The deal with Google will allow Tui to monitor how customers, who have Google email accounts, use the operators’ online platforms to research holidays on their smartphones, as well as comparing this data to their visits to Tui’s high street agencies.
Distribution and sales director Fraser Ellacott said that working with Google was part of a multi-channel strategy which aims to get all the in-house distribution channels, including stores, online and call centres, working together to drive sales.
“Over the next few months, the partnership will allow us to look at both online and offline behaviour to track across stores and how customers are researching on their phones,” he added.
“About 30% of people with smartphones have Gmail and we can track how they look at our sites. “We want to understand their behaviour and how one channel supports the other – for example, how many of them come into the shop. We have not historically understood that customer behaviour but now we will be able to see what they do on our site and in store.”
Ellacott said that all of the distribution channels at Tui UK & Ireland had now been brought together under his department, including e-commerce, which had previously been part of marketing.
“Multi-channel is a key area of focus for us – you increasingly hear about the drop in footfall across all retail sectors. But we realise that customers are not using channels in isolation, especially around booking what is one of the most expensive purchases you can make.”
He added that online and offline channels were now becoming “more mutually supportive” which meant they had to be aligned. Ellacott said that the multi-channel strategy was part of the modernisation process of Tui’s distribution.
“We are continuing to invest in retail as much as we have done in the past. The channels are becoming mutually supportive with service centres to support bookings, and some customers are happy to use self-service within our stores.
“We have to think as a vertically-integrated business in terms of these channels and how they can work together.” Tui is expecting to start seeing results from its Google partnership in early 2016. “It could lead to us making changes to our websites when we understand consumer behaviour, as well as changes to what we do in-store,” said Ellacott.
