Epteca ignites and launches a new travel brand client every week to ‘sell more stuff’ and generate incremental ancillary revenue using their smart selling marketplace.
ZUG, SWITZERLAND – Epteca, the innovative platform that gives marketplace capabilities to tour operators, hotels, airlines, OTA’s and travel agencies to sell relevant merchandise in addition to their trip, announced they have added thirteen new travel companies to their rapidly growing portfolio of clients. Epteca has launched seven new brands since January 2015, and six more are coming in the next two months. In addition, the company is also currently expanding into new markets: Norway, Switzerland, and Austria.
Epteca has developed the “Marketplace Ecosystem” where travel companies and product vendors now have the capability to tap into unrealized revenue streams by offering a wide range of products relevant to each step of the customer journey. These include pre-travel accessories and care (such as GPS trackers, city guides, waterproof beach bags) to in-destination services (restaurant bookings, beach accessory packs) to post-travel necessities (grocery deliveries, digital photo printing) and enriched customer services.
Using customer data and predictive algorithms that match the context and intent, Epteca can accurately anticipate not only what travelers want and need, but also what they are likely to want, need or do during their trip. Only the most applicable options are offered via personalized white-labeled communications that function more like a practical checklist of relevant reminders than a sales pitch.
“We were apprehensive that in the very crowded e-commerce space, any communication we did would have to add value and benefit the relationship with our customers,” explains Chris Harrison sales and marketing director of Dawson & Sanderson, a leading UK travel agency. “When we met up with Epteca, we were very excited by their unique concept that mixes useful information specific to customers travel plans, with relevant travel merchandise that can be purchased to further enhance their holidays. The results so far have exceeded our expectations.”
Epteca has already satisfied millions of customers with their carefully curated dynamic catalog of in-demand offerings. The company even guarantees that travel providers using their platform will leverage profits from travel related retail products and services and improve their margins. This is a welcome change to the traditional margins that continue to narrow. This combined with a strong customer service message post booking through to the return from travel, gives brands an opportunity to build stronger customer loyalty.
“These are certainly exciting times for Epteca as we continue to see a tremendous demand for our platform,” says Epteca’s CEO and co-founder Bojan Jokic. “There are currently over 1 billion travelers annually and seventy-nine percent of them want to be offered relevant 3rd party ancillaries by their travel supplier after the booking. Our data-centric ancillary selling strategy brings together one marketplace focused on the individual traveler and leverages the influence of timing, technique, channel, service and price to drive conversions. We are proud that Epteca is helping travel partners and vendors worldwide grow their business, increase customer satisfaction and build strong customer relationships.”
Epteca’s marketplace platform is delivering impressive results for their clients and partners with no investment or running costs, and the service can be up-and-running in just a few weeks. As a fully managed end-to-end solution, travel companies can focus on their core business of selling flights and hotels while the platform generates ongoing ROI and personalizes service.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
