Introduction

When?

What?

Where?

Who?

Introduction

Where?

Who?

thetrainline.com is an online and telephone service selling tickets for travel on British train services.

Thetrainline.com website is the leading independent retailer of train tickets online, and is licensed by the Association of Train Operating Companies.

When?What?

Introduction

What?

Where?

Who?

It was created in 1997 and online ticket sales started in 1999.

In July 2006, Exponent Private Equity acquired TheTrainLine, for £168 million.

When?

Introduction

What?

Who?

thetrainline's main offices are located in London and Edinburgh.

It also has its online presence on: www.thetrainline.com

When? Where?

Introduction

Where?

thetrainline.com Ltd was formerly part of the Virgin Group.

Now it is owned by private equity investors and management.

When?

When?

Who?

MAIN COMPETITORS

thetrainline.com currently has the lion's share of the market.

Qjump – February 2004:

• Expanding Business – Acquired online competitor “Qjump” from National Express Group.

Other Services:• Direct to Customers:

• thetrainline.com and Qjump.• Web Services:

• 14 of 20 UK train operating companies.• B2B:

• Rail business travel service directly to blue chip companies, travel management companies & travel agents.

•Thetrainline.com's main competitor (in train booking software) is Atos's WebTIS product which is used by East Coast, Chiltern, Southern, Southeastern, London Midland.

•Atos's own site is redspottedhanky.com.

STRENGTHS•It does not charge any extra booking fees, fees for paying with a credit or a debit card

•System of loyalty points, which can be cashed in on future train bookings.

WEAKNESSES•The website is not very user friendly.

•The website won't help you find cheapest fares across multiple days - which thetrainline.com's Best Fare Finder tool can assist with.

Prices are presented when you request times and fares for a particular route. With thetrainline.com, it's more complicated

Another plus of using MyTrainTicket.co.uk to buy tickets is that you can accrue Airmiles when you do so

National Rail generally does not include services that do not have a BR history; this

distinction is important because National Rail services share a ticketing structure and inter-availability that do not necessarily extend to

other services.

National Rail is used by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) as a generic term to define the passenger rail services operated in Great Britain—before the adoption of National Rail, "Great Britain Passenger Railway" was used.

The Evolvi Rail Systems' online rail booking and

fulfillment system is available exclusively to

Travel Management Companies

It is more into B2B selling.

CONCLUSION:

• To conclude, from all that is said above, it is quite evident that thetrainline.com is the market leader in this sector of the industry.

• Although there are some areas that it need to work on as new competing firms are entering the market, to keep its position as the market leader.

Bibliography

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thetrainline.com• http://www.thetrainline.com/• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/

travelreviews/article-1274684/Website-week-www-mytrainticket-uk.html

• www.MyTrainTicket.co.uk• http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/• http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/• https://www.evolvi.co.uk/• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-

2098228/Website-Of-The-Week-www-redspottedhanky-com.html