Subject: Marketing Strategy Case Study: RedBus

MARKET CONTEXT
According to a study by IAMAI and KPMG, there are 305 million internet users in India (Q3,
2014). 52% of these internet users access internet from a mobile device. The eCommerce
industry in India is valued at USD 13.5 bn and is projected to grow at a rate of 35% over 2014.
According to a recent Assocham-PwC study, 40 million people purchased something online in
2014. Currently the online travel industry comprises 61% of the total eCommerce market.
It is observed that consumers shopping through mobile apps are loyal and less likely to switch
brands. The focus of the eCommerce industry is towards encouraging app downloads. The bus
booking industry in India is unorganized and highly fragmented. The overall size of bus ticketing
industry in India (both offline and online) is about 20,000 crore. Currently about 14% of the
tickets in the industry are sold online. Approximately 10% of the bus operators have a fleet size
greater than 75 each and 25% of the bus operators have a fleet size between 20 to 75 buses
each.
RedBus commands a market share of approximately 75% in the online bus booking market. The
other players in the market are Makemytrip, Goibibo, PayTM, Yatra and regional players like
Abhibus, Ticketgoose etc. The industry is relatively mature in South and West India followed by
North and East India respectively. There are three main stakeholders in the industry with respect
to an Online Travel Aggregator (OTA) - consumers, bus operators and agents.
ABOUT REDBUS
redBus.in was founded in 2006 and it became a part of the ibibo Group in 2013 via a 100%
acquisition. redBus.in is India's number one online bus ticketing platform both on mobile as well
as desktop.
The business owns three products - redBus™, BOGDS™ and SeatSeller™ serving the fragmented
bus industry in India.
• redBus™ is the consumer-facing travel brand, enabling customers to buy tickets on the
internet and on the mobile.
• BOGDS™ is a cloud solution built for bus operators. Thousands of bus operators in India
use this platform.
• SeatSeller™ is GDS for bus inventory distribution.

Over 10,000 retail agents and 100+ corporates including the OTAs use SeatSeller to sell bus
tickets to their customers. redBus has been awarded the 'mBillionth South Asia' award and the
'Global Mobile Innovation in Travel Award' by Eyefortravel in March, 2014.

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Subject: Marketing Strategy Case Study: RedBus

It also won the Business Standard Annual Award for 'The Most Innovative Company of 2013'.
redBus.in has been rated the most trusted brand in the online travel category and is the 13th
most trusted internet brand in the overall rankings as per the recent 'The Brand Trust Report,
India Study 2015'. Tool

THE CHALLENGE
With over 2000 bus operators and 80,000 routes redBus has revolutionized the online bus-
ticketing industry in India. The redBus' mobile application download has crossed the 4 million
mark and the company has crossed more than 40 million bus tickets overall. redBus's core TG is
between the age group of 18-40 years old. Of the total seats booked daily on redBus, only 20%
are booked by female travelers. Of the 20% female travelers who book with redBus, 44% are
single travelers and 39% travel with one companion. Among the women who travel with one
companion, 70% travel with a male companion.
Given that the online market is still underpenetrated, we believe that women travelers are key
drivers in the future growth of the category.
RedBus offers the following key product features
• Track My Bus: Customers can track the bus they are
scheduled to board on a map through the mobile app. This
helps them plan when to leave for the boarding point. The
customers can also add emergency contact while booking
the ticket. This enables the emergency contact to also track
the bus in real time. This is especially helpful in case of
female travelers. This enables their near and dear ones to
track their bus and plan pick up/ drop at the bus stop.
• Seat Selection: This feature helps customers choose a seat
of their choice. The vacant seats next to female passengers
are reserved to be booked by female passengers only.

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Subject: Marketing Strategy Case Study: RedBus

• Smart Boarding Points / Dropping Points: Based on their location and intended
destination, the app suggests the nearest boarding/dropping points on a map.
• Ratings and Recommendations: redBus has one of the largest repositories of customer
reviews and ratings of bus services. This helps customers in choosing the buses while
booking. This also helps in maintaining the quality of customer experience.

