Junhua Mei, CEO of Chinese online weekend travel startup Tripzm has 7 years of working experience in the travel industry. He was with Ctrip for 3 years and LY.com for 4 years before launching his own startup in May this year. He has teamed up with 3 coworkers from LY.com to form Tripzm. In June the startup received a US$ 5 million angel investment
As to why he has chosen the weekend travel niche, Junhua Mei says, “China’s online travel business still is in its early stage and has plenty of room for growth. By 2011 the online travel market in the USA had already achieved over a 70% penetration rate. In contrast, the online travel market in China is only estimated to have a little over a 15% penetration rate”.
Tripzm has three main services: Travel Products, Local Lifestyle Service Products, and Added-Value Weekend Social Products. Added-Value Weekend Social Products mean customers can take advantage of group-buy deals and interact with each other.
Junhua Mei feels that Tripzm stands out from other companies offering group-buy travel deals. He says, “Most group-buy services only satisfy the needs of customers for simple standardized products but Tripzm can also meet the scheduling demands of customers. Tripzm’s goal is to prolong the user’s consumer lifespan. We offer a wide range of products so that any customer with an income range of 3,000- 30,000 RMB can find an offer that fits their needs”.
Currently, almost 95% of Tripzm’s offers are products related to weekend getaways. With the introduction of Local Lifestyle Products this ratio is expected to drop as Tripzm’s products diversify. The majority of Tripzm’s offers are concentrated in the cities in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions. In the end of October Tripzm will release a new product line in Beijing focusing on hotels with hot spring spas.
Tripzm’s products went online on the 7th of October. They now have over 10 thousand members. Customers spend an average of 500-800 RMB per person. The business model for most of their products is to do outright purchases and make a profit on the margin at resale. Tripzm started with only staff of 10 and has now grown to a staff of 30.(Translation by David)
