EaseMyTrip Enters Offline Space With ‘EaseMyTrip Franchise’

Delhi NCR-based travel tech unicorn EaseMyTrip has entered into the offline retail space with the opening of its flagship brand ‘EaseMyTrip Franchise’.

With this, EaseMyTrip is tapping into a new set of offline consumers (walk-in customers) that will enable the startup to expand its reach further offering in-store experience. 

At the time of this announcement, EaseMyTrip’s shares were trading at INR 54.09 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as of 23rd January, 1.06 PM.  

Explaining the franchise model, EaseMyTrip said that its franchise approach will offer a commission structure on all transactions and bookings. It will also have a 24X7 dedicated support center to resolve queries and provide live training on products, operational break-even and business growth for three to four months. 

Further, the franchise model will offer regular marketing, credit support and lead generation support to franchisees to scale their businesses.

“EaseMyTrip franchise model is born with a simple idea of catering to different sets of customers who like to be assisted face-to-face and are not internet savvy. With the EaseMyTrip Franchise, our focus is to provide a meet-and-greet experience. This will help the brand with trust and brand building through offline personnel support and demonstrations of products and services to customers,” said Rikant Pittie, cofounder of EaseMyTrip. 

EaseMyTrip Franchise will offer travel solutions including flight booking, group fares, hotels, holidays, IRCTC (rail booking), cabs, buses, cruises, charters, and visas. 

As shared by EaseMyTrip, to become an EaseMyTrip franchisee, a person needs to have a network of high-net worth individuals (HNIs), societies and associations. He also needs to have an ability to generate a considerable amount of footfall at the retail outlet. 

Other pre-requirements for a franchisee include knowledge about the travel vertical, sales and customer services.

Founded in 2008 by Pittie, Nishant Pitti and Prashant Pitti, the unicorn offers travel solutions such as air tickets, hotels and holiday packages, rail and bus tickets, and ancillary value-added services. It has offices in India, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the UAE, the UK, the USA, New Zealand and London. 

The startup said that it provides users an access to more than 400 international and domestic airlines and over 2 Mn hotels as well as train/bus tickets and taxi rentals in India.

EaseMyTrip claims to have a customer base of more than 11 Mn and manages a network of over 61,000 travel agents. It asserted that it has a 98.4% booking success rate and is profitable since its inception. 

It competes with the likes of Travel Triangle and MakeMyTrip, among others.

The development comes almost a month after it acquired a 75% stake in aviation asset financing and leasing firm Nutana Aviation Capital IFSC. 

In the second quarter of FY2023, its net profit soared by 4% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 28.2 Cr. Meanwhile, its operating revenue and Gross Booking Revenue (GBR) grew by 120.09% to INR 1,977.7 Cr in Q2 FY23 against INR 895.1 Cr in the corresponding quarter last year.

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