 and January 31, 2014 • Visited a destination marketing organization (DMO) website during the 45 days leading up to the time of booking

DMO Site List: • Using a variety of online and offline resources, MBD compiled a list of roughly 1,000 DMO websites promoting leisure destinations in the UK, Europe,

North America and elsewhere

Methodology: • MBD segmented the actions of Package Holiday Retailer package bookers who visited Destination Marketing Organization websites at some point during

the 45 days prior to booking. Specifically, MBD evaluated the frequency and timing of category and site-specific visitation, same-session cross visitation and sample paths to purchase.

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2.5 3 3.4 5.2 6.9

15.5

5 Weeks Out 4 Weeks Out 3 Weeks Out 2 Weeks Out 1 Week Out Week of Booking

Package Bookers Consume a Lot of Travel Content, Especially the Week of Booking

4 *Same sites counted only once per session in visits figure; visitation to same site during a different session will be counted as a separate visit

Average Travel Site Visits per Week (Number of travel sites visited per week by the average segment member, Oct’12-Mar’13 aggregate)

Read as: The average segment member makes 15.5 visits to travel sites in the week leading up to the package booking

Number of visits to travel sites made by package bookers 45 days before booking:

As in the US, UK Package Bookers Are Also Seeking Content Prior to Booking

5 *Same sites counted only once per session in visits figure; visitation to same site during a different session will be counted as a separate visit

Average Travel Site Visits per Week (Number of travel site visits per week by the average segment member, Aug’13-Jan’14 aggregate)

Number of visits to travel sites made by package bookers 45 days before booking:

2.7 3.4 4.3 4.3 6

13.1

5 Weeks Out 4 Weeks Out 3 Weeks Out 2 Weeks Out 1 Week Out Week of Booking

Read as: The average segment member makes 13.1 visits to travel sites in the week leading up to the package booking

Package Bookers Visit OTAs More Often than Other Travel Sites

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47.2%

6.8% 4.7%

4.7%

4.1%

6.4%

1.0%

1.7%

11.2%

4.0%

8.2% OTA

Planning and Reviews

Meta

Lead-Gen

Hotel Supplier

DMO

Cruise Line

Car Rental

Airline Supplier

Vacation Packagers

Other

Share of Visits by Travel Category (Share of segment’s total travel visits claimed by each travel category, Oct’12-Mar’13 aggregate)

Read as: 47% of all visits to Travel Sites made by segment members were attributed to OTAs

OTAs, Planning & Reviews and Traditional Travel Agent Sites are Most Visited

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Read as: 3.7% of all visits to Travel Sites made by segment members were attributed to DMOs

Share of Visits by Travel Category (Share of segment’s total travel visits claimed by each travel category, Aug’13-Jan’14 aggregate)

28.00%

19.10%

6.10%

0.90% 3.70%

1.60%

0.10%

12.40%

26.70%

1.40%

OTA

Planning and Reviews

Meta/Lead-Gen

Hotel Supplier

DMO

Cruise Line

Car Rental

Airline Supplier

Travel Agent

Other

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Average OTA Visits per Week (Number of visits to OTAs per week by the average segment member, Oct’12-Mar’13 aggregate)

Read as: average segment member visited OTA sites 8x in the week leading up to booking, with a 1/3rd on the same day

Number of visits to OTAs made by package bookers 45 days before booking:

1 1.1 1.3 2.6 3.3

8

5 Weeks Out 4 Weeks Out 3 Weeks Out 2 Weeks Out 1 Week Out Week ofBooking

OTAs Are Used for More than Just Last Minute Price Comparison

2.8 Day of Booking

0.6 0.9

1.3 1

1.8

4.1

5 Weeks Out 4 Weeks Out 3 Weels Out 2 Weeks Out 1 Week Out Week ofBooking

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Average OTA Visits per Week (Number of visits to OTA sites per week by the average segment member, Aug’13-Jan’14 aggregate)

Number of visits to OTAs made by package bookers 45 days before booking:

Read as: On avg, pkg bookers visited OTAs 4.1 times in the week leading up to the booking, 43% of which occurred on the same day

Research Patterns are Similar Between OTAs in the US and UK

Day of Booking

43

%

10

Average Visits to Travel Categories per Week (Average visits per visitor to sites within each category, by week , Oct’12-Mar’13 aggregate)

Week of Booking Meta (Kayak) Lead-Gen (Travelzoo, BookingBuddy)

