A discussion about the software industry and their coders

This post by Guest Author on TheBizofCoding : Monica Jasuja . Monica continues from her previous post Indian Online Travel Services Industry - Promises Unmet? 

I wonder if any analysis is ever complete without pointing out a clear winner and one that I would watch out for in the near future to give MakeMyTrip a run for every paisa. A very detailed comparison on the same can be found here which throws up a rather unheard of winner: IXIGO.

Some of my grievances that I listed in my post in Part 1 seem to have been addressed in and what's remarkable is that the speed is something to die for. My experience on the site was a simplified and a non-frill shopping event where I got only what I was looking for with no packages with beautiful pics to distract me. However, IF I had to find one, just one differentiator that would strengthen the comparisons findings and help me pick my winner from amongst the almost half dozen similar offering, then it would be:- the visibility, use and messaging of the customer service numbers on the website. Let me explain the criterion for my choice a bit

Take any successful e-commerce website (best example would be Amazon) and tell me if finding a phone number to contact customer service on is simple! Most users are dissuaded from making contacts with customer service agents due to the high cost involved. Cost-cutting has led to a casualty that is almost never debated (atleast not in India) and this is the death of customer service- which is personal, in real time i.e. a phone call away and where turn-around times are normally only a few minutes.

E-commerce is at its peak during the holiday season and its then that horror stories are collected and published about users not finding out how to return gifts or account for lost packages bought on . Its this attention which leads to the realization that Amazon actually hides its customer service numbers.

However, I suspect this deliberate lack of visibility for contact numbers is not just about cost reduction -- its also about the ensuring the availability, searchability and usability of all information that a customer maybe interested in while transacting on the website. And Amazon does score highly on those fronts. Hence, the promised ease of searching, booking and paying for an air ticket on these travel portals largely remains unfulfilled. Why else will then, all customer care numbers be flashed in mostly visible ways (mostly in premium space on the home page)? I suspect this is done to ensure that customers do complete their bookings on the portal, if not online, then through the customer agents. do know figures seem to suggest that Indian users do have the confidence to shop online for air tickets, however, what I am really interested in knowing is figures related to costs of customer services agents servicing calls to help with customer bookings and how many conversions happen after a customer contacts these agents for help.

And the winner is: IXIGO.

IXIGO wins hands-down when evaluated on the above parameter the total absence of the Contact us section or a flashing toll free number makes stand apart from the crowd.delivers what it promises on the site itself. Customer Service Centers for all partner airlines are available since the booking is done on the partners website. FAQs explain common asked questions and IMHO there would be no need for a user to contact IXIGO directly. However, the bigger question here is: Will make a killing of this space and beat MakeMyTrip to the post to becoming the undisputed market leader? And what will the strategy adopted to counter the aggressive selling and advertising? I would be most disappointed if the primary purpose of the site is sacrificed for commercial suitability and parity in this domain.