Weekend retail sales figures contain some good news for
brick-and-mortar travel agents. While businesses across the board
are doing boffo box office this holiday season, on-line shopping
appears to be losing some steam as we move into December crunch
time.
Can mom-and-pop storefront-agency owners come up from their bomb
shelters to look for an Internet-free dawn? Get real. No, the news
here isn't the death of e-commerce, it's some hard evidence of
shoppers' commitment level: People trust the Web to a point, but
when push comes to shove, they want their business done in
person.
Agents can take two pieces of direction from this situation:
First off, trust is still an important enough factor in the
purchasing process to affect the delivery system buyers select, at
least when it comes to last-minute buys. For agents, that means
that travelers with 11th-hour needs are more likely to stick with
an agent than with a Web site.
Second, the almighty Web still has some kinks left in it and
buyers now have a sense of its shortcomings. That doesn't mean you
can afford to ignore the Internet. On the contrary, it means that
you are still in a good position to take advantage of it. Right
now, people want technology, but they need
people, and they know it. Give them both.