DMO Planning & Reviews (TripAdvisor) Airline Supplier OTA

In Travel Content Consumption the OTA Category is Still the Clear Leader

0.8 0.8 0.7 1.0 1.6

8.0

0.1 0.0 0.3 0.2

0.4

1.0

0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.4

1.1

0.1 0.1 0.4 0.3 0.4

1.3

0.3 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.5

2.6

0.3 0.4 0.3 0.5 0.8

3.3

5 Weeks Out 4 Weeks Out 3 Weeks Out 2 Weeks Out 1 Week Out

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Average Visits to Travel Categories per Week (Average visits per visitor to sites within each travel category, by week, Aug’13-Jan’14 aggregate)

Week of Booking DMO Meta/Lead-Gen (Kayak / Travelzoo, BookingBuddy)

Airline Supplier Planning and Reviews (TripAdvisor) Travel Agent OTA

Planning & Review Sites are Frequented Almost as Much as OTA and Travel Agent Sites 1+ Weeks Out

0.4 0.7 1.4

2.3

4.0 4.1

0.2 0.1 0.3

0.7 0.7 0.6 0.2 0.3

0.8 0.6

0.9 1.3

0.1 0.2

0.6 0.9

1.1 1.0

0.2 0.5 0.6

1.1 1.5 1.8

5 Weeks Out 4 Weeks Out 3 Weeks Out 2 Weeks Out 1 Week Out

0.1 0.2 0.5

0.7 0.8 0.9

Expedia, Inc. Brands Continue to Lead the OTA Set in Share of Visits

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Read as: 31.4% of the segment’s visits to major OTA brand sites were to Expedia.com

Share of OTA Visits by Brand (Within competitive set, share of segment’s OTA visits captured by each brand, Oct’12-Mar’13 aggregate)

31.40%

17.60%

5.00%

9.20%

14.10%

15.40%

3.50% 3.90%

Expedia

Travelocity

Hotels.com

Hotwire

Orbitz

Priceline

Booking.com

Cheaptickets

13

Share of OTA Visits by Brand (Within competitive set, share of segment’s OTA visits captured by each brand, Aug’13-Jan’14 aggregate)

24.80%

32.50%

5.50%

11.20%

14.40%

7.00%

3.50%

Expedia, Inc.

Booking.com

eBookers.com

eDreams.co.uk

lastminute.com

LateRooms.com

opodo.co.uk

Almost a Quarter of Visits in the UK go to Expedia, Inc. Brands Throughout the Purchase Path

Despite Consistently Strong Retail Visitation, No Category Touches Travel in the Days Leading Up to the Booking

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Amongst the monitored categories, Retail dominates the set up to about 3 weeks prior to booking

Travel consumption spikes at the same time and doesn’t let up

Read as: In the week leading up to the package booking, Travel sites account for 55% of visits to the list of comparison site categories

Category Visit Intensity Over Time (Share of visits made to each category of websites , Oct’12-Mar’13 aggregate)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

5 WeeksOut

4 WeeksOut

3 WeeksOut

2 WeeksOut

1 Week Out Week ofBooking

Week AfterBooking

2 WeeksAfter

3 WeeksAfter

4 WeeksAfter

Travel Retail Financial_Services Telecommunications Automotive

Over the 45 Day Period Leading to a Package Booking, Retail Sites Dominate the Internet Landscape

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Read as: In the week leading up to the package booking, Travel sites account for 38% of visits to the list of comparison site categories

Category Visit Intensity Over Time (Share of visits made to each website category, Aug’13-Jan’14 aggregate)

Travel visitation spikes dramatically the week of booking, dragging down shares for Retail and other non-travel categories

In the week following the booking, Retail sites still struggle to regain dominance

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

5 WeeksOut

4 WeeksOut

3 WeeksOut

2 WeeksOut

1 Week Out Week ofBooking

Week AfterBooking

2 WeeksAfter

3 WeeksAfter

4 WeeksAfter

Travel Financial Services News and Media Shopping Wireless

37.9 36.6

20.9 20.5

2.1

Travel Retail Financial Services Telecommunications Automotive

In the 45 Days Leading Up to a Package Booking, Retail Sites are Visited Almost as Frequently as Travel Sites

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Average Category Visits per Booker in Aggregate (Number of visits made to each category of websites by the average segment member, Oct’12-Mar’13 aggregate)

As segment members research their vacations, retail sites become common hangouts, even more so than banking or cell carrier sites

Read as: The average segment member visited a retail website 36.6 times in the 45 days leading up to their package booking

35.4 25

32.4

55.5

6.3

Travel Financial Services News and Media Shopping Wireless

Over the 45 Day Period Leading to a Pkg Booking, Retail Sites Dominate the Internet Landscape

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Average Category Visits per Booker in Aggregate (Number of visits made to each category of websites by the average segment member, Aug’13-Jan’14 aggregate)

Shopping sites see 57% more demand than Travel sites

Unlike in the US where carrier and wireless OEM sites are commonly visited, in the UK this category sees very little visitation in the weeks leading up to a package booking

Read as: The average segment member visited retail sites 56 times in the 45 days leading up to their package booking

Billboard Effect of DMO Visitation

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There are periods within the 45 path to purchase where DMO visitation seems to positively impact conversion. Of people who check DMO sites prior to visiting an OTA package path, those who do so 9-24 days in advance of the package path visit convert 32% higher.

