On January 18, the topic "Fliggy was exposed that three people bought the same flight at different prices" became a hot search topic on Weibo. A passenger reported that when booking a flight on Fliggy, he found that the same flight showed hugely different prices. The passenger questioned the "big data trick". On the same day, Fliggy responded to Rongzhong Finance that it was trying to contact the customer in the video to verify the situation since January 17. It did not rule out that the agent’s price was incorrectly placed or the account in the video received a large coupon.
This is not the first time that Fliggy has been questioned about "big data killing". On the Black Cat Complaints Platform, the number of complaints about Fliggy has exceeded 71,000. In addition to the related doubts about "big data killing", it also involves large amounts of money. Issues such as refund fees, after-sales service, false promotions, incorrect goods, etc.
Ali Travel has gone through many organizational adjustments and changed coaches three times since it was renamed Fliggy in 2016. Nowadays, although the cultural travel industry has ushered in a new starting point, with the entry of other platforms, market competition has become increasingly fierce. How Fliggy can maintain its market share in the existing market is an issue that needs to be considered urgently.
The price difference between three mobile phones searching for the same flight at the same time is huge, and users question "big data to kill familiarity"
According to a video posted by @Lengnuan Video on Weibo, a netizen in Zhengzhou, Henan recently broke the news that when booking a flight on the Fliggy platform, he found that three people were using A mobile phone displays 3 prices for the same flight at the same time, and the differences are huge.
According to the video, when the passenger searched for China Southern Airlines flight cz6489 from Zhengzhou to Zhuhai on February 7, the prices displayed on the page on three mobile phones were 400 yuan, 481 yuan, and 1,330 yuan respectively. Among them, the one shown as 1,330 yuan is an Apple mobile phone,
In the comment area, some netizens questioned whether the price may be related to the mobile phone model; some netizens said that the more tickets you book, the more expensive it will be. Compared with the mobile phone model, "familiarity" is more serious. .
In the video, Fliggy customer service staff responded by saying that the random discounts for each passenger are different, and denied that the platform is "familiar". It is recommended that users compare the different accounts of family and friends and choose the best one. Order cheaply.
In response to this, Fliggy responded to Rongzhong Finance on January 18 that it was trying to contact the customer in the video to verify the situation from the 17th. It does not rule out that the agent’s price placement is wrong or the account in the video has received a large coupon. If consumers find price abnormalities, they can contact Fliggy as soon as possible.
According to Jiemian News, around 1:30 pm on January 18, after searching on two Apple phones and an Android phone at the same time, it was found that flight cz6489 on February 7 was displayed on one of the Apple phones. The price is 1,238 yuan, and the prices displayed on the Android phone and another Apple phone are both 1,308 yuan. The original price of the ticket was 1,330 yuan. The account with a price of 1,238 yuan enjoyed an instant discount of 70 yuan for China Southern Airlines members and a surprise discount of 22 yuan, while the account with a price of 1,308 yuan only enjoyed a surprise discount of 22 yuan.
At around 4:30 p.m., Rongzhong Finance searched for the flight again and found that the ticket price of the flight changed to 1,440 yuan on both the Android phone and the Apple phone, while on another Apple phone, it showed 1,418 yuan (including a surprise discount of 22 yuan). The price difference of several hundred yuan in the video did not appear.
In this regard, Fliggy’s official customer service told Rongzhong Finance that the “surprise special offers” are randomly distributed to users by the platform. The amount is variable and has nothing to do with the membership level. The final ticket price is subject to the page display.
The number of complaints to Fliggy has exceeded 70,000, and it has been questioned many times for "big data killing"
This is not the first time that Fliggy platform has been questioned for "big data killing". As early as March 2019, the Beijing Consumers Association issued a report stating that Fliggy had inconsistent prices for new and old users. In October 2020, the Zhejiang Provincial Consumer Protection Commission released an analysis of complaints received in the third quarter of that year. Fliggy was named on suspicion of "big data killing."
Fliggy also explained the price difference by citing reasons such as promotional red envelopes, discounts for newcomers, changes in hotel and flight inventory.
In recent years, many platforms have been questioned about "big data killing". As various departments attach importance to the protection of consumer rights and interests, relevant regulations and laws have also been introduced one after another.
As early as 2020, the "Interim Regulations on the Management of Online Tourism Operation Services" announced by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism made it clear that online tourism operators must not abuse big data analysis and other technical means to set up unfair transactions based on tourists' consumption records, travel preferences, etc. conditions and infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of tourists.
The previously announced E-Commerce Law also has relevant provisions. Article 18 points out that e-commerce operators that provide search results for goods or services to consumers based on their interests, hobbies, consumption habits and other characteristics shall also provide the consumer with search results. Provide consumers with options that are not specific to their personal characteristics, and respect and equally protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
However, there is still no clear determination of the specific violations of "big data killing". Chen Liteng, a life services e-commerce analyst at the e-commerce research center of NetEase, once analyzed that it is still difficult to collect and determine evidence for violations such as "big data killing", and the regulatory mechanism needs to be straightened out as soon as possible to allow the relevant regulations to be implemented smoothly; Consumers should also improve their awareness of self-prevention, save evidence in a timely manner, communicate with the platform to understand the situation, and initiate rights protection after confirming that their rights and interests have been damaged.
