At Reservamos SaaS, we spoke with Humberto Candelaria, Commercial and Marketing Coordinator at Roll&Bits, about the significance of revenue management in the bus industry to enhance its profitability and success.

Roll&Bits is a 100% digital ground transportation company that, since 2019, has introduced an innovative and efficient business model, successfully winning over digital travelers by streamlining operational processes to create more appealing travel experiences. Without terminals and with boarding points strategically located in the cities where it operates, Roll&Bits’ digital sales channels provide an opportunity for direct communication with its users.

In Humberto’s words, Roll&Bits, a Reservamos SaaS partner, is described as a tourism tool focused on strengthening people’s mobility between cities by providing a comfortable and secure way to travel. According to Humberto, within the financial sector, the bus industry is one of the most important due to its positioning, driven by digital evolution and its remarkable growth in recent years. This digitization has allowed companies to gain a deeper understanding of travelers’ behavior to tailor their offerings to their needs.

Understanding the digital traveler is crucial today for the success of a bus company. Since the pandemic, we have witnessed how the sector’s evolution, which might have taken five or six years, was accelerated within months. This has led people to seek digital alternatives. Travelers accustomed to visiting a physical office to buy their tickets now make their purchases online. At Roll&Bits, we have created a 100% digital purchasing experience for travelers. Despite opening physical sales points, the majority of people continued to make digital purchases. In our case, 97% of our sales are digital, with only 3% occurring at physical sales points. The benefit of digitization is that it enables us to keep operations running smoothly, positioning us among travelers and adapting to their needs and the current circumstances.

Humberto Candelaria, Commercial and Marketing Coordinator at Roll&Bits.

Effective revenue management strategies with the help of specialized technology

Humberto has specialized in creating pricing and revenue management strategies for the transportation company Roll&Bits. With the assistance of BrainPROS, our Revenue Management system, Humberto monitors purchase anticipation and brand behavior. This allows him to gain a detailed understanding of the occupancy of their units, identify opportunities to offer additional services, monitor the market, and manage the profitability of each journey.

What I like most about my job is that Roll&Bits allows you to be free. With partners who provide tools like BrainPROS, I have the freedom to develop strategies I know will work best for the business. I can experiment and improve every day; if I make a mistake, I learn from it and move forward. With BrainPROS, I can solidify my strategies with greater confidence, reducing the margin of error, and I can delve deeper and visualize various key aspects. This makes my work enjoyable, challenging, and continuously growing.

Humberto Candelaria, Commercial and Marketing Coordinator at Roll&Bits.

Pioneers in dynamic pricing implementation

When asked about effective Revenue Management strategies in the industry based on seasons or demand, Humberto emphasized the importance of monitoring the market and seizing opportunities such as peak seasons, events, or activities that can benefit or impact operations. He also highlighted the significance of analyzing the performance achieved and preparing in advance to avoid any pitfalls to maximize the company’s reach.

As one of the first low-cost ground transportation companies, implementing dynamic pricing helped us boost purchase anticipation, and BrainPROS technology enabled us to monitor traveler interest. This way, we can increase the profitability of low-occupancy schedules and assign higher demand value to better-positioned schedules. Today, our travelers plan and anticipate their trips to gain more benefits, giving us an advantage because we can see high occupancy in our units for peak days and hours from the early days of the week. We make people seek us out more. This allows us to closely control the operation and profitability of each journey.

Humberto Candelaria, Commercial and Marketing Coordinator at Roll&Bits.

Among the allies of Reservamos SaaS, Roll&Bits has been a pioneer in using BrainPROS, our Revenue Management system. This solution has marked a turning point in revenue management and an evolution in the company’s internal operations. Reservamos taught us how to use BrainPROS to have greater control over our pricing strategies. In this process, I have received constant follow-up and guidance from the Reservamos team to make the most of BrainPROS.

The use of BrainPROS has allowed Roll&Bits to optimize and automate internal processes, streamline operations, and perform actions like loading pricing strategies massively and in less time. According to Humberto, before BrainPROS, the pricing load took up to 3 days. Now, with the help of BrainPROS functionalities, it takes only 2 hours, allowing more time for monitoring demand and market behavior. In Humberto’s words: Processes that used to be lengthy and took days to analyze whether they had worked can now be adjusted, and key decisions can be made instantly. With BrainPROS, we can pleasantly surprise travelers and achieve positive internal results. The more information I have at my disposal, the greater my insight and ability to respond quickly and exceed sales targets.

Some of the benefits that BrainPROS has brought to the company’s operations include

• The ability to load pricing strategies massively, reducing error margins and operational times.
• Access to daily and specific period revenues.
• Constant monitoring to assess key metrics performance, such as digital sales, occupancy, and average price tickets.
• Opportunities to enhance operations, make agile corrections, and increase the average ticket.
• Daily comparisons and historical data from the last 13 months to evaluate short- medium- and long-term strategies.
• Setting higher revenue goals and controlling growth to ensure additional income.
• The ability to create internal income statements with the help of the Dash Center module integrated into BrainPROS.

In just 11 months, Roll&Bits achieved a +77% growth in its average ticket. Since implementing BrainPROS, the company confidently implemented pricing strategies and can experiment without risks, thanks to its monitoring and adjustment features. For Humberto, BrainPROS has been a continuous learning experience. Every day, they surprise me with new functionalities or tools that make my job easier.

Will dynamic pricing be a trend in the bus sector?

Regarding the current challenges in revenue management in the bus industry, Humberto believes that dynamic pricing strategies are the way to maintain a competitive advantage. In addition, digital sales channels allow them to put themselves in the traveler’s shoes, establish direct communication, and make a difference. Roll&Bits is committed to innovation and continuous improvement with the help of technology: We are a young team that understands the needs of travelers. Every day, we research and delve into the needs of travelers to ensure better service.

Effective revenue management allows a company like Roll&Bits to maintain both maximum and minimum prices without affecting the profitability of each journey or the traveler’s wallet. It enables them to analyze their competition and the market, offer attractive dynamic prices to travelers, and ensure a competitive edge. For Humberto, the future of Roll&Bits lies in the company’s ability to take travelers to the very heart of cities at a very low cost. We see great potential in taking travelers where they want to be. For example, we are working to take travelers to their favorite events, from their hometown to the venue, non-stop, pick them up, and return them home, easily, efficiently, and safely.

Future outlook on revenue management in the bus industry

Regarding the future of Revenue Management for bus companies, Humberto recommends that companies adapt to new technologies and changes. Today, travelers seek the best deals and opportunities, and companies need to be prepared to meet that need. The only way to do this is by daring to innovate. Tools like BrainPROS help us grow our businesses, broaden our vision, and provide significant opportunities against the competition. Through the implementation of dynamic pricing, we can enhance the loyalty of our travelers, pamper them, and adapt to what they are looking for. There’s no better traveler than the one who recommends you by word of mouth.

Roll&Bits is a company that entered the technology market at just the right time. With the assistance of specialized technology and the guidance of Reservamos SaaS, it has built a top-tier company with efficient service through its digital sales channels: its website and mobile application, which ensure simple and secure purchases for travelers. They also offer innovative service during boarding. In Humberto’s words: We establish direct communication with travelers and listen to their needs, making us unique in the sector. We rely on our satisfaction surveys to identify growth opportunities, such as new routes and boarding points. We investigate every request from our travelers and constantly seek the common good for all.