MINICASE: The Quest for Differentiation and Profits at EpicTrip.com The phone startad ringing as you arrived in tbe office. ron blogers, raved indry insiders, and ravel cwh Y su Picked up rhe rec eiver ad immediately recog- siasts. Twunvereis was iluE the Epic Trip site was niaod the Eamiliar sot' wice. "Hey elure, it's Steve Ol" visually artxakig and extremidyeasy to tuntgate. You had not heard from hitn in afcw mnt rhs, but sn *what's up, Steve-Op. yusu screamed into thc a spla secomd bus whok work hisory ashel in yuer ecever a bi too load hor the early hoer."Tknow thut beain. Steve Yu, Sceve-as his disest friends called you've been doing some eCommerce conwalting for the him, went to work for a large carporation righe atee Eavel industry as of late," said Steve, addong witha college, As the executive aselant lo the pres Int diad k..1kap up with you, tny friend "Yau line hack. he had the luxury of being iavolved in high stakes launched in leta aleeadyWe're at a crossrouds, stratepic decisinns, withouat mch of the responsibil Steve said, his veovice hecnaning serinus. "We have the site wy Bur as an entreprencur and a dreamer ar heart, up and running, and we have the partnershigs in place Seeve quickly became disenchanted with the corporane with the ajor ravel distributors. The sie is fas, a L.ife's to short nce to chase yoar dream The gnesis of Epic Thp stemmead from Stewe's interNice going, Seeve-Ot" you exclaim,excitod abou est unudying television onnnnrcials while atten ng she met ress." Tinie to make some dough now hudd. cullege. He blieved commduals eold compelling Steve egdK"As you kni-wc oripinally thought wotes whenemuinally connecting with consumers about a neferral medd, taking cur when pengk aboue the possibilinies of whar the peodoct could help Gollow a link from our site and purchase the customer realize or cvieve. Abont a war and half product.""hat's a tough business." you interjea. ago, Stewe esigned from his job as exeutive assistant "Exactly," Seve replies "It appears we haw people and founded his own firm With one chillhood fricnd doing rescanh on the sie, b they don ht and a lor of eamen noodles, they began devcloping theough. They may come back oer and owee, and luter what would soon becune Epic Tripson Pigure 5.1 uok or even call an agenay or a hotel chemelwes We An arts eothusiast, Stevwe brought signiticant dosign de't gct paid that way In addition, we just learned sensirivity to the team, whale his pariner brought the that Expodia is now offcring fe production of vitsal technical skls The sneind Epic Tig.com was to ours o botels to e featurd om thcir site nevolutionse how penpke purchase travel With ery lin ed resources. Stew knew he had The Epic Trip wehsite read: "Epic Thip is a new to quickly come up with a solid value peope d unisque way for travelers to know what their des that difficreariated Epic Trip and a rewenuc modd to tinations and their hoicds are all abour,even bote appmach posential imts You'c C etting oft. We aim to become thc premsce multimcIeed some gndance. I have somme ileas, be dia travel search engine and social neswork on the would lone your take. Inced to start monctiaing this weh by connecting travelers with videns, virnal eours, platferm we've built," said Stewe. "Ahsolutelyt"you reviews, and sheir experinces eply wisbeut hosieat . "Give me ont il she end of the The lect travel markct was cowded wieh sites wock to study this and l call you with some dkcas that foced on lnting as many optsces as posiblc and Seeve awers,Thanks bud, I knew I could count on inding customers the best deals,"so Steve hdieved yous. Talk to you at the end of the week. there would be value in iocusing oen the experience of travel, even before the trip started. Though the Discussion Questions suho. Epic Trip was designed to belp mwlers gera po seek yuHI 61mulate your reconomemA feel for the unispue offerings of their destinsation hefo tions for St acriving and to dream albuuat new ones. Epic Trir 2. How do you sapgest that Fpic Trip think aho woul to shane their experimors and phoos and to comnact with other like-minded tevlers 3 What would you su Epi Trip d to ditfeen cmpaien, EpieTicom was anractine some ahemion vability of Eic Trip