On the Black Cat Complaint Platform, there have been more than 70,000 complaints about Fliggy. According to user rights protection cases accepted by the online consumer dispute mediation platform "Diansuibao", Fliggy is also suspected of online fraud, high refund fees, after-sales service, false promotions, incorrect goods, information leakage, malicious fines, online counterfeit sales, Overlord clauses and other issues.
According to the effective complaints received by users in the digital life field in 2023 by "Dian Su Bao" (ranked based on the number of complaints), Fliggy ranked second, and the latest rating was "Place orders with caution".
On the Black Cat complaint platform, Rongzhong Finance found that there are also many users who complained about the large fluctuations in Fliggy ticket prices. This has become a common problem on the OTA platform. Some users said that it is difficult to find a ticket without surcharges on the OTA platform.
An unnamed ota platform user told Rongzhong Finance, “Now it takes a long time to find a price with no surcharge on these ota platforms. I just experienced that when I searched for air tickets on Ctrip in the morning, the price doubled in the afternoon. I went to book a flight on the same journey and found that the fare was indeed low, but it was difficult to find an option without surcharges. I clicked in to pay and was told that the seats were sold out."
Douyin, Xiaohongshu, etc. are focusing on online travel, and market competition has intensified. Where will the flying pig go?
In October 2014, Taobao Travel, launched by Alibaba in 2010, announced that it would be renamed "Alibaba Travel·Quaa". At the same time as the name was changed, Alibaba Travel became one of the business groups of Alibaba Group. Two years later, Alibaba Group announced that it would upgrade Alibaba Travel to a new brand called Fliggy, whose English name is fliggy. When
Fliggy was first born, it was a sector that Alibaba paid more attention to. Some even commented that it served as the vanguard of Alibaba Group's "new retail" and "connection at home and abroad" at the strategic level. Fliggy once occupied an important position in the OTA market and was one of the three OTA giants along with Ctrip and Qunar.
But since then, Fliggy has gone through many adjustments and changed coaches three times in four years. When Fliggy was first renamed, its first president was Li Shaohua (nicknamed "Kublai Khan"). In March 2018, Li Shaohua was transferred from Fliggy, and the second "head" was Zhao, the leader of Alibaba's globalization leadership group. Ying (nick name "Zhixue") temporarily took over; in June 2020, Fliggy carried out another round of organizational structure adjustments. Zhao Ying will no longer concurrently serve as the president of Fliggy. This position will be filled by the vice president of Alibaba Group, CTO of Alibaba Entertainment and Youku Coo Zhuang Zhuoran (nick name "Nantian") took over.
In July 2021, Alibaba will form the three major businesses based on geographical location services, namely AutoNavi, Local Life and Fliggy, into the life service sector, which will be managed by Yu Yongfu on behalf of the group and report to Zhang Yong. Half a year later, Zhuang Zhuoran issued an all-member letter announcing the launch of Fliggy’s organizational reform. Alibaba Group would provide Fliggy with greater space on the basis of injecting capital and strategic resources to promote a series of institutional changes that adapt to the characteristics of the tourism industry. This also means to a certain extent that Fliggy still relies on Ali for blood transfusions.
In 2023, the tourism industry will usher in a full recovery, and short video platforms have also spotted the opportunity and are trying to seize the opportunity to seize the cultural tourism track. Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and New Oriental are also making efforts.
Douyin has plans in this market as early as 2018, and it will increase its investment frequently in 2023. In March, Douyin Life Service launched a support policy for hotel and tourism businesses; in May, it launched the calendar room function; in June, it launched the wine and travel platform Promoting IP's "Have a Good Travel Festival"; in July, according to latepost reports, Douyin Life Service upgraded the wine and travel business to a first-level department under it, parallel to the in-store business. This shows the importance Douyin attaches to.
Xiaohongshu also established a tourism company in July 2022 called Puzhen Xiangli (Shanghai) Tourism Culture Co., Ltd. Tianyancha information shows that the company has a registered capital of 4 million yuan. In the same month, New Oriental announced that it would officially develop the cultural tourism industry. According to information from Tianyancha, Beijing New Oriental Cultural Tourism Co., Ltd. was established on July 19, 2023. The legal representative is Yu Minhong, and the registered capital is 1 billion yuan.
In Alibaba’s previous financial reports, there were relatively few mentions of Fliggy. The 2023 financial annual report shows that Fliggy’s revenue includes commissions from merchants, calculated as a certain proportion of Fliggy’s transaction volume; the quarterly results announcement for the end of September 2023 shows that for the quarter ending September 30, 2023, benefiting from domestic and With the strong recovery of international tourism demand, Fliggy's GMV has grown rapidly year-on-year. However, Alibaba has not announced the specific performance and market share of Fliggy in recent years.
Although platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu are still far behind traditional OTA platforms, the huge traffic and in-depth content layout behind these platforms cannot be underestimated. Since 2023, Alibaba Group has undergone major organizational changes, and for Fliggy, it is now facing a double-sided attack from the leading OTA platform and new entrants. Faced with the daily fierce competition environment, how to maintain its market share It's something he needs to think about urgently.
