Cleartrip says mobile app traffic overtakes website

Traffic through the app now contributes 48% in mobile business, says the online travel portal

Online travel portal Cleartrip says its Android app is the leading provider of traffic, contributing 48 per cent in the mobile business segment during the July-September quarter.

Apps created for other mobile operating systems such as Windows and Apple’s iOS have a share of four and 15 per cent, respectively.

During the quarter, mobile traffic touched 59 per cent of its total traffic that includes searches on desktop. Transactions from mobile traffic grew steadily to become nearly half of the flight and hotel bookings business, it said.

“Cleartrip’s mobile traffic crossed the 60 per cent mark last quarter, an impressive 25 per cent quarter on quarter growth in our air plus hotel transactions. The total transactions on Cleartrip Mobile are now nearing 50 per cent,” Subramanya Sharma, chief marketing officer, wrote on the company website..  

According to Cleartrip’s Mobile Insight report, the portal earns 46 per cent of revenue from mobile sites and applications.

In terms of business segments, there was 17 per cent growth in air transactions and hotel transactions saw 41 per cent growth.

Cleartrip competes with MakeMyTrip, the leading online travel portal. During the previous festival season, the latter decided to offer packages only through its app, taking a leaf from online commerce portals such as Flipkart. In an investor update report last month, MakeMyTrip said mobile searches were 51 per cent of its total traffic, though only 47 per cent of business came from the segment.

The Mobile Insight report also highlighted the specific mobile brands contributing to this.

Samsung smartphones accounted for 26 per cent of mobile traffic coming to Cleartrip, followed by Apple with 21 per cent, Micromax with 7 per cent, and Google, Motorola and Sony with four per cent each.  HTC and Lenovo contributed to three per cent traffic share in the mobile business, Cleartrip said.