Alistair Rowland - Midcounties Co

Alistair Rowland
Group General Manager
Co-operative Travel Group
WHERE WERE WE A
YEAR AGO

35 Retail Shops

A ‘direct’ business function by Call Centre and
Home Based Agents

A strategic need to grow to achieve scale and
independence
AND NOW………..
 54 Retail shops and growing
 A significant on-line business
 130 home based specialists and growing
 A buying Consortium
THE IMPORTANCE OF TRAVEL
UK Coverage
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Turnover 2011/12
£104.2m
Turnover 2012/13
£171.6m
+64%
Budget 2013/14
Turnover £292.4m
HOW DID WE ACHIEVE IT?

Acquired 7 shops from the joint venture in May 2012

Launched Personal Travel Agents at Coop travel in April 2012

Acquired Kwik Travel in March 2012

Launched ‘The Coop Consortium’ in May 2012

Opened 4 trial branches branded ‘cooptravel.co.uk’ in 2012
Shrewsbury – September
Nottingham and Derby – October
Leamington Spa – November

Acquired 8 branches from ‘Travel Angels’ in the South West in Sept 2012
TRAVEL ANGELS BRANCH
TYPICAL CONSORTIUM BRANCH
ARE WE STAYING TRUE TO OUR STRATEGY?
Last year we said by 2015 we will be
 The UK’s leading Independent Travel Agent
 75 shops
 200 Personal Travel Agents
 Have a leading Travel Website, a site of choice
 30 Independent Agents trading through our Partnership Consortium
 An ‘Employer and Agent of Choice’ growing largely by referral, with
customer and colleague promotions
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE THOMAS COOK
AND CO-OPERATIVE TRAVEL JV
 The joint venture narrowed the Independent Sector by 10%
 Since October 2011, Thomas Cook have closed or plan to close 42% of
the Co-operative Travel and Midlands Co-op Travel Agencies
 The deal has been very challenging for Independent Operators and has
been given less choice for consumers
 The ‘Co-operative’ experience has become lost in a PLC’s ownership
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO US?

We have become Coop/Co-operative Travel

We now speak on behalf of the Independent Sector

We are multi Award winning
AND FOR THIS YEAR……
 Further growth
 We need to ‘own’ our own product
 We need to consolidate our systems
THE KEY STRATEGIC ISSUES
 10% margin doesn’t create sufficient profit
 Supply of Tour Operating product is narrowing

Google entering the market

Burdensome and complex EU legislation
Sheena Darby
Head of Personal Travel Agents
Homeworking at Midcounties
Today
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Homeworking – what, why and how?
The vision
The opportunity
Our 3 year plan
Successes so far
Meet our Personal Travel Agents
Homeworking – what, why and how?
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What is
homeworking?
Why have we started
a homeworking
business?
Individual travel
professionals
working from home
Self-employed
Own individual
businesses
focussing on
expertise
Highly skilled and
experienced
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A new channel to
market
Community
focussed
Low risk to the
society
High reward for the
Personal Travel
Agent
Excellent
endorsement of
Midcounties
customer focus
Market opportunity
How does it work?
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Individual, selfemployed travel
professionals work
from home
Own marketing to
attract customers
Truly personalised
service
Agent books –
administration
fulfilled by MCC
Commission split
between Agent and
MCC
Support is key
What do we want to be?
Our vision
To become the leading independent travel homeworking retailer in the UK.
Our mission - homeworker
To support travel entrepreneurs to build successful businesses through creating
an environment that is easy to do business in and easy to earn more in
Our mission - customer
To deliver unrivalled personal customer service to our customers and
members by providing unbiased and independent travel advice supported by the
best products and effective, leading-edge technology
Our opportunity
Creating a market leader
Us
Brand
Membership
Independent
ABTA
ATOL
Central leads
Individual
website
Portable
Technology
Three year plan
Year
Number of
homeworkers
Sales
2012
50
£9m
2013
100
£14m
2014
150
£20m
Jan 2012
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun/Jul
Aug
Aug/Sep
Oct
Nov/Dec
Jan 2013
Today
Work begins
Recruitment starts
Systems built and ready
Our first 6 PTA’s arrive!
10 more PTA’s arrive
10 more PTA’s arrive
First Homeworker Board
11 more PTA’s arrive
Six month anniversary!
Further 10 PTA’s joining
Year end profit 136% of
budget
80 PTA’s signed up
Meet some of our Personal Travel Agents
Thank You