Skyscanner Shows Tenacity to Overcome Challenges Selling Airline Tickets on Mobile
Photo Credit: Cat King, commercial director at Skyscanner, spoke at an internal event at the Edinburgh-based online travel company. Skyscanner
Skift Take
Why is shopping for flights on mobile devices much harder than for TVs and clothes? A few reasons. Skyscanner may be delivering fixes soon, though the industry has promised fixes for years.
A few years ago, Skyscanner and other travel price-comparison search brands risked losing relative popularity. Consumers were switching to mobile devices, and metasearch brands don't make as much money on mobile as a rule. But new e-commerce design tricks may catapult Skyscanner and its peers into more relevant positions again.
Norwegian, Singapore Airlines, Russia's S7, and Virgin Atlantic will "soon" try to display their products via a new so-called "direct booking" interface on Skyscanner. Consumers will see airline branded fares, such as basic economy versus premium economy.
The contrast of shopping for flights on a phone versus booking lodging is remarkable. When it comes to shopping for and reserving hotels and short-term rentals, Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Vrbo, and others have enabled consumers for years to reserve lodging, seeing various options for room types and upgrades, without having to leave their sites and apps. Yet plane tickets remain hard to shop for on mobile device
