Expedia Wants to Become More Locally Relevant Worldwide
Photo Credit: At Skift Global Forum in New York City Thursday, Mark D. Okerstrom, president and CEO of Expedia Group, spoke about the company's effort to drive more locally relevant content. Skift
Skift Take
Rather than push Expedia Group to expand horizontally, CEO Mark Okerstrom has been focused in the past year on improving the company's execution in several key markets with its existing brands and loyal customers. The effort to consolidate gains makes intuitive sense.
It’s been 13 months since Mark Okerstrom stepped into the president and CEO role of Expedia Group after his predecessor Dara Khosrowshahi, left to take over Uber.
At first, Okerstrom emphasized continuity. But within weeks he made an emphasis to encourage more coherence across the online travel brand portfolio.
Fast forward to Friday and Okerstrom was highlighting one of his key pillars, which is to ensure that the global conglomerate's brands provide "local relevance" in customer experiences.
"We've been expanding around the world for years but we haven't created leadership positions in many of these markets, with the exception of the United States, Canada, and maybe the UK and Australia," said Okerstrom at Skift Global Forum in New York City.
"We haven't focused on getting the experience right in a locally relevant way for, say, the Taiwanese, or the Japanese, or the French customer," said Okerstrom. "Instead, we had been expanding simultaneously."
"Now we're focusi
