On the Beach Discovers the Complexities of International Expansion
Photo Credit: Shown are On the Beach-branded cupcakes. The online travel agency celebrated hitting 1 million downloads for its app in April. On the Beach
Skift Take
On the Beach’s careful approach to expansion shows just how difficult it can be to grow in foreign source markets. Europe isn’t one big country and if you don’t make acquisitions, expansion can be a tedious process. But one of those acquisitions might just be the one that pays off in the long term.
On the Beach, the UK-based beach vacation online travel agency, is adding a fourth source market as it tries to transform itself from a UK to a pan-European business.
This month Denmark will join fellow Scandinavian countries Norway and Sweden alongside the UK, in the On the Beach portfolio and will get its own dedicated website.
Expansion sounds great, the only problem is that as things stand the international businesses isn't profitable and its revenues are a tiny fraction of what the company makes in the UK.
That’s not to say On the Beach can’t be successful abroad, it’s just that organic expansion is both time-consuming and expensive.
Before On the Beach went public in September 2015, international expansion was one of the objectives it set out in its prospectus.
“The group intends to expand its business model in certain other European markets to address the €55 billion package holiday market opportunity in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherla
