COVID is not the first pandemic that the world has faced, and it will certainly not be the last.
We are pleased to share with you a note created by our CEO – Andrés Sucre, published by Business Venezuela Magazine, where he shares his optimistic perspective on the future of tourism.
It is not news that one of the most affected industries after the pandemic has been the tourism sector. But, despite that reality, I would like to outline five reasons why the tourism industry can offer greater long-term opportunities.
The tourism industry is huge.
In 2019, the annual spending in the tourism industry exceeded 1.4 trillion dollars and came with an average growth of during the last five years of 5% annualized, according to Phocuswright. The last quarantines have generated a pent-up demand waiting for the right moment to go out and travel when conditions allow it.
COVID is not the first pandemic that the world has faced, and it will certainly not be the last. And what we have seen in the past is that the tourism industry always recovers after a crisis. Skift published a graph showing the tourism industry’s resilience after pandemics (SARS, MERS, etc.) or economic crises. If history is any indicator of the future, we will have more trips in the years to come!
Despite its size and growth “megatrend”, this crisis has been particularly severe for the sector. For this reason, we can estimate that the recovery will be slow. Bain & Co published a report in June 2020 where they estimated a return to pre-crisis travel levels by 2022 in an optimistic scenario and by 2023 in a moderate one. With the return of lockdowns and new strains in recent months, it is more likely that we are looking at a modest recovery scenario.
We can see how the current context benefits certain segments during the demand rebound process:
Domestic destinations will be the first to resume their growth vs. international ones. Travelers have a preference for short distances and road access.
The economic impact is beginning to be felt. So we see that cheap trips will have greater demand than those in the luxury segment.
Due to the characteristics of COVID, young travelers are going to be the first to venture compared to the senior market.
Flexibility in remote work and video conferences reduced the volume of business travel. While vacation trips or visits to the family will continue to see accelerated demand as the pandemic is controlled.
Companies that can invest will benefit.
“Every crisis brings great opportunities.” – According to Einstein. In this case, the pandemic has left a severely weakened tourism industry. The drop in passenger demand, combined with a forced closure of its operations, has reduced sales and therefore, cash flows of all companies in the sector.
The companies that will emerge stronger in the long term will be those that can access capital to invest in their technological structure and health protection processes and gain market share.
If these last years have taught us anything, it is that anything can happen in the short term. Despite this uncertainty for the tourism industry, we have every reason to be optimistic in the sector if we look at the long-term opportunities.
Written by: Andres Sucre
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eCommerce frauds result in more chargebacks and less safe purchases.
Sometimes, there is an irrational fear of sharing sales history when hiring a payment gateway and/or new service provider, leading to a loss of opportunities for improvement, safe purchases and growth; driving an increase in fraud if the rules and parameters of the business rate improperly calculated.
Pamela López, Head of Finance at Reservamos SaaS.
The value of Reservamos SaaS in payments outlines in its extensive experience and the use of different control and measurement tools for payment attempts. Each industry, sector, and company presents distinct challenges, so it is necessary to know and create unique rules for each season and type of service to secure safe purchases.
The needs, such as processors and anti-fraud systems, may be different. Evaluating possible scenarios and sales history will help adapt the parameters and tools needed.
We monitor the acceptance rate, fraud level, user behavior, and changes in the market.
We use machine learning tools as the first review filter and payment processors or aggregators to transact. Sometimes two step-verification when applicable, as long as it does not limit or harm the conversion rate.
There are some concepts and required procedures you need to know if your bus company has an eCommerce platform:
Chargebacks, what are they, and which are the most frequent?
eCommerce frauds result in more chargebacks. A chargeback is a process where a buyer communicates with the card issuer to be unaware of a transaction or report a problem in search of paying compensation.
There are several types and scenarios of chargebacks. They are usually fraudulent or friendly, for example:
The cardholder does not recognize the transaction (fraud).
The cardholder did not authorize the transaction.
The consumer did not receive the goods or services they purchased.
The consumer claims that the goods or services do not match the offer.
How payment acceptance impacts sales?
Payment acceptance measures the proportion of purchases accepted in respect of payment attempts.
