Fast Lane Ventures Launches Jizo: new innovative search engine for plane tickets and other tourist services
12 May 2011 Fast Lane Ventures, a new-type venture company geared to the development of innovative web-based companies, has launched a new project: meta-search engine for plane tickets, Jizo.ru (Jizo).
As with other projects of Fast Lane Ventures, Jizo is based on a business model already established in the Western market. Jizo is similar to a number of leading players on the global meta-search scene: US-based Kayak , UK-based Skyscanner, Denmark’sMobissimo, and Iceland’s Dohop.
The key difference of the service offered by Jizo as a meta-searcher is access to a maximum number of reference sources – giving users the widest choice of plane tickets, first of all in terms of price and time.
According to Sergei Lavrentyev, CEO of Jizo.ru, “A meta-search engine differs from an online agency as Yandex Market does from an online shop. The former gives you aggregated information from a myriad of sources and a variety of search options; the latter, a limited choice with its own pricing.”
The meta-search engine Jizo.ru operates as follows: it gathers real-time information on flights and prices from all currently available sources: global distribution systems, websites of online travel agencies and airlines, bring together all offers, and gives out a list of the cheapest and the most convenient options for the user to choose from. After that, it points the user to the provider’s website for booking or reservation. The user therefore buys the service directly from the provider, skipping the process of comparing numerous offers from agencies and airlines, which can differ by dozens of percentage points.
The Jizo.ru project has significantly extended the functionality of a regular meta-search engine. Apart from default sorting by price (provided by all agencies or other meta-search engines), it gives users a new tool, which “explains”, visually, how the price dependends on convenience (direct or transit service, departure time, arrival time, transit waiting time, etc.) and enables users to make a choice based on both factors.
“In air travel, price is important, but so is convenience,” says Sergei Lavrentyev, “yet most sources leave convenience out of the picture. Our resource enables users to see right away why a ticket costs less: for example, they may face a long wait between connecting flights or even an overnight. But each option has its advantages. For example, if travel time is of no great concern, the money saved on tickets can be used for duty-free shopping at the stopover (much appreciated by women!). The option of choosing an option that is the cheapest and at the same time the most convenient for you is the key difference and advantage of Jizo.ru for its users.”
The Jizo project has been developed using Fast 50 technology – a unique solution developed in-house by Fast Lane Ventures to enable the launch of a project in 50 working days. To date the project has been integrated with all major plane ticket booking systems and the websites of major online agencies and airlines. Talks are in progress to keep reference sources expanded on an ongoing basis.
“In recent years competition in online sales of air tickets has intensified dramatically, and a bid to win can only be made by companies offering truly innovative products that meet the requirements of the customer. Jizo is one of them. Access to a broad spectrum of offers from airlines, including special promotions, user-friendly search interface and a plethora of additional services, this is the core functionality that is expected to bring in air travellers,” says Oleg Panteleyev, head of the research section at AviaPortagency.
The Jizo financial model is built on the CPA and/or CPC principles: the project receives a specified percentage when the user is redirected to the provider’s website and when a purchase is made.
Short-term plans provide for an increase in the resource’s services by adding a search for hotels and cars for hire in a similar meta-search mode.
About the company:
Fast Lane Ventures is a new-type venture company, set up to develop, launch and promote innovative web projects with a view to ultimately selling them to strategic investors. For more details about the company, visit http://fastlaneventures.ru/en/index.html or contact Lada Shcherbakova, PR director, at +7 495 2213351 or lada@fastlanevuntures.ru.
http://twitter.com/FastLaneV, http://www.facebook.com/FastLaneVentures