In order to ensure that every link can achieve the lowest cost, Li Mu requires travel companies from China and the United States to give themselves the lowest quotation on the market, and forcefully sign a price guarantee agreement, promising not to use their tourism resources at low prices. The price is at or equal to the price supplied to Makino Technology and supplied to other third-party companies.
In other words, Makino Technology’s resource agreement price must be the lowest.
At first, several American travel companies were still skeptical about this "overlord clause". Li Mu took some time to gather them for a meeting.
At the meeting, Li Mu consulted these companies on their current concerns and found that their biggest concern was that Taobao Qunar’s customer base was not large enough.
In their view, the number of customers is insufficient, and the market potential is naturally insufficient. If the lowest price is also promised, and if larger customers have objections to this, it will be very difficult to deal with.
The person in charge of the largest tourism service company in California said to Li Mu: "Mr. Li, we are willing to give Makino Technology a low enough service quotation, but you ask us to guarantee that we give Makino Technology the lowest quotation, and also ensure that other companies cannot be lower than or equal to this." The price point is indeed a bit harsh for us.”
Li Mu asked him back: "You can bring up what you think is harsh and we can negotiate."
The other party said: "We have fully studied the market status and prospects of tourism to the United States from first-tier cities in China. Although we also look forward to Chinese tourists bringing us huge revenue growth, according to our analysis, in a short period of time, the number of tourists from first-tier cities in China will The growth space of Mei Travel is not particularly large. If we give you the exclusive lowest price at this time, it will be very harmful to our other customers."
Li Mu said with a smile: "At this stage, both Americans and Chinese people traveling to China and the United States are relatively few, but it is precisely because of this that the future development space is very huge."
Speaking, Li Mu gave an example: "Look, this time we are nominally strengthening the tourism interaction between California and China's first-tier cities, that is, Yanjing, Shanghai, Yangcheng and Shenzhen. But do you know that besides the United States? The embassy in China is outside Yanjing, and there are American consulates general in Shanghai and Yangcheng. These two cities cover East China and the other covers South China. They are the most economically developed regions in China. It can be said that China is the richest. , the cities with the highest per capita income are all within their coverage, so do you really think this is just business in four cities and California?"
After a pause, Li Mu added: "Everyone is in the tourism industry and knows the basic elements of cross-border routes, especially the long voyage from China to the United States. It can be said that the routes are all hub-to-hub. Now I have got the lowest price on the market. For air ticket prices, I got the lowest hotel prices on the market. Now I am asking you for the lowest prices on other travel resources on the market. If you cooperate with me, the cost price of the travel products I develop will be far lower than the normal level. In addition, I don’t want to make money at all, I just add operating costs to the cost, and I don’t need to get an extra penny of profit. In this way, the price I give is the only ultra-low price on the market.”
“If I offer a seven-day tour from Los Angeles to Yanjing, the comprehensive price is several hundred dollars cheaper than other channels. I believe that people from other states around California will not hesitate to choose to start from Los Angeles and Phoenix, Arizona. Flying to Los Angeles only takes more than an hour and only costs a few dozen dollars.”
"If the price I offer is a thousand dollars cheaper than other channels, let alone the states around you, I believe that even New Yorkers on the East Coast will be willing to buy my service and spend a few hours to get there. One turnaround in Los Angeles, I’ve heard that flights from the east coast to the west coast are under a hundred dollars year-round.”
All the travel companies participating in the meeting fell silent. What Li Mu said was indeed very attractive to them.
Everyone has heard about the situation in China. At present, there are not many hub airports in China. Most of the hub airports for international flights are Yanjing, Shanghai, and Yangcheng. It can even be said that for now, there are absolutely no hubs. Most Chinese people who want to go to the United States have to go to one of these three airports from where they are, and then take an international flight to the United States.
This means that behind Li Mu's big plan, it covers not only the citizens of the four first-tier cities, but also the people of the whole country, or at least half of the country.
It is very likely that in the future, half of the Chinese people, when considering traveling to the United States, will consider purchasing a self-guided tour package from Taobao Qunar or join a group tour directly from Taobao Qunar, and then depart from these three first-tier cities. In this way, potential The number of customers has increased significantly.
In the United States, there are many hub airports, and they are relatively scattered. For example, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, etc. are all high-ranking large airports. In theory, from any of these hubs, there are Direct flights to Yanjing or Shanghai.
