MakeMyTrip holds app-only sale, eyes five-fold surge in traffic

New Delhi: After e-commerce marketplace Flipkart, online travel firm MakeMyTrip has now announced an app-only sale starting today to cash in on the upcoming holiday season.

MakeMyTrip expects to see a five-fold surge in traffic during the offer period, which will close on 2 November. The company will offer cashbacks and discounts on flight and hotel bookings during the sale.

“We strongly believe that the future of travel buying experience is on the ‘Mobile’ platform - the shift is already underway. We are strongly focused on strengthening our mobile technology,” MakeMyTrip.com co-founder and CEO India Rajesh Magow said in a statement.

Earlier this month, online marketplace Flipkart offered an app-only sale across categories like apparel, home and electronics and said it had seen manifold growth in sales compared to last year when the sale could also be accessed through the desktop.

MakeMyTrip said it has crossed 12 million app downloads so far with 1.2 million downloads in September. It claimed that traffic from mobile apps has grown 250-300 percent year-on-year in the past few years.

“The Great Indian Getaway will provide offers and discounts across flights, hotels and holiday packages… MakeMyTrip expects 5x traffic surge during the sale period and 15x surge expected during peak hours,” the company said.

According to travel and hospitality research firm PhocusWright, gross travel bookings on mobile is estimated to have grown over 1,000 per cent from 2012 to 2015, reaching $1.2 billion.

MakeMyTrip said unique visitors from mobile apps stood at 20 percent in 2013, which grew to 33 percent in 2014 and will soon reach the half-way mark.

Mobile bookings contribute about 25 per cent of domestic flights-bookings and nearly 50 percent of total online domestic hotel transactions, it said.

PTI