Industry Trends for 2015-16 and 2016-17
Pricing and E-Commerce – Season Review and Looking Ahead
Season in Review2015/16
Liftopia Data SetWhat makes us qualified to identify pricing trends?
• 70k Customer Service conversations• 4.8m Date-specific searches on Liftopia.com this season• 8.9m Date-specific searches on the Platform (Liftopia.com +
Cloud Store) this season• 9.7m User sessions• 34.2m Pageviews• 1.4-1.6m Price points• 110 Ski areas on Cloud Store• 250 Ski areas on Liftopia.com
Trends2015/16
Industry Trends: Advance Purchase YoY Details
• Window Rates: flattening and rising…+9% on average*
• Advance Purchase Rates: increasing variability both up AND down…+3% on average
• Search Demand: Shifting farther in advance: up 72% YOY through end of Nov
• Advance booking volume up disproportionately farther out
• Booking window increasing across entire season
Pricing Trends
trends
Window Rates – Region by Region
Midwes
t
Northe
ast
Pacific
Nort
hwes
t
Pacific
Sou
thwes
t
Rocky
Mou
ntains
Southe
ast
Grand T
otal
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
7%
8%
9%
Year over Year Window Rate Changes
At start of season, average window rates rose by 9% – As weather in east progressed window rates pulled back to be up only 4.7%
Ecommerce Prices - NationwideAverage of all dates/resorts
• Average low/starting price: 70% of rack rate• Average max achieved yield: 79% of rack rate
Peak Dates(X-Mas, MLK, Pres, Weekends) AVG• Average low/starting price: 76% of rack rate• Average max achieved yield: 86% of rack rate
Advance Purchase Rates By Region
Midwes
t
Northe
ast
Pacific
Nort
hwes
t
Pacific
Sou
thwes
t
Rocky
Mou
ntains
Southe
ast
Grand T
otal
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
110%
Avg Max – Peak Periods
Avg Max Price
Avg Starting Price
*As a percentage of window rate
Top Performers vs. Average
Platform Average Top Performers50%
55%
60%
65%
70%
75%
80%
85%
90%
95%
Avg Max – Peak Periods
Avg Max Price
Avg Starting Price
*As a percentage of window rate
What makes a top performer?
Revenue
Uphill Capacity=
Easy way to compare relative
revenue performance of
resorts of all sizes
Revenue/Uphill Capacity – Top Performers
Platform Average Top Performers50%
55%
60%
65%
70%
75%
80%
85%
90%
95%
Avg Max – Peak Periods
Avg Max Price
Avg Starting Price
*As a percentage of window rate
$36 $144
Top performing resorts with efficient pricing strategy achieve higher yields and 4X the revenue of average
Revenue/Uphill Capacity
Buying Behavior
trends
Booking Window: % change YoY by Month
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00%
27.83%
5.33%
3.41%
7.22%
0.45%
4.46%
30.83%
13.41%
Shift in Search Volume
2016/17 has already started – distribution of 55k searches for skiing into next season
Pricing Trends Translated for Customers
How much it costs
=
How products are priced and sold
Example of Window Shift100
80
60
40
20
Dec Jan Feb Mar
15/16 Rack Rate
14/15 Rack Rate
Example of Window Shift100
80
60
40
20
Dec Jan Feb Mar
15/16 Rack Rate
14/15 Rack Rate
When you go skiing
• Basic premise: each day is priced in accordance with its value
– All else held equal – peak dates cost more– All else held equal – off peak dates cost less
• Based on this – customers should pay more during peak periods – and therefore the effective ticket price (ETP) should be highest during peak periods
When you go
When you buy
Full Season of Prices
All dates priced relative to demand
For any date– the lowest possible price is available farthest in advance
Full Season of Prices
Prices for peak dates rise faster earlier
Full Season of PricesBy two days out – peak dates will be approaching rack rate
But off peak dates may still be a good deal if demand hasn’t pushed the price higher
Full Season of PricesMany customers still wait until the last minute to make their plans
Full Season of Prices
So at midnight the night before skiing – prices rise again significantly
Many customers still wait until the last minute to make their plans
Trends for 16/17
• Continued increases and flattening of window rates• More variable, highly efficient advance purchase
strategies• Shifted focus from YIELD as a % of window rate to
actual PRICES converted on• Consumer demand continuing to shift towards buying
in advance (when pricing strategies support this)• Some resorts will overprice advance purchase due to
a focus on yield instead of revenue• Quality of data and quality of interpretation of that
data applied to pricing is going to become as critical to ski areas’ bottom line as the data and interpretation applied to snowmaking
Trends in Advance Purchase/Ecommerce
Top Related