OBJECTIVE
• How can redBus increase the contribution from female travelers in terms of number of
travelers?
• We intend to increase the contribution of women travelers to 40% over the next one year.
This increase should happen without cannibalization of the male travelers.
• Marketing plan and success metrics - How would you target your chosen female customer
segments?
Research Thinking
• Understanding the female travelers of India.
o Who are the different female travelers currently in India?
o What are the key things they look for while choosing their mode of travel?

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Subject: Marketing Strategy Case Study: RedBus

o How do they plan this travel?

o What are the key triggers/barriers that female consumers face when booking
tickets online?
• What are the category dynamics of travel - How female perceive bus travel vs train travel,
for instance?

Annexe I

Rashmi Bachani started this petition to CEO, redBus Prakash Sangam

Reference : https://www.change.org
I was molested by a bus driver. Apparently a girl sleeping alone on a single berth equals easy
prey, and the driver felt I was up for “grabs”, so to speak. As a girl travelling alone - how often
have you experienced it - creeps in the bus who stare at you? Drivers who eye you like a piece
of candy? No proper toilet to go in? Not everyone can afford travelling by flight, there isn’t always
a train seat available. Bus is often the most common means of travel, and due to lack of options,
we conveniently ignore ratings & reviews of buses & book the one that best meets our time /
budget.
Whilst there are limited actions anyone can take to avoid creepy co-passengers, the least we can
expect is a decent service by the bus operator themselves. I wrecked my mind over what would
make me feel safer travelling by bus again, reached out to redBus with my suggestions, since
they are the most preferred bus booking website, however the best I got was a response saying
“Thank you for your suggestions, we will attempt to implement the same”. This was a couple of
months ago. Since then, I haven’t seen any of the changes I asked for implemented.

We need a more transparent bus system. The drivers, staff, owner should know that they are
accountable & responsiblefor the passengers travelling in the bus. We don’t expect 5-star (or
even 3-star) treatment for a bus journey costing Rs. 800 - 1000/-, however we can expect basic
facilities & respect, considering we are spending 12 - 14 hours of our lives in their care.

I’m hereby appealing to redBus to take a stand in this matter & take passenger safety as their
top concern, and here are the action points I would like to see implemented:

Drivers:
1. Background Verification of Drivers & all staff should be mandatory for listing on
redBus
2. List of Drivers, Staff with photo & employee id on the redBus website
3. Ratings of the Driver & Staff

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Subject: Marketing Strategy Case Study: RedBus

4. Stops taken by the bus for food, breakfast etc

5. Orientation whilst Hiring - with the penalties for all misbehaviour clearly spelled
out - this includes Drinking whilst driving, stealing from passengers,
Misbehaving, Sexual Harassment, Refusal to stop at bus stops, etc.
Before Travel:
1. Employee ID, Name, Photo (of driver, helper) clearly indicated on the bus tickets,
and available on the redBus App
2. The places & approx time the bus would be stopping
3. An immediate & responsive emergency complaint system on the redBus App
During Travel:
1. Phone Numbers in the Bus - clearly visible to all passengers - stating “In case of
emergency / complaints, call this number”
2. List of complaints that the passengers are invited to raise - Rash Driving, Drunk
Driving, Misbehaviour, Harassment including Sexual Harassment - this indicates
that the complaint will be taken seriously and the numbers are not there for
formality only, which often get ignored.
After Travel:
1. On website, a complaints resolution system that is continuously monitored &
invites people to talk about their issues - enumerating things that will indeed
be addressed.
2. A phone number to call in case of any harassment issues such as mine
Our current means for dealing with sexual harassment is to keep it quiet and get the least number
of people involved (preferably none). Alternatively, to physically assault the offender and walk
away with the belief that “I did my part, that pervert will never look at another woman again”. If
the providers / aggregators can acknowledge that stuff like this does happen and put in place
measures for preventing & dealing with defaulters, it would be one step towards a safer travel,
and avoid the problem altogether.
I believe that redBus cannot wash their hands clean by saying “it is the responsibility of the bus
operator” and leave it at that - at this rate its just a few months before we have a rape case. Why
put passengers in the situation when it can be avoided by simple steps?
If the railways can adopt instant complaint resolutions through Twitter / SMS - why can't a tech-
focussed startup do the same?
Reference:
https://www.redbus.in
https://www.change.org

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