Star Travel moves offline into 3C electronics stores

Star Travel Corp (燦星旅遊網), one of the nation's top three online travel agencies, is making the unusual move from the virtual world to the real one.

"Starting June 3, consumers can gain access to travel services and information not only on the Internet but also in our 143 3C outlets nationwide," said William Hsu (許盛信), executive committee chairman of Tsann Kuen Group (燦坤實業), which owns Star Travel and 3C, the nation's largest home appliance and consumer electronics retailer in terms of sales.

Hsu said tourism consultancy counters would be set up in 3C stores to provide booking services for plane tickets and tour packages.

"We'd like to offer one-stop shopping services for the public," Hsu added.

With the peak travel season approaching, Hsu estimated that the monthly revenues for Star Travel would jump from NT$200 million in April to NT$300 million a month during the summer.

Zoe Chen (陳昭安), Star Travel's marketing planning supervisor, said that her company was hoping to attract some of the 10 million people who visit Tsann Kuen's 3C stores per month. Star Travel has around 500,000 online customers a month already.

"This is two-way [marketing]. After those visiting the 3C outlets become familiar with our travel services, business transactions will increase for both 3C and the travel agency," she said.

Eztravel.com (易遊網), the nation's largest online travel service with 1.3 million members, was undaunted by its competitor's tactics.

"The new services Star Travel will launch are targeting the `offline' market, different from the `online' market we serve," said Victor Lin (林育德), marketing manager of Eztravel.com, which was established in January 2000.

He said these two markets do not overlap because Internet users would spend more time surfing Web sites to collect information and compare fares and packages provided by different travel companies, while non-Internet users prefer travel information prepared by service providers, such as traditional travel companies or the consultancy counters that will be set up in the 3C outlets.

Another major player, Lion Travel Service Co (雄獅旅行社), was optimistic about the competition.

With 14 branch offices nationwide and a Web site offering travel services, Lion Travel has also promoted its tour packages on an exclusive TV channel since January.

"Providing diversified methods to communicate with customers is the trend," said Yuki Lin (林軒醇) of the company's marketing section.