Finding Expansion Opportunities for Onyx CenterSource through Market Research
- Business domain
- Travel
Background
Onyx CenterSource is a large provider of B2B payment technologies in hospitality that serves 200,000 agencies and 150,000 hotels globally. Processing over 100 million transactions or $2.1 billion in hotel commissions annually, the Dallas-based industry leader is constantly searching for expansion opportunities. The company got in touch with AltexSoft to explore new markets.
Challenges
Our research goal was to define and analyze opportunities across several prospective market segments, including payments between hotels and TMCs, leisure travel resellers, and more. Within each segment, we addressed the following business challenges:
Analyze the competitive landscape
Assess the potential profitability
Provide actionable business insights
Value Delivered
Providing detailed analysis of new market segments
Our analysts defined the market size, growth rate, and distribution patterns of each market segment researched. We investigated the main players and the financial and data flows between them, considering their operating models—an agency (commission-based) model or a merchant model. We also made a list of potential competitors already present in the market.
Uncovering roadblocks
During the study, our team determined the main barriers to expansion into certain market segments. Among them was the unwillingness of companies to invest in new software, even if they used legacy tools. This latest factor could be viewed as an opportunity since it leaves room for penetration of more advanced technology—provided that its value is clearly communicated. At the same time, a massive shift to a merchant model in some business groups eliminated the commission reconciliation problem, making the client’s product unviable for certain sectors.
Pinpointing segments with the largest market potential
Our team identified businesses with strong potential demand for the client’s tool and made a list of likely customers. Among their common characteristics are a low level of digitalization, adherence to a commission-based model, and unaddressed reconciliation issues.
Helping informed decision-making
To make the findings most helpful for strategic decision-making, we created detailed reports for each market segment. These reports convey how the client fits into the big picture, define potential revenue in each segment, and highlight growth opportunities.
Our Approach
We ran a separate research project for each market segment, following the same sequence of steps.
Secondary research — collecting and analyzing data from external sources. This includes processing expert articles, industry reports, studies from leading travel companies, etc. To uncover inconsistencies and ensure data accuracy, we performed a cross-verification analysis — that is, we checked facts and figures from less reliable sources against trusted data and broader trends.
Primary research — interviewing potential customers. Based on the results of the secondary research, our analysts defined a target audience. We then contacted its representatives to conduct in-depth interviews and find out whether there is a demand for the client’s tool in a particular segment.
Research consolidation. In the final phase, we consolidated the results of the previous steps into reports and presentations that articulate insights in a simple, easy-to-understand way.
In total, we conducted five research projects, each lasting about two months. At different phases, they involved a market analyst, a data researcher, a project manager, and a business analyst.