Billboard Effect of DMO Visitation (Conversion calculated by the day the DMO was first visited, Oct’12-Mar’13 aggregate)

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

OTA package path conversion for those who visited a DMO, by day of first DMO visit

OTA package path conversion line for those visiting DMOs

Day 24 --> Day 9

+32% conversion

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Start of Session: Comcast.net

(2 pages)

Live.com (11 pages)

CCHNet.net (16 pages)

Facebook.com (9 pages)

PNC.com (1 page)

Inbox.com (3 pages)

Comcast.net (7 pages)

Live.com (23 pages)

CCHNet.com (29 pages)


MSN.com (5 pages)

TheRoot.com (6 pages)

WonderWall.com (2 pages)

PNC.com (3 pages)


Inbox.com (9 pages)

VisitMusicCity.com (11 pages)

YouTube.com (1 page)

Elvis.com (1 page)

MemphisTravel.com (6 pages)

Answers.com (2 pages)

AmericanQueenSteamboatCompany.com (21 pages)

Expedia.com (53 pages, searched flight

then pkg)

MemphisTravel.com (11 pages)

YouTube.com (1 page)

Elvis.com (6 pages)

Continued

Actual purchase path of a travel package booker

Sample DMO/OTA Cross-Shop Single Session

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Sample DMO/OTA Cross-Shop Single Session

Continued

TripAdvisor.com (20 pages)

Expedia.com (2 pages)

TripAdvisor (21 pages)


HomeAway.com (26 pages)

Expedia.com (10 pages, viewed Peabody Memphis and Hotel

Madison)

Peabody Memphis.com

(5 pages)

ThePeabody Galleria.com

(1 page)

TheMadison Hotel.com (2 pages)

MadisonHotel Memphis.com

(7 pages)

Expedia.com (88 pages, searched Memphis pkgs, viewed multiple

hotel infopages)



(4 pages)

PeabodyHotels.com (3 pages)

Kayak.com (2 pages)

Cheap Caribbean.com

(2 pages)

Hotels.com (3 pages)

TripAdvisor.com (6 pages)

Inbox.com (6 pages)

Hilton.com (2 pages)

HotelsOne.com (7 pages)

Hotels-and-Discounts.com (2 pages)

PeabodyHotels.com (1 page)


(9 pages)

HomeAway.com (6 pages)


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Sample 45 Day Path to Purchase

DAY 41 DAY 28 DAY 27

• ontariotravel.net • niagarafallstourism.com (11 pages) • viator.com • kayak.com • expedia.com • aaa.com • rodewayinn.com • choicehotels.com • mapquest.com • frommers.com • marinelandcanada.com • cliftonhill.com • marineland.ca • secure-res.com

• google.com • youtube.com (11 pages) • makemytrip.com (16 pages) • google.com • britishairways.com • google.com • ypmate.com

• google.com • expedia.com (18 pages) • tripadvisor.com • go.com • go.com

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Sample 45 Day Path to Purchase (continued)


• google.com • garmin.com (75 pages) • google.com • nbcsports.com • garmin.com (10 pages) • google.com • nbc.com • nbcsports.com

• google.com • expedia.com (14 pages) • garmin.com (10 pages) • google.com • expedia.com (11 pages) • fling.com • aaa.com • google.com (13 pages) • expedia.com • orbitz.com • hotels.com • hotwire.com • sheratonfourpointsniagarafalls.com • guestserve.com • aaa.com

• google.com (21 pages) • expedia.ca • expedia.com (24 pages) • hotelsone.com • oakeshotel.com • tripadvisor.com • fourpoints.com • guestserve.com • sheratonfourpointsniagarafalls.com • starwoodhotels.com • northshore-bank.com • secureinternetbank.com • patientgateway.org

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DAY 21 DAY 21 (continued) DAY 20

• google.com • live.com • easternbank.com • msn.com • travelconfidently.com • google.com • google.com (12 pages) • easternbank.com • facebook.com (49 pages) • tripadvisor.com • distancebetweencities.net • travelmath.com • igougo.com • mapquest.com (10 pages) • →

