Beyond Lazada eCommerce: CTC Travel

In this episode of Beyond Lazada eCommerce, we talked to Mr Chen, the CEO of CTC Travel on the brand’s performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, its e-commerce journey, and how working with Lazada and their Key Account Manager had supported the shift online for the brand.

CTC Travel during COVID-19 pandemic

Established in 1990, CTC Travel is a comprehensive travel agency that provides a wide range of one-stop travel services.

One of the largest and most well-known travel agencies in Singapore, they organize tours that bring more than 50,000 tourists worldwide annually. The brand had also won the Singapore “Super Brand International Award” twice in 2004 and 2011, the ISO 9001 International Qualification Certification in 2010, and the “Singapore Gold Brand” Award in 2019.

With the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak drastically affecting the travel industry, we are curious how CTC Travel managed to navigate this challenging terrain.

“We had taken strict cost control measures during the pandemic to maintain CTC Travel’s credibility and service quality. Reducing our number of employees, we have also relocated our headquarters away from the city area,” Mr Chen shared.

Not only so, but CTC Travel also revamped its travel offerings during the pandemic. The brand jumped into promoting local travel in accordance with the government’s SingapoRediscover vouchers. “This allowed us once again to interact with both our old and new customers, supporting our business’ preparation for when the pandemic is over”

CTC Travel also took a leap of faith and expanded into the e-commerce sector during the pandemic. “During the pandemic when normal business procedures were suspended, CTC Travel made use of our website and open up a new channel for business – online shopping. To increase sales and better our customer service, we have a physical platform that unites online and offline, bringing the very best of what CTC Travel can offer to our customers,” Mr Chen said.

CTC Travel’s e-Commerce journey

The company took the time and effort to train their existing employees in handling online requests, livestreaming on their Facebook page, and ultimately, offering their travel packages on Lazada.

“As the borders open and leisure travel is made possible, we decided to explore how we can develop this portion of our business. Cooperating with Lazada, a well-known and popular e-commerce platform, allows CTC Travel to reach out to a wider audience and open another sales channel for us.”

However, going from traditional brick-and-mortar stores to having an e-commerce store can be daunting. “We definitely had worries when we first decide to come into the e-commerce scene,” Mr Chen confirmed. “With reduced manpower due to the pandemic, we were unsure if we could provide the quality service we are known for to our customers.”

Furthermore, CTC Travel’s client base consists of mainly the older crowd, and the brand was worried “if our products would do well on Lazada, an e-commerce platform that is used mainly by younger people.”

Thankfully, with the help of product positioning, CTC Travel found a sweet spot in offering cruise packages on Lazada, which “are shorter and cheaper, and their activities on the ship are free-and-easy, making it a hit among the younger crowd.” Lazada also quickly became the travel agency’s marketing and promotional tool, helping it to reach out to a different demographic.

“Most importantly, we worked closely with Lazada and participate in the platform’s campaigns. We also managed to upload our promotional products in a timely manner, answered customers’ enquiries promptly, and provide a good before-and-after sales service.”

Working with Key Account Manager

Working closely with the brand’s Key Account Manager, Desmond, has also been an important part of CTC Travel’s e-commerce journey as the brand can stay on top of all the different sales mechanics and events that Lazada has for our sellers. “Seasonal campaigns such as the monthly online promotions can bring in sales as Lazada’s shoppers will tend to do their purchases on such dates. Mega Campaigns, when bundled with various vouchers, worked the best in helping CTC Travel reach our sales objectives!”

This is echoed by Desmond, who shared that he had helped Lazada adopt the different platform tools and mechanics during the mega campaigns. Together, they created “trendy travel packages with attractive discounts to drive conversion.”

“With all the various campaign touchpoints, it helps to drive brand and product awareness, reaching out and recruiting more new customers. Especially with the Lazada technology, it has allowed CTC Travel to start selling in the digital space easily,” Desmond said.

For CTC Travel, Desmond also shared that offering “new promotion mechanics such as cashback vouchers and a store membership program to reward customers when they shop with us” are initiatives that the brand has taken to raise awareness of their e-commerce store.

It is gratifying to know that CTC Travel managed to achieve its targets and reach a wider spectrum of customers by making full use of available tools and resources on Lazada. We hope everyone had picked up some tips from CTC Travel through this new episode and don’t forget to tune in to our next episode of “Beyond Lazada Ecommerce” as we have many more seller stories to uncover!