However, Americans fly as frequently as Chinese people take trains. They fly here and there. The more they fly, the more experience they have. Moreover, Americans travel mostly as backpackers and travel on a budget. They are very good at traveling. Americans are better at budgeting and using connecting flights to get cheaper travel than the Chinese.
The same goes for Yanjing. No matter whether most Americans depart from any of the above U.S. hub airports, when they realize that a special flight can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars at a time, it is difficult for them to resist this attraction.
Theoretically, if Li Mu can keep the overall cost from Los Angeles to Yanjing low enough, ordinary tourists from all over the United States who come to Yanjing may consider purchasing the Los Angeles to Yanjing package provided by Li Mu. In this way, he covers , far more than just California.
These travel companies had always believed that because Li Mu had a good relationship with Schwarzenegger, he helped Schwarzenegger achieve some political achievements and boost tourism revenue in California. However, they did not expect that Li Mu actually wanted to take advantage of the price advantage to bring California to California. Become a core hub for travel to China from all over the United States.
In this way, this matter will be more successful.
For these companies, it felt like a sudden enlightenment. In addition, Li Mu had unparalleled resources. After a little consideration, they agreed without hesitation.
So, Li Mu went to another city and obtained the cheapest tourism resources in California.
The resources of these travel companies cover a very wide range, including tour guides, translators, cars, restaurants, tickets, entertainment projects, and even shopping. The overall cost reduction of this part will allow Taobao Qunar to have greater operating space.
When the summit forum was about to close, Li Mu had already integrated all participating companies into the cooperation scope of Taobao Qunar, and at the same time obtained the lowest price in the industry.
The biggest attraction of Taobao Qunar to Chinese and American tourism-related companies is that it helps both parties find a new market for monetizing their resources.
Before this, American travel companies held a large amount of local tourism resources, but their main monetization targets came from the United States, Europe, Australia, Japan and South Korea. China has a population of 1.3 billion, and the number of people traveling to the United States every year is so small that it can be ignored. Now, , Taobao Qunar began to export more Chinese tourists to the United States, giving them another monetization group.
If this chain were reversed, it would also benefit Huaxia Tourism Company.
Whether it is the United States or China, the use of tourism resources is far from saturated, which means that both markets need more consumers.
However, for Li Mu, rather than letting Chinese tourists go out, he hopes to let overseas tourists come in. At the same time, he also hopes that they can publish the great rivers and mountains of China so that more overseas tourists can know about it.
In order to promote the rapid implementation of outbound tourism projects as soon as possible, Li Mu invited the CCTV documentary team to compile and produce documentaries on all famous scenic spots in China, and planned to put them on Twitter for promotion. CCTV also felt that this was a good opportunity for overseas people to have a deeper understanding of China. He agreed without hesitation, and Li Mu didn't even need to bear a penny of the production cost.
Later, Li Mu called together executives from Makino Technology and Taobao for a meeting to sort out the outbound travel service process.
First, at the same time, seek help from a headhunting company to quickly recruit a group of professionals in the tourism industry and form a complete tourism team to be fully responsible for the front, middle and last stages of the entire service.
The pre-sales stage includes the formulation of travel plans, customer docking, and helping users apply for visas, especially visa issues. It not only helps users prepare necessary materials and fills in necessary forms, but also organizes users to go to embassies and consulates for interviews to strive for maximum output. Signing rate;
The sales stage includes customer organization, collection, group dispatch, group following, translation, and coordination of travel resources between the two companies.
The after-sales stage includes customer return visits, satisfaction surveys, complaint handling and feedback;
Second, the coordination process of the entire business can be described in one sentence as Makino Technology sets up the stage and Taobao Qunar performs. All costs are linked to Makino Technology and the supply company, and then Taobao integrates sales and then settles with Makino Technology. Based on this principle, the formulation of different plans for tour groups and self-driving tours is completely decided by Taobao Qunar. They formulate the plans and then calculate the pricing.
Li Mu’s aim is not to make a penny in the early stage, just break even, subsidize users at the lowest price, and quickly develop the market. If user feedback is not too positive, part of the money can be used to subsidize users, such as a The cost of the travel plan is 8,000 yuan. Taobao Qunar can subsidize 1,000 yuan per person. If you spend a few hundred million on it first, you can make outbound travel popular, and you won’t have to worry about making money in the future;
Third, once the plan is formulated, it will be sold online on Taobao Qunar. YY and Weibo Twitter will immediately follow up the promotion and get on the right track as quickly as possible!
(End of chapter)