Thomas Cook, started from the bottom, now you're out
Thomas Cook was born in Melbourne in 1808 and organized his first train trip in 1841 between Leicester and Loughborough. However, since September, the company has been declared bankrupt. We will therefore analyze the personality of the brand, showing why it led to bankruptcy, including illustrating with mistakes made in the Brazilian market.
It may seem ironic given Thomas Cook's current situation, but in 1912, it was they who sold tickets for a famous crossing from Southampton to New York... The Titanic. This information is more anecdotal than useful because it has nothing to do with the current bankruptcy of the British tourism firm. Nevertheless, this allows us to introduce an important point which is the importance of Thomas Cook in the field of tourism for many years. The Titanic is a 150-million-dollar project, colossal at the time, and the fact that Thomas Cook was in charge of ticket sales shows the power of the firm already in the 20th century as shown by the first sale of airline tickets in 1919. As a result, during the 20th century the company was nationalized by the British state and then bought and sold... Many steps that do not contribute much to the understanding of the brand today.
It all really started in 2007, following its merger with "MyTravel" (at the time its competitor). Except that MyTravel was already in the red at the time of the merger. Then there was no adaptation to digital competition and even today. As a result, in 2011 the company loses 75% of its stock market value. Eight years later, without necessarily correcting its defects, in the first half of 2019, the company declared a loss of more than £1.5 billion before 23 September, the day the company was declared bankrupt. This bankruptcy causes the loss of 22,000 jobs worldwide and the repatriation of 600,000 tourists worldwide.
Like Kodak or Nokia in another sector, Thomas Cook suffered from his lack of adaptation. The company has 2600 branches worldwide, but this system is in decline, as Philippe Silberzahn, professor at EMLyon, says: "Thomas Cook was still successful twenty years ago. With their fully integrated offers, ready to be picked up in store, they could attract customers who were unable to plan their trips alone, which is no longer the case today. Like Nokia or Kodak, the company has been a victim of "Marketing Myopia", the concept refers to a marketing approach that focuses on the needs of a company and its products rather than on the needs and desires of its customers, as explained by Theodore Levitt, editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review. The fact that a method is profitable blinds the company to the real customer demand. People today do not need a planned trip from A to Z, as we see with the success of Airbnb, we only book accommodation that is available for all budgets, then we can take the plane ticket we want, for sure to have a cheaper one, and on the spot make a trip with a greater cultural immersion for a cost that will surely be lower.
Let's take the example of Brazil now, the system of organized travel from A to Z is very little developed, having a guide for everything there is to do is seen as a little "old school", except maybe for some trips like the Amazon forest or the desert of Lencois Maranhenses. Let's take the example of "Nova Brasil", one of the main travel agencies in Brazil. The company does not have an agency, everything is done online, and it offers hotel and planes reservations at the best price and according to the opinions of former travelers. It's a bit like TripAdvisor’s model. A system that Thomas Cook does not offer, or only offers a few (1 single stay at Club Med Rio De Janeiro), otherwise we can only do organized tours with rather high prices (prices ranging from 1700$ per person for 7 days to 4600$ per person for 13 days).
(Home page of Nova Brasil)
To conclude, the brand personality of Thomas Cook finally caused its loss, a too obsolete mode of distribution accompanied by an almost surprising lack of innovation finally caused the bankruptcy of the oldest tourist operator in history.
Paul Leterc
Sources:
-https://pagtour.info/thomas-cook-175-ans-dhistoire-et-dinnovation/
-https://www.marianne.net/economie/faillite-du-voyagiste-thomas-cook-face-au-numerique-le-syndrome-nokia-ou-kodak
-https://www.novabrasilturismo.com.br/
-https://www.statista.com/chart/19432/thomas-cook-share-price/
-https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/tourisme-les-raisons-de-la-faillite-de-thomas-cook
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