Webjet To Release Webmatch

Webjet today announced that it has completed technology development of WebMatch, which is an Australian travel industry first for online travel distribution and marketing.

Commenting Webjet Managing Director, David Clarke, said:

WebMatch is a unique proprietary development by Webjet. It is a concept which is designed to ultimately monetorise the search activity which is occurring within Webjet's travel service aggregator and relate that search activity by our customers to special targeted offers available from our airline trading partners, hotel suppliers and other product suppliers, in an interactive and intelligent manner. It essentially creates a targeted value proposition for our customers and for our suppliers, with special offers and unique marketing benefits can be related to the search activity of our customer base, including, video files, sound files and graphics.

WebMatch crosses the boundaries between inert internet selling, which is yesterday's model, into a transformational process whereby offers can be made on a predetermined basis in a controlled environment with the dual benefits of delivering substantial customer value and relevant information and at the same time, providing our suppliers with an opportunity to target special offers.

All intellectual property in the process is owned outright by Webjet and has been funded internally by Webjet.

In many ways, WebMatch completely demolishes the myth that internet selling is a passive medium and in fact, imposes a structured distribution message in a manner which is difficult to achieve in bricks and mortar travel agencies, where there are many layers involved in the customer interaction with the agency and many consultants often spread over many States with an amount of information that may be difficult to manage and process.

Webjet will shortly be rolling out demonstration packs and is currently in discussions with a number of its trading partners. We expect that commercial operation of WebMatch will be well in train before June 30.

We consider this to be a ground breaking development which has the capacity to generate an important marketing income stream for Webjet outside of traditional income earnings and indeed is supplementary to the Webjet model of service fees and identifiable and discrete values.