10月28日(ブルームバーグ):中国最大の電子商取引運営会社アリババ ・グループ・HDは28日、同社のオンライン旅行代理店部門を独立させると発表した。中国で成長が続く旅行関連業の需要をモバイル端末利用者から掘り起こすのが狙いだ。
アリババの報道向け資料によれば、淘宝旅行(タオバオ・トラベル)が名前を変え、アリトリップとなる。アリトリップには航空会社やホテル、パッケージツアーなどに関連した1万余りの業者が集約されている。オンライン決済の、アリペイが連動を強化、利便性を拡大する、
*日本国内ではヤフーがユニット機能を果たす?
原題:Alibaba Rebrands Travel Unit as Alitrip in Push for MobileUsers
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) will rebrand its travel unit as Alitrip, establishing the marketplace as an independent unit to tap mobile customers in China’s growing tourism-related industries.
Alitrip, formerly known as Taobao Travel, has more than 10,000 merchants for airlines, hotels and package tours, Hangzhou, China-based Alibaba said in press release today.
Alibaba, which last month completed a record $25 billion initial public offering in the U.S., started its travel business in 2010 as a competitor to online travel service Ctrip.com International Ltd. (CTRP)Since then Alibaba has built the service through acquisitions and investments as China’s travel operators benefit from rising incomes and a growing middle class, which boosts demand for packaged tours.
“This independent online travel platform is a logical extension of Alibaba Group’s strategy,” said Li Shaohua, general manager of Alitrip.
In the first investment by China’s largest e-commerce company after its IPO, the Taobao unit agreed to pay 2.8 billion yuan ($458 million) for a 15 percent stake in Beijing Shiji Information Technology Co., a hotel management-system provider.
Last year, Alibaba made investments for undisclosed amounts in outbound travel site Qyer.com as well as online travelogue service 117go.com.
Alitrip will focus on mobile application services, allowing users to cancel previous bookings, reserve taxis, set up flight seat preferences. Alitrip will make mobile promotions after this year’s Nov. 11 sales promotion, including offering flight tickets for just one yuan, the company said.
Beijing Shiji Information Technology Co
Shiji Networks was established in 1995. Since then, the company has been working with hotels to setup their Local Area Networks for the installation of Front Office Systems. With the in depth knowledge of LAN technologies and experience in hotels' operation environments, Shiji has become the leading and preferred IT company in the hospitality industry.
In 1999, Shiji began its Research and Development on the internet/intranet technology to develop a full IP Hotel solution. An IP Hotel solution is a high-end IT solution for hotels that integrates multiple digital-based systems into one cabling infrastructure. Shiji believes that the IP Hotel concept would revolutionize the hotel operations and its operating systems.
In 2003, became the appoint Exclusive Agent for MICROS-Fidelio in The People Republic of China. The exclusive relationship between Micros-Fidelio and Shiji Information Technology will produce a joint product offering comprising of:
Hospitality Automation Systems by MICROS Systems Inc. including:
- Property Management Systems
- Sales & Catering Systems
- Material Management Systems
- Quality Control Systems
- Point of Sale Systems
- Table Management Systems
- Restaurant Enterprise Management Systems
- Financial Systems
- Interfaces to more than 500 third party systems
- Central solutions (Central Reservation Systems, Customer Information Systems, Web Self Suite including Web Booking, Profile Management, Web Services) Interfaces to more than 500 third party systems
- Product Distribution Systems (myfidelio.net)
Hospitality Automation solutions by Shiji Information Technology including:
- Hardware
- Cabling Design & Implementation
- Fixed Asset Management Systems
- Human Resources Management Systems
- Purchasing and Inventory management systems (for low to medium end hotels market)
- Broadband solutions
- Multimedia on Demand
- Broadband based Plasma/Liquid Crystal Display Information Distribution Systems
- Broadband based Digital Security Control and Surveillance Systems
- Internet Gateway and Billing System with two ways interface to Mircos PMS
- Voice over IP System solutions
Over the years, Shiji has become a System Integrator, System Service Provider and System Developer. Its core business remains in the hospitality and naturally, the product that it carries are targeted and suited for hotel environments. Shiji has serviced over 400 hotels thus far; amongst them are four to five stars hotels. Shiji has also been appointed as the preferred vendor for many International Hotel Groups like Grand Hyatt, Sheraton, Hilton, Shangri-la, Marriott, Peninsula and Accor etc.
In order to serve its customers better, Shiji has strategically set up various Branch Offices, Technical Centers and Research & Development Centers in Shanghai, Beihai, Shenzhen and Wuhan.
Shiji maintains a strict adherence to its Corporate Values that places its highest priority to its customers in terms of service, products and trustworthiness. Its Mission is to consistently surpass its standards of serving the business community, and playing the leading role in providing the IT solutions to its customer.
ヤフートラベルの垂直戦略
Yahoo!トラベルでは従来、宿泊予約事業者から提供を受けた宿泊施設情報を掲載し、予約成立ごとに手数料を徴収する“アフィリエイト型”のサービスを展開してきた。新戦略では、これに加え、宿泊予約事業者を介さずにヤフーと宿泊施設が直接契約を結んでYahoo!トラベルに掲載する直販ビジネスを導入する。
直販ビジネスでは、システム利用料が無料になるほか、初期費用や年・月額固定費もかからない。ただし、宿泊予約者に還元するTポイント(最低で5%、最大14%まで宿泊施設が自由に設定可能)の原資5%+ポイント手数料0.3%を宿泊施設が負担する必要がある。
このほか、Yahoo!トラベルから外部サイトへのリンクを解放。宿泊施設が自社サイトへのリンクを無料で掲載できるようになる。
直販ビジネスによる新掲載プランは26日より申し込みの受付を開始。今夏に予定しているYahoo!トラベルのリニューアルオープン時より新サービスを開始する。ヤフーでは宿泊施設を開拓する営業人員も増強する。
ヤフーは昨13年10月、「Yahoo!ショッピング」「ヤフオク!」のストア出店料を無料化するなどの“eコマース革命”施策を発表。これに続いて今回、“予約革命”を掲げ、宿泊施設のかかえる負担を軽減すべく、Yahoo!トラベルでの無料化施策を決定したとしている。