Parikshit Choudhury on innovation and growth

Now, Parikshit, you've been in every single division practically of Make My Trip, right? You've built whole parts of that business almost kind of single-handedly. So you're the right man to ask about the evolution of the brand. But of course, at the moment, we're filled with cricket fever. An epic festival of cricket is coming our way. Start us off, will you, by telling us how you're using cricket and your consumers' connections to cricket to juice up your brand? You know, thanks for that. But Jasper, nothing is built alone. So it's always a team effort. So it's, I think, a great team led by Deep and Rajesh and happy to be a part of this ecosystem for the last 10 years. So coming, jumping quickly into cricket, I think what we are trying to do is

put the consumer at the center stage. So the fans are the consumers and they are at the center stage as far as the upcoming cricket festival is concerned. And, you know, there is an evolving trend in India where people are looking post-COVID into looking into things like privacy and flexibility. These are two of the primary reasons why people are looking at alternative accommodation, which is homestays, villas, as places to stay. And what we are trying to do is that after a cricket match, if you're a fan and you're traveling in a group, right, so you can you get into a place which offers you time to unwind before you go into the next match? Can you pick up breakfast at 12 PM, right? And kind of look at that as an option.

So flexibility is at the core and we are putting the fans at the center stage. So that's very interesting. So on one level, you're, you know, you're a travel services aggregator, but actually you're tapping into the kind of emotional need state of the cricket fan before and after the game, right? That is correct. And the other interesting thing, I just kind of kind of a segue is in India, the other interesting thing is pricing, right? when you're traveling in a group, right, and you are looking at per person price, then homestays and villas offer you that. So if you can kind of look at that as an option and then it kind of really pays on well. So that's what we what we are trying to do, Jasper. That's very interesting. So you're jumping

between, you know, single consumer and group consumer marketing. Let's go back a bit to COVID, Parakshit. Terrible time, body blow for Make My Trip. But how did you as a marketeer turn that crisis to your advantage? I think those were the darkest days of the travel ecosystem. And I think Make My Trip's core belief of staying with the consumer actually helped us. We did see Jasper, our revenues plummet to zero, actually zero, right. And from there building the business brick by brick was obviously a lot of team effort and grit. But what we did at that point in time, which was very interesting is keep the conversation alive as far as the consumer is concerned. At that point in time, the consumer needed to know what are the COVID guidelines?

What are the restrictions? How can he or she travel? And not essentially look at buying and booking on Make My Trip. So we kind of changed our marketing communication more towards conversation, keeping people abreast on the upcoming travel guidelines and how things are changing. And we were using a lot of CRM communication to keep people abreast. So what we did was a constant communication with the consumer. And that kind of helped us to stay relevant. Well, again, it's interesting, right, because you're a functional brand on one level, but actually this emotional connection. So while everyone's hiding, you're not hiding. Right, that's very interesting. So let's move on, right. So we know about customer centricity,

okay, and the cricket fan doing that the homestays a version of that, that. But what are you doing to make the brand a utility for people? Tell us about this idea of, and this new product of effectively renting your home out. Perhaps I can rent my home out. Oh, yeah, for sure. You should rent and Make My Trip. Essentially, when you look at brands, right, like Make My Trip, it's a marketplace. And there are two sides. Sometimes we are over focused on the consumer side, but there is a supply side as well. And they are equally your consumers. So in India, the affluent Indian ecosystem, there's a trend of picking up second homes in leisure destinations. And that's what we are trying to tap into, right. So through our effort,

where we are saying that you only travel to your second home, maybe once in a year. So 15 days when you're kind of occupying your second home, rest of the time, the home is lying vacant. So why don't you put it up for short term rental, where we would allow like minded travelers to come and stay at your place, experience your home, and you make some, you know, incremental money to kind of upkeep of to kind of keep the home up up to date. So that's what we are trying to do. And we are kind of aggregating a lot of second homes. That's a hugely fragmented market. And we if you have a second home, why don't you come and try Make My Trip? Well, I think I'll be in contact with you afterwards. And for our panel here, Sumit, would you would you take this up?

What do you think about this idea of stretching a brand from being a functional consumer centric offer to being a utility? Does that grab you? Absolutely. I think it's a brilliant idea. And it's a great thing to do because a lot of those, you know, a lot of those second home owners, for example, would also be customers of Make My Trip and would have used Make My Trip many of, you know, many a times, I'm assuming, you know, and I think it works well. Also, it's a nice virtuous cycle. Well, and it's becoming it's a bit, you know, we talk to Prashant about the, you know, the ecosystem and the life cycle, you're sort of going from the buy side of the life cycle to the sell side, right? It's a really interesting idea.

E.T., are you are you teeing up to rent your second home to to the Make My Trip fellows? Oh, I think, in fact, very, very recently this weekend, I was staying in one of the cottages in a, you know, a hill station called Nany Dal. Yeah, it's around. And of course, it was also led by one of the, friend's, you know, friend who's was owning it. So I think these are testimonials and definitely the future is where the comfort is. And I believe, you know, stretching this ecosystem and expanding it further is a great idea, I must say. And it would help travelers like us, whether it's a last moment, you know, traveling schedule or, you know, a planned one. Definitely, I see a lot of opportunity that lies in this.

Well, this is working out well, Parikshit, because you're sharing your wisdom and gaining customers. Yeah, I'm so glad that I've got gained some interesting consumers for Make My Trip. Well, absolutely. And we'll get to Sai in a minute, but you, you, you can probably get your insurance from, from Policy Bazaar to make, make sure that your second home is, is insured. Parikshit, you've been a fantastic guest. Thank you so much for coming on Trailblazers. I'm so glad you're here.