• →

• google.com (10 pages) • frommers.com • bing.com • hotwire.com • senecaniagaracasino.com • kayak.com • ihotelier.com • canadianhotelguide.com • radisson.com • expedia.com • hotwire.com • google.com • travelmath.com • radisson.com • hotelclub.com • hotwire.com • google.com • yahoo.com • mapquest.com • buffalonavalpark.org

• google.com • quibids.com • youtube.com • google.com (17 pages) • mapquest.com (41 pages) • frommers.com • yahoo.com • lonelyplanet.com • yelp.com • roadtripamerica.com • visitniagaracanada.com (10 pages) • buffalonavalpark.org

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• google.com • youtube.com • google.com • expedia.com (16 pages) • google.com (11 pages) • hotelclub.com (13 pages) • tripadvisor.com • guestserve.com • sheratonfourpointsniagarafalls.com • daysinnfallsviewhotel.com • easytobook.com • priceline.com

• mapquest.com (37 pages) • google.com • daysinnfallsviewhotel.com • live.com (11 pages)

• google.com • timeanddate.com • daysinnfallsviewhotel.com • garmin.com (28 pages) • startec.com • garmincdn.com • google.com • garmin.com (43 pages)

25




• google.ca • facebook.com • google.ca • marinelandcanada.com • maidofthemist.com

• google.ca (18 pages) • casaniagara.com

• google.com • facebook.com (36 pages) • redbullstratos.com

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• google.com (16 pages) • cheapcaribbean.com • libertytravel.com • orbitz.com • allinclusiveexperts.com • bahamas.com • expedia.com (19 pages) • travelpn.com • breezes.com • resortvacationstogo.com • bookit.com • youtube.com • sandals.com • cheapcaribbean.com • beachvacationstoday.com (9 pages) • paradiseislandbahama.com • ihotelier.com • orbitz.com • libertytravel.com • allinclusiveexperts.com • orbitz.com • google.com (28 pages) • live.com (43 pages) • →

DAY 4 DAY 3 DAY 2

• google.com • expedia.com (17 pages) • jetblue.com • travelocity.com (13 pages) • tripadvisor.com

• google.com (17 pages) • expedia.com (53 pages) • vacationstogo.com (15 pages) • tripadvisor.com • royalcaribbean.com (24 pages) • tampacruiseguide.com • shoreexcursionsgroup.com

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DAY 2 CONTINUED DAY 1 SAME DAY

• → • northshore-bank.com • adp.com • diplomaguide.com • northshore-bank.com • paradiseislandriu.com • riu.com • Vaxvacationaccess.com • orbitz.com (19 pages) • paradiseislandbahama.com • ihotelier.com • expedia.com (11 pages) • bookit.com (17 pages) • livingsocial.com • beaches.com • yahoo.com • sandals.com • all-inclusiveresort.com (23 pages) • familyvacationcritic.com • jetblue.com (10 pages) • livingsocial.com • cheapcaribbean.com • orbitz.com • expedia.com

• google.com • live.com • msn.com (11 pages) • google.com • calculator-converter.com • escapeartist.com • metricamerica.com • facebook.com (31 pages) • google.com • walgreens.com (20 pages) • live.com (33 pages) • msn.com • facebook.com (43 pages) • google.com (20 pages) • youtube.com (15 pages) • grandvelas.com • verizon.net • cancuncasa.com • cancun.travel • live.com • dolphindiscovery.com • tripadvisor.com

• google.com • nassauparadiseisland.com • sheraton.com • sheratonnassau.com • cheapcaribbean.com (27 pages) • yahoo.com • live.com • cancun.travel • rivieramaya.com • live.com (12 pages) • cheapcaribbean.com (13 pages) • google.com (12 pages) • tripadvisor.com • msn.com • vrxstudios.com • rivieramaya.com • yahoo.com • scubaplaya.com • expedia.com • cheapcaribbean.com (29 pages) • google.com • tripadvisor.com • yahoo.com • expedia.com (14 pages) • yahoo.com • google.com (19 pages) • expedia.com (106 pages, then booked a Cancun Pkg)

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KEY FINDINGS FOR DESTINATION MARKETERS

• Broaden competitive set and targeting segments to proactively maintain and grow share of voice in the US & UK, respectively.

• Invest in a content marketing strategy to influence consumer choice.

• Develop a full-funnel engagement strategy to capture the attention of the consumer’s decision-making process.

• Consider OTA partnerships to leverage a combined higher rate of conversion.

• Explore opportunities for efficiency within the retail segment by pairing relevant third-party data for retargeting efforts.

www.advertising.expedia.com

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