Keep Taking the Tablets
Did you see the headline a week or so ago, “The £1bn digital boom?” In 2012 the value of downloads to home computers, smartphones and tablets rose 11.4% to £1.033 billion whilst physical sales of CDs, DVDs and computer games were down 17.6% on the previous year, as HMV and Blockbuster know only too well.
Meanwhile, John Lewis’s Christmas period sales soared 44%, mainly due to its romantic snowman advert. 
Electricals and home technology sales were up 30.9% on 2011 with star performers being tablets such as Apple’s iPad, the Kindle Fire and products from Samsung and Google.
Why does this matter to travel? Well, not only do more households than ever have tablets around the house but consumers are becoming increasingly at home with using them to make purchases.
You cannot download travel as you can a music album or film but, just like these, holidays are electronic products at the point of sale. Take a look at the photos of the two couples. Spot the difference? Both are having a great time browsing for the next holiday. The older couple is looking at a printed brochure. The younger couple is engaged in exactly the same activity on a tablet.
The most important aspect of tablets is that, unlike PCs and mobiles, they can be shared in a convivial manner, just like holiday brochures. I have no doubt whatsoever that tablets will become the mainstream consumer access technology for leisure holidays. Some years ago the thinking was that interactive digital TV would take this crown. For browsing, however, it cannot compete with the tactile experience of poking and flicking a tablet. Then there is the current excitement over mobile; great for in-resort services, flights, ultra-last-minute hotel bookings, but the screen real estate is simply too small to do holidays justice.
Unfortunately, for the consumer it seems that most holiday companies are completely ignoring the tablet market. They are either serving up their standard PC websites or their mobile sites. Standard websites are finicky to use on a tablet with links that are often too small to accurately poke with a finger. Mobile sites on a tablet simply look bland and unappealing.
We are now into the world of responsive web design. If you are in a go-ahead travel company, you need to be taking this very seriously. Take a look at The Boston Globe site.
On PC, it has a three column layout and complex drop-down menus. On mobile, it is single column with very simply menus. On tablet, it is single column or two columns depending on whether you are holding the tablet portrait or landscape.
I wanted to show you a screen capture of a similarly well-designed travel site (not an app) that works really well on a tablet. I cannot find one. Have you got any suggestions? If so, do mention them and let’s have a vote for the best travel tablet site.
Paul Richer, Genesys – The Travel Technology Consultancy, 21 January 2013