Yatra India To Go Offline With Reliance WebWorld Outlets From October

All consumer internet plays are talking of going offline in India. For instance, Shaadi.com has opened Shaadi point, brick-and-mortar outlets which will work as marriage broking bureaus. BharatMatrimony is also doing the same. Indiabulls.com, which started as an online trading portal, is now more of an offline broker. So small wonder, the travel portals are also trying the same trick (rather strategy).
For instance, Yatra India is finding synergy in Reliance Webworld outlets. In an interview to ExpressMoney, Yatra founder Dhruv Shringi says they are going to use the WebWorld outlets to sell tickets or hotel rooms, and collect cash. They will launch this service in 35-40 centres in Bangalore and Mumbai from October 1.
For Yatra, it really helps that Reliance is an investor in them. They are also promoting through CNBC TV18 which is a co-investor in Yatra alongwith Norwest and Reliance. Other travel portals do not have that advantage.
Going offline is the way to go in India if you are a consumer play. Because low credit card penetration is a big impediment in pushing the numbers in India.

Nikhil adds:
Yatra isn’t Reliance’s only signup for travel booking – Moneycontrol.com reports that Air Arabia, a low fare international carrier, has also signed up for bookings at 54 Reliance World outlets across Mumbai, Rajasthan, Nagpur and Kerala. Who’s next?

Comments have been disabled for this post