The acceptance level depends on the market and the payment method to be measured. According to information shared by Visa in March 2021, the general acceptance in the payment sector in LATAM was 56%, Mexico was 48%, and Colombia was 49%.
Reservamos SaaS offers a high impact in increasing the acceptance rate and a low volume of fraud.
Many companies make the serious mistake of limiting or lowering their payment acceptance rate because they have 0% fraud. It not only limits their potential for sales growth but denies or blocks a service to users who may not be fraudulent.
Fernando Aguilera, Head of Sales & Expansion.
Understanding the process.
Market and current behavior.
2020 was an atypical year for eCommerce due to restrictions. Goods and services purchases through online platforms increased by +30% globally. As a result, besides boosting the market, the digital market also changed consumer behavior:
The purchase frequency becomes difficult to predict. The consumer takes short-term actions to avoid complicated scenarios.
Buyers use new payment options and registration.
Users search for destinations that were not so attractive before.
In this new market, fraud increased considerably, along with the theft and testing of bank databases, for which it became essential to prioritize specific fields.
The challenges for the coming years are: to adapt and implement new analysis techniques due to the fact that consumer behavior is now more complex and changing. At Reservamos SaaS, we are always looking to implement new tools and parameters that minimize the percentage of chargebacks and increase the rate of payment acceptance to reduce a company’s losses and increase its income.
Do you also want to ensure safe online purchases for your travelers and increase the conversion at your eCommerce? Contact us at: [email protected]
Innovative eCommerce, with new features, and all in ONE WEEK? Challenge accepted!
Author: Jair Pérez – Lead Product Designer at Reservamos SaaS
The decisions we have made about our eCommerce and the solutions designed have been supported by data and evidence, from the slightest change to the development of new functionality. But how far have we gotten with this?
Thanks to the learning process and experience acquired, we knew that having a visual variant of the eCommerce solution would be necessary for brands to differentiate themselves, even with the services we offer to the bus sector.
THE CHALLENGE
Recently, we had the challenge of designing and developing innovative eCommerce with new features in ONE WEEK for one of our allies, and we had only one chance to make it right. Once we agreed on a schedule with our client, we challenged ourselves to accomplish our goals, and boy, was 2020 a pretty tough year!
THE PROCESS
During the first meeting, we came up with the idea of having a product with a sidebar throughout the funnel. The information in the sidebar would change according to every step of the journey; at this point, we began to think about what changes we could implement that would not require so much support from the Front-end area.
Having an organized and well-structured architecture needed us to think about the possible changes that we could integrate. Although some ideas came up, such as changing the product’s visual style and playing around with shadows and borders of the same components, the team remained uncertain as the ideas sounded a bit abstract.
Concept Variants
We have created a product area with functions focused on performing more efficient maintenance processes and reducing development times to achieve an organized code structure. Since these principles have been of great help to us, we have also transferred them to the layout part with “Atomic Design”, allowing more agile interfaces and efficient project management.
OUTSTANDING
The work structure we designed and the team expertise made us possible to create the product funnel proposal in only ONE DAY! This mock was necessary because, in a certain way, it would work as a map to execute the essential changes at the code level.
We kept the sidebar during the funnel, reduced shadows, and added borders with a decreased radius; it was also possible to design a different component to show the trip results and display a cleaner and more friendly design.
Classic and Flat Schedules
Once we presented the mock to the internal team, they were able to verify that we had managed to have a new product version by making this series of small changes. We had overcome part of the challenge!
Responsive Flat Layout
LEARNING
Having a solid code structure and certain variables within it, we began to implement the essential changes for this product version without affecting the standard version code. Also, we could switch versions if we needed to. Despite the time pressure, the work was always executed in the most orderly way possible, thanks to our structure guidelines.
The second part of the challenge was a complete unknown. We did not have enough data and history to know if this product version would have the purchase conversion we were expecting and the necessary loading speed. We started having a conversion very similar to the results of the current product, and little by little, it started showing growth.
A few months later, we reached record sales figures for online sales, higher than offline sales in over 60 years.
Do you want to be part of small changes that turn into big sales? Contact us for more information at [email protected] and manage to promote your bus line eCommerce.
