Estravel opens a travel goods e-store
Estravel, the largest travel agency in Estonia, is continuing to expand – in May, the company entered the tour operators market, announced its intention to buy a competing travel bureau and opened a travel goods e-store, reisikaubad.ee.
At the end of May, Estravel opened its reisikaubad.ee e-store, the goal of which is to offer a large selection of products necessary for travelling that can now be conveniently acquired from one place. Signe Kõiv, the manager of the Estonian E-commerce Association, welcomed the new member of the association and said that e-commerce has flourished in Estonia in recent years: “In 2017, retail sales by post or via the internet increased by 37%. A larger selection of goods and the simple purchasing process attracts consumers to buy from e-stores. Over 60% of our internet-users used e-channels to buy some goods last year.” According to Kõiv, the growth potential of e-commerce lies in the increase in the number of buyers as well as re-purchases and in growing the number of cross-border purchases.
At the opening of the e-store, Signe Kõiv said that travel and accommodation services were the most popular goods among Estonian people in 2017, according to Statistics Estonia: “This is a great starting point for the newly opened Estravel reisikaubad.ee e-store, which offers world travellers a place where they can buy necessary products for travelling quickly and conveniently in one go.”
Airi Ilisson-Cruz, Estravel marketing director, said that the travel goods e-store is most beneficial for Estravel Gold Card loyalty programme members: “Our Gold Card programme has 35,000 users who can now get discounts and earn bonuses for e-store purchases in addition to travel purchases.” The selection of reisikaubad.ee includes thousands of products necessary for travel, from suitcases to everything that you can pack into your luggage. “For example, our partners include electronics goods wholesaler Sandmani Grupp, Matkasport, luggage supplier Gasell, Rahva Raamat, Tradehouse and JOIK; our logistics partners are Boomerang and Omniva. In addition to travel goods, the e-store sells and allows users to redeem Estravel gift cards. It is planned to add the option of paying with Gold Card bonus points in the near future,” explained Ilisson-Cruz.
Estravel has been a member of the Estonian E-Commerce Association since February and the reisikaubad.ee e-store will soon receive the “Secure shopping” trust mark.
Estravel is the largest and oldest flight and hotel booking agency and travel bureau in the Baltic states, and it will celebrate its 30th anniversary this summer. The company has 16 representations in six different countries: Estonia, Latvian, Lithuania, Finland, Australia and the US. Estravel is 100% based on Estonian private capital and the company employs over 200 people. In 2017, the sales of Estravel group were over 90 million euros. In 2018, Estravel continues to expand and the company recently announced its intention to buy the travel bureau Mainor Meelis and enter the tour operators market.