Cleartrip expects mobile to drive 80% traffic

Presently, 40% of company's transactions take place on mobile at an average transaction size of Rs 8,000

Online travel agent (OTA) Cleartrip is expecting mobile to drive around 80 per of its traffic in the next 18 to 24 months, from the present 54 per cent, according to its chief marketing officer Subramanya Sharma.

At present, 40 per cent of the company’s transactions is taking place on mobile, at an average transaction size of Rs 8,000, with the life time value of mobile customer being above 50 per cent.

“We are positioning ourselves as the number one OTA company in the country. The proliferation of sub-Rs 10,000 smartphones and the app explosion are key drivers for enabling this mobile ecosystem,” he told mediapersons here on Tuesday.

The eight-year-old company, with revenues of over $800 million and presence in seven countries, has over 100 million visitors, with 70 per cent of them being repeat customers. The OTA player sees more than three million bookings annually.

On Hyderabad as a proportion of India for Cleartrip, Sharma said the city contributed 6.9 per cent to the company's air transactions, 3.4 per cent to hotels transactions and 5.8 per cent to the overall traffic.

"Hyderabadis travel more at the last minute Vs the rest of the country. Immediate purchase behaviour is far higher here," he said, adding that air bookings on mobile for Hyderabad saw a 192% year-on-year growth while it was 903% for hotel bookings on mobile.