This travel startup has proved that the age is no barrier for the success of a startup. EaseMyTrip is the creation two determined youth who were keen to save on the journey of their family members in order to impress them. Both were quite young (Nishant was in 1st year of college and Rikant was in high school) that time. They ended up saving a certain amount that made them famous in the family as well as family friends. This is how; they started making good pocket money by taking some commissions on booking flight tickets for them. This was not sufficient for the ambitious sons of Mr. Anil Pitti. The seeds of entrepreneurship that they inherited from his father started budding from that time. They co-founded a travel agency and started booking air tickets and selling tour packages through various ground-breaking marketing strategies. Their uphill struggles and commitment took this agency towards constant growth. Later on, it was rebranded as EaseMyTrip.com.
Establishment & Growth
Started a journey 8 years back in the year 2008, Pitti brothers (Nishant Pitti and Rikant Pitti) founded a travel company called Easy Trip Planners Pvt. Ltd. (EaseMyTrip.com) on being conned by their travel agent. Presently, it is one the best Online-Travel-Agents of India that offers cheap Air Tickets (domestic & international), Hotels (around the globe) and Holiday Packages (tailor made tours or fixed departure packages), Inbound Tourism, Corporate Travel Solutions and a lot more. The foundation and growth of Easy Trip Planners appears like a business fantasy to all who comes to know about it. How many times this happens that two young brothers thought of saving on the travel cost of their dad and ended up establishing a multi-crores business empire. Not just the foundation of EaseMyTrip is awe-inspiring but its growth and expansion shows that if you are hardworking and dedicated, no obstacle can block your way.
Presently, EaseMyTrip.com has a huge B2B network of 50,000 Travel agents, 1200 Franchise Outlets, 1800 Corporate, 1600 Distributors and 640 Whitelabel solutions. Apart from this, the company also has more than 2 millions direct customers (B2C). The amazing fact is that the company started its operations in India with a very small team of 4 members and expanded it with time. Now, EaseMyTrip is a team of more than 500 employees sitting at its head office in Patparganj Industrial Area, New Delhi. With main aspiration to provide the customers best value products and services, Pitti brothers have made travel booking convenient and affordable. Apart from its offices in India, EaseMyTrip has also its overseas branches in Thailand, Dubai, Singapore and Maldives.
The Challenges & Actions
After the foundation of the company, the biggest challenge that they faced was their age as agents were not taking them seriously. It was really difficult for them to come into business with kids of 17 and 19 years. However, they convinced them and added up to 80 agents within 6 months for doing business. Nishant and Rikant tied up with several airlines and started selling their tickets. Another challenge was the rising competition in the travel business market. All other online travel agents were coming up with the same idea of offering memorable holidays. The survival of the business became difficult they reduced commissions and made flight tickets and packages more affordable for their customers. This is how; Pitti bothers not only survived but also grabbed their market and took the company where it is at present.
Awards & Recognition
Post survival and growth of the company, EaseMyTrip.com has been awarded with several prestigious awards and recognitions due to the extraordinary vigilance of its founding directors and dedicated team as well.
Year Name of the Award Awarded by
- 2010 Franchisor of the Year Franchise Awards
- September, 2010 Best Performer for the Month GoAir
- 2013 Certificate of Excellence Inc. India 500 Awards
- 2013 Best Online Travel Company of the Year Business Leadership Awards
- 2014 Best Online Travel Agency India Travel Awards
- 2014 Leisure & Travel eRetailer of the Year Industry Eminence Awards
- 2014 Most Outstanding Online Company-B2B Travel & Tourism Awards by TnH magazine
- 2015 Most Promising Brand for Travel & Tourism in India Business Leaders Awards
Target Audience to Potential Customers
The booming travel industry of India is also witnessing high level of competitions in the market. The growing population of the middle class is the target audience of EaseMyTrip. It is not so difficult to know your target audience but fulfilling their demands and turning them into its potential customers is really not easy. One easily finds out that what the trends of an industry are but capitalizing on that information is tough. Today, travelers are very much aware about each vertical of travel industry. So, EaseMyTrip makes that extra effort to satisfy their travel needs. The company has 20-25 thousands daily unique visitors, out of which 30-40% turns to be its regular customers due to the excellent services of EaseMyTrip. The well-trained staff seating at its call centers and travel experts take care of the requirements of the customers.
Marketing & Promotions
EaseMyTrip, as a leading player of the Indian travel and tourism Industry, is using different options for the promotions and branding of the company. It is advertising through leading newspapers, popular travel magazines, television advertisements and e-mailers and flyers. One can also find the global presence of EaseMyTrip through web as it is available on all social networking sites, Youtube and Google adwords. The company also partnered some media campaigns for the brand promotion of EaseMyTrip.
EaseMyTrip with Bollywood
Along with various promotional campaigns, EaseMyTrip also associated with Bollywood to gain brand recognition. It became travel partners or promotion partners of various films like Houseful-2, Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana, Khiladi 786, Matru Ki Bijlee ka Mandola, R…Rajkumar, Ek Paheli Leela, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai Dobara and many others. Nishant Pitti, CEO, EaseMyTrip also became co-producer of the upcoming Bollywood thriller ‘Madaari’ starring Irrfan Khan and Jimmy Shergil. The film is scheduled to be released on 15th July, 2016.