Page 12 - aruba-today-20221103

A12 BUSINESS
Thursday 3 November 2022
Why booking travel on your phone is a

bad idea

By SAM KEMMIS of Nerd-
Wallet undefined
Since the first iPhone
launched 15 years ago,
consumer shopping habits
have slowly but relentlessly
shifted toward mobile de-
vices. According to a sur-
vey of 3,250 U.S. consumers
from Pymnts.com, a web-
site dedicated to analyz-
ing the role of payments
in new tech, the majority
of travel service purchases
(51.4%) were made on a
mobile device in February
2022. fees alone in 2021, accord- price had risen.
The trend is even starker ing to the Bureau of Trans- "Consumers perceive high
among younger shoppers. portation Statistics. search costs associated
About 48% of millennials However, a 2021 study in with starting their decision
ages 25-40 prefer using the journal Marketing Sci- process over, and they
mobile phones for online ence found that shoppers think they will save less
shopping, compared with tend to make suboptimal money than they actually
only 34% of all shoppers decisions under these "drip will," Santana said.
globally, according to a pricing" situations, that Basically, shoppers tend to
2021 survey of 13,000 shop- is, when hidden fees are get to the final checkout
pers from Klarna, an online tacked on throughout the screen and grudgingly ac-
payment company. checkout process. Shop- cept whatever fees have
So, it seems that shopping pers tend to compare ini- been added on. They as-
for travel on an old-fash- tial prices across competi- sume it will be too much
ioned computer will even- tors, which are low, rather hassle to start over and
tually go the way of the than the higher final price. find another option, even if
horse and buggy. Indeed, "When firms employ a drip doing so would save them
some travel shopping ser- pricing strategy, the initial money.
vices, such as the travel price is almost always low- THE WRONG TOOL FOR THE
search engine Hopper, of- er than a competitor's all-in JOB
fer only in-app shopping price," said Shelle Santana, Shopping on mobile de-
for certain bookings, leav- assistant professor of mar- vices is quick and easy for
ing desktop users high and keting at Bentley Univer- simple purchases, like or-
dry. sity and one of the study's dering cat food or paying
However, while buying a authors, in an email inter- a bill. Yet shopping for trav-
flight on a phone is more view. "But once they start el is far from simple, and it
convenient, it could be to add on amenities such usually requires switching
more costly. as a checked bag, seat between several tabs and
WATCH OUT FOR DRIP PRIC- options, etc., that differ- apps to find the best deal.
ING ence in price across firms Consider the common de-
The rise in mobile shopping diminishes and sometimes cision of whether to pur-
in the past decade has co- reverses." chase a flight with either
incided with a sea change Anyone who has shopped cash or reward miles. This
in how travel brands earn for airfare on a budget air- involves several steps. First,
revenue. Add-on fees, in- line such as Spirit or Fron- you'll need to search on
cluding baggage and seat tier knows exactly how this the airline app or website
selection fees on flights "drip pricing" plays out. Yet for award availability, likely
and cleaning and resort what surprised Santana while switching to a per-
fees with lodging, have be- and her colleagues was sonal calendar to check
come more common and how unwilling customers dates. Then, you'll search
pricey. U.S. airlines collect- were to compare alterna- on a third-party flight tool,
ed $5.3 billion in baggage tives, even after the final such as Google Flights, for
estimated cash fares be-
fore determining the value
of the redemption in miles
versus dollars.
Once you've determined
the best option, you'll then
need to navigate through
the entire checkout pro-
cess from both cash and
award flight options to
determine the true final
price.q